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Even Netanyatu’s supporters offended by his inflammatory remarks about Iran

Netanyahu’s references to Holocaust in relation to Iran nuclear threat bother some Israelis Washington Post By Associated Press, March 7 JERUSALEM — The Israeli prime minister’s linking of Iran to Nazi Germany evoked ringing applause this week at a gathering of a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington. Back home, though, it drew some heavy criticism.

The Nazi Holocaust of World War II is a delicate and charged topic in Israel, and many felt Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated equating of the Nazis with the possible modern-day threat of a nuclear-armed Iran went too far..

…. His parallels were clear: Just as the Nazis tried to exterminate European Jewry during World War II, Netanyahu implied that Iran’s apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons is part of a plot to wipe Israel off the map. “Never again” is the signature phrase of the Jewish pledge that the Holocaust must not be repeated.

Critics accused Netanyahu of both cheapening the memory of the Holocaust and unnecessarily escalating tensions at a time when the U.S. was urging restraint….. Yehuda Bauer, a Holocaust scholar at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, said Netanyahu’s Auschwitz analogy in Washington this week was “sheer nonsense.” While acknowledging the dangers of a nuclear Iran, Bauer said, “to bring up Auschwitz is a cheap way of gaining public attention.”
The uproar caused some discomfort even among Netanyahu’s supporters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/netanyahus-references-to-holocaust-in-relation-to-iran-nuclear-threat-bother-some-israelis/2012/03/07/gIQAFC6GxR_story.html

March 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, politics international