View source for Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany

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[[File:All Out for Gaza - IMG 7000-(60,8022) (53277447264).jpg|thumb|22 October 2023: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in [[Columbus, Ohio]], displaying a poster that reads "Isreal{{sic}} are the new Nazis" amidst [[Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States]].]]
'''Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany''' occur frequently in the political discourse of [[anti-Zionism]].<ref name="Klaff2">{{cite news |last=Klaff |first=Lesley |title=Holocaust Inversion and contemporary antisemitism |work=Fathom |url=https://fathomjournal.org/holocaust-inversion-and-contemporary-antisemitism/ |accessdate=4 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gerstenfeld |first=Manfred |date=2008-01-28 |title=Holocaust Inversion |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120147388696520647 |access-date=2021-06-11 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Given the legacy of [[the Holocaust]], the legitimacy of and intent behind these accusations are a matter of debate, particularly with regard to their potential nature as a manifestation of [[antisemitism]]. Historically, figures like British historian [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] have drawn parallels or alleged a relationship between [[Zionism]] and [[Nazism]]; British professor [[David Feldman (historian)|David Feldman]] suggests that these comparisons are often rhetorical tools without specific antisemitic intent. French philosopher [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] argues that such comparisons not only lack historical and moral equivalence, but also risk inciting anti-Jewish sentiment.<ref name=":0" />

According to American political scientist [[Ian Lustick]], comparing the two countries is "a natural if unintended consequence of the immersion of [[Israeli Jews]] in Holocaust imagery."{{sfn|Lustick|2019|p=52}} Israeli-American historian [[Omer Bartov]] has drawn an analogy between the indoctrinated dehumanization of the adversary in the Germany army under Nazism and the attitudes displayed by young Israeli troops in the [[Israel-Hamas war|Israeli war in Gaza (2024)]].<ref>[[Omer Bartov]],  [https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel] [[The Guardian]]  23 August 2024</ref> A wide variety of political figures and governments, especially those on [[Left–right political spectrum|the left]], have often invoked these comparisons, with the most prominent and influential example being that of [[Soviet anti-Zionism]], which took root in response to Israel's integration with the [[First World]] in the aftermath of the [[Six-Day War|1967 Arab–Israeli War]].<ref name="Druks"/> In the 21st century, politicians who have done so at least once include Turkish president [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]],<ref name="Recep"/> Brazilian president [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva|Lula da Silva]],<ref name="timesofisrael.com">{{Cite web |date=18 February 2024 |title=Israel livid as Brazil's Lula says Israel like 'Hitler,' committing genocide in Gaza |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-livid-as-brazils-lula-says-israel-like-hitler-committing-genocide-in-gaza/ |website=The Times of Israel|access-date=18 February 2024}}</ref> Venezuelan president [[Hugo Chávez]],<ref>[[Dow Jones Newswires]] reported that, on August 10, while giving a speech in eastern Venezuela, Chávez said Venezuelans are "making a call to world leaders, for the love of God, let's halt this crazy [[fascist]] aggression against innocent people. Are we human or what are we?... I feel indignation for Israel's assault on the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people. They dropped bombs on shelters. ... It's a Holocaust that is occurring there." - [http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M08/D10/200608102229DOWJONESDJONLINE001384.html?Cat=MktDigest Venezuela President Asks International Leaders To Halt Israeli Offensive.]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Dow Jones Newswire, ''Morning Star'', August 10, 2006.</ref> Colombian President [[Gustavo Petro]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 October 2023 |title=How have Latin American countries responded to the Israel-Hamas war? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/how-have-latin-american-countries-responded-to-the-israel-hamas-war |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703102449/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/how-have-latin-american-countries-responded-to-the-israel-hamas-war |archive-date=3 July 2024 |access-date=9 September 2024 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> and British parliamentarian [[David Ward (British politician)|David Ward]].<ref name="Klaff">{{cite news|title=Holocaust Inversion and contemporary antisemitism|url=https://fathomjournal.org/holocaust-inversion-and-contemporary-antisemitism/|accessdate=4 May 2022|work=Fathom|first=Lesley|last=Klaff}}</ref>

