Turkish hypocrisy
An edited version of this letter appeared in the Jerusalem Post, Feb 3, 2009:
Sir:
I accuse Turkish PM Erdogan of hypocrisy. We Jews, who experienced a Genocide of our own during WWII, have restrained ourselves in relation to the Genocide carried out by the Turks against the Armenians during WWI. We have done this because we were persuaded that it was politic not to affront our Turkish ally by berating them with this issue.
However, in light of PM Erdogan's outburst against our President Shimon Peres at the Davos Conference ("Erdogan storms off stage after bitter spat with Peres at Davos" 30/1/09), where he accused Peres as a symbol of Israel of "killing peoiple" and said "there have been many people killed, and I think it's wrong and it's not humanitarian." Let us compare the numbers. In the war in Gaza, a total of ca. 1,300 people were killed, of whom ca. 1,000 have been documented by Israel as Hamas terrorists, consequently the number of actual civilians killed "women and children" is only ca. 300. While this is tragic, it is about time that Turkey owned up to the deliberate and systematic murder of ca. 1.5 million Armenian civilians, including women and children, that it's State committed.
The reasons for this massacre were clearly to remove the Armenians from their land within the Turkish Empire, and this massacre was carried out by the Turkish Army on the orders of the Turkish Government. Turkey has never admitted this atrocious crime, has never paid reparations to its Armenian citizens and has not returned the stolen land to Armenians or to Armenia.
I am upset that President Peres apologized to PM Erdogan, I believe in view of the relative magnitude of the humanitarian crimes (300 to 1.5 million), PM Erdogan owes President Peres and the State of Israel an apology! It is this difference that is so disproportionate.
Jack Cohen
Netanya
At the same time, I could have written a letter in a similar vein about the Spanish Government and its criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. While the IDF killed only ca. 300 civilians, this was chicken feed compared to the thousands of new Jews or conversos (converted Jews) tortured and murdered at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. It should be noted that the Spanish Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, although appointed by the Pope, required Spanish Royal approval for his work, and it was readily given, as long as the Church divided the spoils with the Spanish State. So they prospered on the blood and suffering of the weak. And this is not even mentioning the human rights crimes of both sides in the Spanish Civil War of 1938.
But, the problem in Spain is not primarily the Spanish Government, even though it is leftist and anti-Israel, it is the attempt to use the laws allowing universal prosecutions for human rights abuses ("war crimes") by pro-Palestinian groups against IDF officers. This would make a mockery of all human rights laws and consequently many people see the abuse in it. Several years ago a similar situation developed in Belgium when PM Sharon was due to visit and the Belgian Parliament quickly voted to amend the laws to prevent such abuse.
Now the same situation is ocurring in Britain and Norway as well as Spain. Let's hope their Governments see reason and amend these laws in the near future. Otherwise, there may also be cases brought against Hamas leaders for the war crime of deliberately targeting civilians with rockets, throwing Fatah leaders off roofs, and knee-capping their enemies, and then we'll see how they like that.
Sir:
I accuse Turkish PM Erdogan of hypocrisy. We Jews, who experienced a Genocide of our own during WWII, have restrained ourselves in relation to the Genocide carried out by the Turks against the Armenians during WWI. We have done this because we were persuaded that it was politic not to affront our Turkish ally by berating them with this issue.
However, in light of PM Erdogan's outburst against our President Shimon Peres at the Davos Conference ("Erdogan storms off stage after bitter spat with Peres at Davos" 30/1/09), where he accused Peres as a symbol of Israel of "killing peoiple" and said "there have been many people killed, and I think it's wrong and it's not humanitarian." Let us compare the numbers. In the war in Gaza, a total of ca. 1,300 people were killed, of whom ca. 1,000 have been documented by Israel as Hamas terrorists, consequently the number of actual civilians killed "women and children" is only ca. 300. While this is tragic, it is about time that Turkey owned up to the deliberate and systematic murder of ca. 1.5 million Armenian civilians, including women and children, that it's State committed.
The reasons for this massacre were clearly to remove the Armenians from their land within the Turkish Empire, and this massacre was carried out by the Turkish Army on the orders of the Turkish Government. Turkey has never admitted this atrocious crime, has never paid reparations to its Armenian citizens and has not returned the stolen land to Armenians or to Armenia.
I am upset that President Peres apologized to PM Erdogan, I believe in view of the relative magnitude of the humanitarian crimes (300 to 1.5 million), PM Erdogan owes President Peres and the State of Israel an apology! It is this difference that is so disproportionate.
Jack Cohen
Netanya
At the same time, I could have written a letter in a similar vein about the Spanish Government and its criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. While the IDF killed only ca. 300 civilians, this was chicken feed compared to the thousands of new Jews or conversos (converted Jews) tortured and murdered at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. It should be noted that the Spanish Grand Inquisitor Torquemada, although appointed by the Pope, required Spanish Royal approval for his work, and it was readily given, as long as the Church divided the spoils with the Spanish State. So they prospered on the blood and suffering of the weak. And this is not even mentioning the human rights crimes of both sides in the Spanish Civil War of 1938.
But, the problem in Spain is not primarily the Spanish Government, even though it is leftist and anti-Israel, it is the attempt to use the laws allowing universal prosecutions for human rights abuses ("war crimes") by pro-Palestinian groups against IDF officers. This would make a mockery of all human rights laws and consequently many people see the abuse in it. Several years ago a similar situation developed in Belgium when PM Sharon was due to visit and the Belgian Parliament quickly voted to amend the laws to prevent such abuse.
Now the same situation is ocurring in Britain and Norway as well as Spain. Let's hope their Governments see reason and amend these laws in the near future. Otherwise, there may also be cases brought against Hamas leaders for the war crime of deliberately targeting civilians with rockets, throwing Fatah leaders off roofs, and knee-capping their enemies, and then we'll see how they like that.
posted by Jack Cohen at 11:00 AM
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