==History==

Comparisons between [[Zionism]] and [[Nazism]] predate the foundation of [[Israel]] in 1948. [[British Army]] officer and politician [[Edward Spears]], who "best highlighted the Gentile use of the Zionist-Nazi analogy",<ref>Rory Miller, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NUmzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 ''Divided Against Zion: Anti-Zionist Opposition to the Creation of a Jewish State in Palestine, 1945-1948,''] [[Routledge]] 2013 {{isbn|978-1-315-03843-8}} p.147. See also pp.16-18,23ff.</ref> wrote that:
<blockquote>[[Types of Zionism#Political Zionism|Political Zionism]] as it is manifested in Palestine today preaches very much the same doctrines as [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]... Zionist policy in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] has many features similar to Nazi philosophy... the politics of ''[[Master race|Herrenvolk]]''... the Nazi idea of ''[[Lebensraum]]'', is also very in evidence in the Zionist philosophy... the training of youth is very similar under both organizations that have designed this one and the Nazi one.<ref name="Kramer" >[[Martin Kramer]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ko0DwAAQBAJ&hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=analogy+Zionism+Nazism&pg=PT225&printsec=frontcover  ''The War on Error: Israel, Islam and the Middle East,''] [[Routledge]]  2017 {{isbn|978-1-351-29532-1}}</ref></blockquote>

German-Jewish linguist and anti-fascist [[Victor Klemperer]], who survived the [[Holocaust]] and chose not to move to Israel but stay in Germany after 1945, wrote in his ''[[LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii]]'' (''The Language of the Third Reich'') that both [[Zionism]] and [[Nazism]] are essentially [[Romantic nationalism|neo-Romantic nationalist]] ideologies. The components of this Romantic nationalism, according to Klemperer, are "the dethronement of reason, the
animalization of man, the glorification of the idea of power, of the
predator, of the blond beast ... and, most importantly, a strong biologization of the concept of a people, the belief in a "sacred mission" of a certain tribe or nation."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Anasintaxi Newspaper, issue 385|year=2013|chapter=Reactionary German Romanticism|chapter-url=https://translate.google.gr/translate?hl=en&sl=el&u=https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1467916/}}</ref>{{better source|this is an SPS|date=October 2024}} Klemperer asserts that in the writings of both [[Adolf Hitler]] and Zionism's founder [[Theodor Herzl]] this Romantic nationalism is apparent:
<blockquote>The problem is that Hitler and Herzl feed to a very large extent on the same heritage. I have already identified the German root of Nazism, it is that partial, bigoted and perverted form of Romanticism. If I add Romanticism made kitschy, then I have defined exactly the intellectual and stylistic common ground between the two Führers. Herzl’s model, who is referred to lovingly on a number of occasions, is [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://pdfcoffee.com/bloomsbury-revelations-victor-klemperer-language-of-the-third-reich-lti-lingua-tertii-imperii-bloomsbury-academic-2013-pdf-free.html | title=(Bloomsbury Revelations) Victor Klemperer-Language of the Third Reich_ LTI_ Lingua Tertii Imperii-Bloomsbury Academic (2013) }}</ref></blockquote>

In 1948, [[Hannah Arendt]], [[Albert Einstein]] and a number of other Jewish public figures signed an open letter which compared a Jewish political party to Nazism, writing that, "Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the 'Freedom Party' ([[Herut|Tnuat Haherut]]), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy, and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties."<ref>[[Masha Gessen]], [https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/in-the-shadow-of-the-holocaust 'In the Shadow of the Holocaust:How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today.'] [[The New Yorker|New Yorker]] 9 December  2023.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-23 |title=Einstein and the ghost of Herut 70 years on |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1289796 |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=Arab News |language=en}}</ref>

English historian [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] believed that sinking back into the barbarity of Nazism was something that threatened not only Israel but the Western world generally. He described the contemporary Israeli "a Janus-figure, part American farmer technicians, part Nazi [[Sicarii|sicarius]]".<ref name="Kramer" />  Comparing what Israel did to the Arabs, he considered that it was, morally but not statistically, worse than what Nazis did to Jews.<ref>Hedva Ben-Israel,  [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30245780 Debates with Toynbee: Herzog, Talmon, Friedman]  [[Israel Studies]], Spring, 2006, Vol. 11, No. 1   pp. 79-90  pp.81-82.</ref><ref>Yair Rosenberg, [https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/herzog-toynbee-1961 When an Israeli Ambassador Debated a British Historian on Israel’s Legitimacy—and Won. The Montreal face-off between Yaacov Herzog and Arnold Toynbee offers ways of discussing the Jewish state that still feel fresh] [[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]] 31 January 2014</ref>  This formed part of his critique of Zionism. In the final volume of his [[A Study of History]],  Toynbee reconsidered his view that Zionism was like Nazism. He wrote that:
<blockquote>I think that, in the Zionist movement, Western Jews have assimilated gentile Western Civilization in the most unfortunate possible form. They have assimilated the West's nationalism and colonization. The seizure of the houses, lands, and property of the 900,000 Palestinian Arabs who are now refugees is on a moral level with the worst crimes  and injustices committed,  during the last four or five centuries, by gentile Western European conquerors and colonists overseas.'<ref>A. J. Toynbee, ''A Study of History,'' OUP 1964 vol.12 p.627.</ref></blockquote>
Toynbee sustained this viewpoint in the face of several critical responses, notably by [[Jacob Talmon]] and [[Eliezer Berkovits]]. Talmon argued that Toynbee's conclusion reflected his contempt for  Western civilization's subjugation of so many peoples, about which Toynbee felt guilty and which he traced back to the idea of a [[Chosen people]] absorbed via Christianity from Judaism. Berkovitz argued Toynbee's loathing of Nazism as a caricature of the West betrays a tacit self-contempt, which carries over into his attitude to Zionism. Toynbee responded that there was some truth in both these observations, and while reaffirming his belief in the cogency of the analogy, admitted that, on reflection, his condemnation of  Zionism's guilt in this regard was disproportionate.<ref>Toynbee ibid.p.627</ref>

The Israeli philosopher [[Yeshayahu Leibowitz]] introduced the term "Judeo-Nazis". He argued that continued [[military occupation]] of the [[Palestinian territories]] would lead to the moral degradation of [[Israeli Defense Force]] (IDF), with individuals committing atrocities for state security interests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feldhay |first1=Rivka |title=The Fragile Boundary between the Political and the Academic |journal=Israel Studies Review |date=2013 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.3167/isr.2013.280102}}</ref><ref name="Elkad-Lehman">{{cite journal |last=Elkad-Lehman |first=Ilana |title='Judeo-Nazis? Don't talk like this in my house' voicing traumas in a graphic novel – an intertextual analysis |journal=Israel Affairs |date=2020 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=59–79 |doi=10.1080/13537121.2020.1697072|s2cid=212958444 }}</ref> In 1988, Holocaust survivor [[Yehuda Elkana]] warned that the tendency in Israel to see all potential threats as existential and all opponents as Nazis would lead to Nazi-like behavior by [[Jews]].{{sfn|Bartov|2018|p=192}} During the [[First Intifada]], Israeli-American historian [[Omer Bartov]] was enraged by [[Yitzhak Rabin]]'s call to "break the bones" of [[Palestinians]] and wrote him a letter arguing that, based on Bartov's research, the IDF could be similarly brutalized as the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] was during World War II.{{sfn|Bartov|2018|p=191}} One Israeli nationalist in a moshav told [[Amos Oz]] that he did not care if Israel was called a Judeo-Nazi state, it was "better [to be] a living Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint."{{dubious|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oz |first1=Amos |title="Better a Living Judeo-Nazi Than a Dead Saint" |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |date=1983 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=202–209 |doi=10.2307/2536162 |jstor=2536162 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2536162 |quote='"As far as I am concerned, you can give the State of Israel any name you wish. You can call it a Judeo-Nazi state, as did Leibowitz. Why not? As the saying goes - better a living Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint. I don't care if I am a Qadhafi. I am not after admiration from the Gentiles. I don't need their love. I don't need love from Jews like you, either. I have to live. And I intend that my children shall live as well- with or without the blessing of the Pope and the other religious leaders from the New York Times. I shall destroy anyone who raises a hand against my children - I shall destroy him and his children, with or without the famous purity of arms, and I don't care if he is Christian, Muslim, Jewish or pagan. History shows us that he who won't kill is killed by others. This is an iron law.'}}</ref> In 2018, [[Noam Chomsky]] cited Leibowitz, arguing that he was right in his prediction that the occupation was producing Judeo-Nazis.{{dubious|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Chomsky to i24NEWS: 'Judeo-Nazi tendencies in Israel a product of occupation' |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/188255-181108-chomsky-to-i24news-judeo-nazi-tendencies-in-israel-a-product-of-occupation|work=i24NEWS|first=Jotam|last=Confino|date=14 November 218 |access-date=8 April 2022 }}</ref>

According to political scientist [[Ian Lustick]], a professor at the [[University of Pennsylvania]], such comparisons are "a natural if unintended consequence of the immersion of Israeli Jews in Holocaust imagery", and the term "Holocaust inversion" for Nazi comparisons is used by those who see the Holocaust as a template for Jewish life.{{sfn|Lustick|2019|p=52}}{{vague|date=October 2024}}

In the context of the [[Six-Day War]], the administration of the [[Soviet Union]] compared Israeli tactics to those of [[Nazi Germany]] during the Second World War in official commentary.<ref name=Druks>{{cite book|last=Druks|first=Herbert|title=The Uncertain Alliance: The U.S. and Israel from Kennedy to the Peace Process|isbn=9780313314247|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2001|pages=50–51}}</ref> After the victory of [[Likud]] in the [[1977 Israeli legislative election]], Holocaust metaphors began to be used by the Israeli right-wing to describe their left-wing opponents.{{sfn|Steir-Livny|2019|p=284}} During the [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza]], some settlers donned yellow stars to compare themselves to Holocaust victims, protesting the government's measures.<ref name="Elkad-Lehman"/> In 2016, [[Yair Golan]], the Israeli general and deputy chief of staff of the IDF, sparked a controversy during a speech at [[Yom HaShoah]]. Golan stated: <blockquote>If there is something that frightens me about the memory of the Holocaust, it is seeing the abhorrent processes that took place in Europe, and Germany in particular, some 70, 80 or 90 years ago, and finding manifestations of these processes here among us in 2016.{{sfn|Lustick|2019|p=143}} </blockquote>These remarks were condemned by the prime minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]].{{sfn|Lustick|2019|p=143}} Later, Golan retracted and said that he did not intend to compare Israel to Nazi Germany, releasing a statement in which he said "It is an absurd and baseless comparison and I had no intention whatsoever to draw any sort of parallel or to criticize the national leadership. The IDF is a moral army that respects the rules of engagement and protects human dignity."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beaumont |first=Peter |date=5 May 2016 |title=Israeli military chief backtracks from 1930s Germany comparison |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/05/israeli-military-chief-yair-golan-nazi-germany-comparison |website=The Guardian}}</ref> He later again compared right wing Israeli politicians to Nazis, drawing criticism from the right in Israel.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Ben-David | first1=Ricky | last2=Schneider | first2=Tal | last3=Magid | first3=Jacob | last4=Bachner | first4=Michael | last5=Sharon | first5=Jeremy | title=Incoming MK Yair Golan again compares right-wing to Nazis, drawing ire | website=The Times of Israel | date=October 3, 2019 | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/incoming-mk-yair-golan-again-compares-right-wing-to-nazis-drawing-ire/ | access-date=November 24, 2023}}</ref>

==Debate on potentially antisemitic nature==
{{expand section|with=more points of view, requires coverage from views that the comparison is not antisemitic|date=September 2024|small=no}}

The subject of comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany and whether or not such comparisons are antisemitic has received much commentary by academics worldwide who have studied history and politics,{{sfn|Rosenfeld|2019|p=175–178, 186}} including those who have deemed it to be a form of [[Holocaust trivialization]] called "Holocaust inversion" due to the potential implication it minimizes the scope of Nazi crimes.<ref name="marcus" />

[[Deborah Lipstadt]], the [[Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism|U.S. Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism]], has referred to comparisons between Nazi Germany and Israel as "soft-core" Holocaust denial, as contrasted with "hard-core" denial as practiced by David Irving, who sued Lipstadt in a [[Irving v Penguin Books Ltd|celebrated legal case]]. She defines "soft-core denial" as "not denying the facts, but either inverting it so the victims become the perpetrators". She said in a 2009 interview that soft-core denial makes "a false comparison, and that dilutes what the Holocaust was. It’s a much more slippery kind of manifestation" than hard-core denial, she stated.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Klein |first=Amy |date=2009-04-19 |title=Denying the deniers: Q & A with Deborah Lipstadt |url=https://www.jta.org/2009/04/19/lifestyle/denying-the-deniers-q-a-with-deborah-lipstadt |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>

According to [[Kenneth L. Marcus]], the aim of those who employ Holocaust inversion is to "shock, silence, threaten, insulate, and legitimize. ... No one tells Holocaust survivors – or a nation of Holocaust survivors and their children – that they are Nazis without expecting to shock." Even when it is frequently used, the use of Holocaust inversion is still shocking, which facilitates its repeated use. He asserts that the tying together of Nazi motifs with Jewish conspiracy stereotypes has a chilling effect on Jewish supporters of Israel. He also says that by implying guilt, this discourse is threatening because it implies a required punishment. As this discourse is performed in the context of political criticism of Israel, it insulates those who use it from the resistance that most forms of [[racism]] face in post-[[World War II]] society. Finally, he states that inversion not only legitimizes anti-Israel activities but also legitimizes anti-Jewish activities that would otherwise be hard to conduct.{{clarify|date=July 2022}} According to [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]], this erodes societal safeguards,<ref name="Marcus_63_64">{{cite book 
| last = Marcus 
| first = Kenneth L. 
| title = Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America 
| publisher = Cambridge University Press 
| year = 2010
| pages = 63–64 
| isbn = 978-1-139-49119-8 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U3z7Fh7xOmcC&dq=%22holocaust+inversion%22&pg=PA63 
}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=[...] a mass movement demanding the deaths of Jews will be unlikely to yell "[[Economic antisemitism|Money Jews]]" or "[[Jewish deicide|They Killed Christ]]." [...] for such a movement to emerge, for people to feel once again [...] the right to burn all the [[synagogues]] they want, to attack boys wearing [[yarmulkes]], to harass large number of [[rabbis]] [...] an entirely new discourse way of justifying it must emerge.}}

According to historian [[Bernard Lewis]], the belief that the Nazis were no worse than Israel is has "brought welcome relief to many who had long borne a burden of guilt for the role which they, their families, their nations, or their churches had played in Hitler's crimes against the Jews, whether by participation or complicity, acquiescence or indifference."<ref name="marcus">{{cite book 
| last = Marcus 
| first = Kenneth L. 
| title = Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America 
| publisher = Cambridge University Press 
| year = 2010 
| page = 56 
| isbn = 978-1-139-49119-8 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=U3z7Fh7xOmcC&dq=brought+welcome+relief+to+many+who+had+long+borne+a+burden+of+guilt+for+the+role+which+they%2C+their+families%2C+their+nations%2C+or+their+churches+had+played+in+Hitler%27s+crimes+against+the+Jews%2C+whether+by+participation+or+complicity%2C+acquiescence+or+indifference&pg=PA56 
}}</ref>
In Austria, while overt antisemitism has been limited following the Holocaust, the [[Freedom Party of Austria]] is associated with using comparisons between Nazi Germany and Israel to delegitimize political opponents.<ref>Stoegner, Karin (2016). {{"'}}We are the new Jews!' and 'The Jewish Lobby'–antisemitism and the construction of a national identity by the Austrian Freedom Party". ''Nations and Nationalism'' '''22''' (3): 484–504.</ref>

According to Lustick, many Israelis are "already repelled by actions against Palestinians they cannot help but associate with Nazi persecution of Jews."{{sfn|Lustick|2019|p=143}}  British scholar [[David Feldman (historian)|David Feldman]] argued that comparisons in relation to the [[2014 Gaza War]] have not been motivated by a broader anti-Jewish subjectivity but by targeted criticism of Israeli policy in military actions.{{sfn|Rosenfeld|2019|p=175-178, 186}} The [[Working Definition of Antisemitism]], which was adopted by the [[International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance]], the [[U.S. Department of State]], and other organizations, has offered several examples in which criticism of Israel may be antisemitic, including "drawing comparison of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EYuFDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Manfred+Gerstenfeld%E2%80%8E%22&pg=PA195 Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: The Dynamics of Delegitimization], chapter by Alan Johnson, page 177</ref> This definition is controversial because of concerns that it could be seen as defining legitimate criticisms of Israel as antisemitic and has been used to censor pro-Palestinian activism. Alternative definitions such as the [[Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism]] have been proposed.<ref name=IHE>{{cite news |title=The problems with an increasingly dominant definition of anti-Semitism (opinion) |work= Inside Higher Ed |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/03/26/problems-increasingly-dominant-definition-anti-semitism-opinion |access-date=8 April 2022 |date=March 26, 2021|author=Neve Gordon and Mark LeVine}}</ref>

Critics of such comparisons like Lesley Klaff and [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] argue that such comparisons not only lack historical and moral equivalence but also risk inciting anti-Jewish sentiment.<ref name="marcus" /><ref name="Klaff"/>  Klaff also see equating Israel with Nazis as a form of incitement and racial aggravation against Jews.<ref name="Klaff" /> According to genocide researcher [[Eyal Levin]], Holocaust Inversion is becoming part of the iconography of a [[new antisemitism]]. This phenomenon, according to Levin, has spread globally, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world and also become prevalent in Western Europe and America, often appearing in what he considers anti-Israel demonstrations and media portrayals.<ref name="Lewin2017">{{cite book |last=Lewin |first=Eyal |title=Blaming the Jews for Acting like Nazis: The Rhetoric of Holocaust Inversion |year=2017}}</ref>

[[Yossi Klein Halevi]], the author of [[The New York Times]] bestseller ''[[Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor]]'', deemed the comparison a transmutation of an archaic dehumanizing [[Antisemitic trope#Holocaust inversion|trope]]:<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|Jewish Journal]] |author=Yossi Klein Halevi |url=https://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/375665/the-end-of-the-post-holocaust-era |title=The End of the Post-Holocaust Era |date=October 10, 2024 |access-date=October 14, 2024 |quote=Oct. 7 shattered Israelis' faith that the state would protect them and shook American Jewry's sense of full social acceptance – but there is a way forward.}}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=The deepest source of anti-Israel animus is the symbolization of the [[Antisemitic trope#Demonization in Christianity|Jew as embodiment of evil]]. The [[Nation of Islam and antisemitism#Farrakhan calls Jews "Satanic" and compares Jews to Termites|satanic Jew]] has been replaced by the satanic Jewish state [...] The end of the post-Holocaust era is expressed most starkly in the inversion of the Holocaust [...] The Jew-as-Nazi is the endpoint of political [[Supersessionism#New Testament|supersessionism]]:<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Religions |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/59 |title=The Cruelty of Supersessionism: The Case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer |volume=13 |issue=1 |year=2022 |access-date=October 14, 2024}}</ref> Not only have we forfeited our identity as "Israel," but we've assumed the identity of [[Nazi Germany#The Holocaust and Final Solution|our worst enemy]].}}

In the first three weeks after October 7, 2023, the [[Indiana University]] Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism reported many instances of Holocaust inversion on social media "with the memory of the Holocaust weaponized".<ref name="e420">{{cite book | last=Finkelstein | first=Norman H. | title=Saying No to Hate | publisher=U of Nebraska Press | date=2024 | isbn=978-0-8276-1523-6 | page=234}}</ref>

== In the 21st century ==
[[File:Nazis.png|thumb|"Israeli soldiers are just following orders" by [[Carlos Latuff]]. ]]

=== Israel ===

In 2024, Israeli-American Holocaust historian [[Omer Bartov]] spoke with Israelis who had fought in Gaza and compared their attitudes to those he had found in his research on German soldiers during World War II:

{{blockquote|text=Having internalised certain views of the enemy – the Bolsheviks as [[Untermenschen]]; Hamas as human animals – and of the wider population as less than human and undeserving of rights, soldiers observing or perpetrating atrocities tend to ascribe them not to their own military, or to themselves, but to the enemy.<ref>{{cite news |title=As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov |access-date=13 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2024}}</ref>}}

=== United Kingdom ===
In the United Kingdom, erstwhile [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Bradford East]], the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician [[David Ward (British politician)|David Ward]], created controversy after signing the ceremonial Book of Remembrance in the Houses of Parliament on [[Holocaust Memorial Day]], with him writing: "I am saddened that the [[Jews]], who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during [[the Holocaust]], could within a few years of liberation from the [[Extermination camp|death camps]] be inflicting atrocities on [[Palestinians]] in the new state of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]." He later said that "a huge operation out there" had distorted what he meant.<ref name="Klaff" /> As a result of the scrutiny over the January 2013 controversy, the Liberal Democrats' leadership threatened Ward with formal disciplinary action over his arguments.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21240036|title=Lib-Dem David Ward MP censured over Israel criticism|work=BBC News|date=28 January 2013|accessdate=18 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507170907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21240036|archive-date=7 May 2017}}</ref>

[[Roger Waters]] of the British rock band [[Pink Floyd]] has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany. In a 2013 interview with ''Counter Punch'', he accused "[[Jewish lobby|the Jewish lobby]]" of being very powerful in the United States and said, "There were many people that pretended that the oppression of the Jews was not going on. From 1933 until 1946. So this is not a new scenario. Except that this time it’s the Palestinian People being murdered."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barat |first=Frank |date=2013-12-06 |title=An Interview with Roger Waters |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/06/an-interview-with-pink-floyds-roger-waters/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=CounterPunch.org |language=en-US}}</ref> American [[rabbi]] and writer [[Shmuley Boteach]] regarded this comparison as [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]], writing in ''[[The Observer]]'', "Mr. Waters, the Nazis were a genocidal regime that murdered 6 million Jews. That you would have the audacity to compare Jews to monsters who murdered them shows you have no decency, you have no heart, you have no soul."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boteach |first=Shmuley |date=2013-12-12 |title=The Anti-Semitic Stench of Pink Floyd |url=https://observer.com/2013/12/the-anti-semitic-stench-of-pink-floyd/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> In a 2017 hour-long video live chat on [[Facebook]], Waters again compared Israel to Nazi Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roger Waters compares Israel to Nazi Germany in Facebook Q&A |url=https://www.jpost.com/bds-threat/roger-waters-compares-israel-to-nazi-germany-in-facebook-q-and-a-499851 |website=The Jerusalem Post|first=Amy|last=Spiro|date=16 July 2017|access-date=4 November 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Turkey ===
In July 2018, Turkish president [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]], while addressing [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Grand National Assembly]] MPs in [[Ankara]], said that the "spirit of [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]" lives on in Israel, commenting specifically that he believes "no difference [exists] between Hitler's obsession with [[Aryan race|a pure race]] and the understanding that these ancient lands are just for the Jews." He also called Israel "the world's most [[Zionism|Zionist]], [[Fascism|fascist]], [[Racism|racist]] state." The statements were condemned by Israeli prime minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], who described [[Presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan's rule]] as "a dark dictatorship" and stated that Erdoğan "is [[Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war|massacring Syrians]] and [[Kurdish–Turkish conflict|Kurds]] and has jailed tens of thousands of his own citizens."<ref name="Recep">{{cite news|url=https://www.itv.com/news/2018-07-24/turkish-president-calls-israel-fascist-and-racist-over-nation-state-law|title=Turkish president calls Israel fascist and racist over nation state law|work=[[ITV.com]]|date=24 July 2018|accessdate=4 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=24 July 2018 |title=Erdogan calls Israel world's 'most fascist, racist' state |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20180724-erdogan-calls-israel-worlds-most-fascist-racist-state |work=[[France 24]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]}}</ref> The spat between the two leaders took place following the Israeli government's adoption of [[Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People]].

=== Palestine ===

In August 2022, the [[President of the State of Palestine]], [[Mahmoud Abbas]], accused Israel of having committed "50 Holocausts" during a visit to [[Berlin]], [[Germany]]. Abbas had responded to a reporter's question about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the 1972 [[Munich massacre]] committed by the internationally active Palestinian militant group [[Black September Organization|Black September]], who were at that time affiliated with Abbas' [[Fatah|Fatah Party]]. When asked if he intended to apologize for the attack, Abbas responded by listing allegations of atrocities committed by Israel. [[Olaf Scholz]], the [[Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany|Chancellor of Germany]], grimaced at the use of the word "Holocausts" but said nothing. Scholz condemned the remarks later. He asserted, "Especially for us Germans, any [[Holocaust trivialization|relativization of the Holocaust]] is unbearable and unacceptable". The German publication ''[[Bild]]'' labeled the incident as antisemitic.<ref>{{cite news|date=16 August 2022|title=Palestinian President Abbas skirts apology for Munich attack|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mahmoud-abbas-ap-palestinian-berlin-israeli-b2146318.html|accessdate=7 September 2022|journal=[[The Independent]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=In Berlin, Abbas says Israel committed 'holocausts' against the Palestinians; Scholz grimaces silently, later condemns remarks|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/in-berlin-abbas-skirts-apology-for-munich-attack-says-israel-committed-holocausts/|date=16 August 2022|accessdate=7 September 2022|journal=[[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref> In response, Abbas said that his answer was not intended to deny the singularity of the Holocaust, which he stated that he condemned in the strongest terms, but that he had intended to discuss the "crimes and massacres committed against the Palestinian people since the [[Nakba]] at the hands of the Israeli forces" in his view.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/130464|title=Statement by the President of Palestine regarding what was stated in the response in joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin|publisher=WAFA|date=17 August 2022|access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref>

=== Tunisia ===
In 2023, Tunisian President [[Kais Saied|Kais Saed]] said, "While [[Tunisians]] protected Jews during the Holocaust, today elderly women and children are being bombed in [[Gaza strip|Gaza]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Friedman |first=Gabe |date=2023-05-16 |title=Days after synagogue attack, Tunisian president criticizes Israel and says his country saved Jews in WWII |url=https://www.jta.org/2023/05/16/global/days-after-synagogue-attack-tunisian-president-criticizes-israel-and-says-his-country-saved-jews-in-wwii |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-11 |title=Deadly Tunisian synagogue attack was premeditated and targeted temple, interior minister says |url=https://apnews.com/article/tunisia-synagogue-attack-7435af3d6715f8b12fe869afa6dec056 |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=AP NEWS|first=Bouazza|last=Ben Bouazza |language=en}}</ref> Rabbi [[Pinchas Goldschmidt]], president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said such remarks incited hate against [[History of the Jews in Tunisia|Tunisian Jews]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Days After Two Jews Shot Dead, Tunisian President Compares Israel to Nazis |url=https://jewishlink.news//world-us/59522-days-after-two-jews-shot-dead-tunisian-president-compares-israel-to-nazis |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=jewishlink.news |date=18 May 2023 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Brazil ===
On 18 February 2024, the President of Brazil [[Lula da Silva]] stirred up controversy due to his statement comparing the actions of Israel in the [[Israel–Hamas war]] to the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="timesofisrael.com"/>

==See also==
*[[Relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world]]
* [[Weaponization of antisemitism]]
*[[Nazi analogies]]
*[[Criticism of the Israeli government]]
*[[Double genocide]]
*[[Fascist (insult)]]
*[[Genocide recognition politics]]
*[[Victimology]]
*[[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379]]
*[[Zionist antisemitism]]
*[[Carlos Latuff]]
*''[[The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism]]''
*[[Islamofascism]]
*[[Putler]], a similar political euphemism used in the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''

*{{cite book |last1=Bartov |first1=Omer |author1-link=Omer Bartov |title=The Holocaust and the Nakba |date=2018 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-54448-1 |language=en |chapter=National Narratives of Suffering and Victimhood: Methods and Ethics of Telling the Past as Personal Political History}}
*{{cite book |last1=Lustick |first1=Ian S. |author1-link=Ian Lustick |title=[[Paradigm Lost|Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality]] |date=2019 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-5195-1 }}
* {{cite book|last=Rosenfeld|first=Alvin H.|title=Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: The Dynamics of Delegitimization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYuFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195|date=9 January 2019|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-03872-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Marcus|first=Kenneth L.|title=Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3z7Fh7xOmcC&pg=PA63|date=30 August 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49119-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Steir-Livny |first1=Liat |title=New Perspectives on Kristallnacht: After 80 Years, the Nazi Pogrom in Global Comparison |date=2019 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=978-1-61249-616-0 |chapter='Kristallnacht in Tel Aviv': Nazi Associations in the Contemporary Israeli Socio-Political Debate}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Comparison of Israel and Nazi Germany}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/14/pink-floyd-frontman-fury-israel-nazis "Former Pink Floyd frontman sparks fury by comparing Israelis to Nazis"] by Vanessa Thorpe and Edward Helmore at ''[[The Guardian]]''
* [https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/7/26/israels-nation-state-law-parallels-the-nazi-nuremberg-laws "Israel's 'nation-state law' parallels the Nazi Nuremberg Laws"] by Susan Abulhawa at [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]]
* [https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-718367 "Herzog calls on Israel's politicians to leave Nazi references out of campaigns"] by Greer Fay Cashman at ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''
* [https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2016-06-21/ty-article/.premium/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-comparing-israel-to-nazi-germany/0000017f-e011-db22-a17f-fcb179b60000 "The Rights and Wrongs of Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany"] by Daniel Blatman at ''[[Haaretz]]''

{{Portalbar|Israel|Germany|History|Politics}}

[[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment]]
[[Category:Holocaust historiography|Inversion]]
[[Category:Linguistic controversies]]
[[Category:Media bias controversies involving Israel]]
[[Category:Media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to war and violence]]
[[Category:Nazi analogies]]
[[Category:New antisemitism]]
[[Category:Political psychology]]
[[Category:Politics of Israel]]
[[Category:Victimology]]
[[Category:Germany–Israel relations]]