Calling them Nazis is boring and reductive. Not only is it plainly NOT true, it deprives us of the ability to speak about what they are doing that is specifically horrible. I hear white supremacists and IDF members both called Nazis but I don’t think those two groups would really get along that well. Let’s look at some parallels between Nazi Germany and Israel:
Authoritarian Governance - Both regimes are characterized by strong central governments with little tolerance for dissenting views, often suppressing free speech and opposition movements.
Expansionist Policies - In the case of Nazi Germany, their expansionism was marked by aggressive territorial conquest and annexation. Likewise, Israel’s policies towards Palestinians have been accused of being expansionist in nature, as they continue to build settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Ethnic Cleansing and Displacement - The Holocaust was the most notorious example of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Nazis against the Jewish population. Similarly, Zionist settlers forced around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation. Today, many Palestinians are still displaced and unable to return to their homeland due to Israeli policies.
Racial Purity - During Nazi rule, racial purity became a key tenet of the Third Reich’s ideology. Jews were considered racially inferior and subjected to extreme measures like mass murder in order to preserve the Aryan race. In Israel, there is a longstanding emphasis on Jewishness as a requirement for full citizenship rights, while non-Jewish citizens, especially those of Arab or Palestinian descent, face discrimination and exclusion.
Control over Media and Education - Both regimes sought to control the dissemination of information through state-controlled media and propaganda. They also manipulated education systems to inculcate nationalistic values and a particular historical narrative.
I could go on, but isn’t it nice to talk specifics instead of just lobbing insulting slurs back and forth?
Sure, it’s reductive. I agree. I even alluded to that in my comment. However, it doesn’t deprive us of discussing things further, as you just demonstrated. The fact of the matter is Israel is using many of the same behaviors they don’t like Nazi Germany for using. I don’t think every comment needs to list what they’ve done in order point out how they are behaving like Nazis. That would be very verbose very quickly without adding anything to anyone paying attention. We don’t need to list what Nazi Germany did to say they’re bad, and we equally don’t every time Israel is criticized.
For the point of Nazis not getting along, that isn’t unusual. Many Nazis were killed by Nazis. Some Nazi generals tried to assassinate Hitler. Saying they wouldn’t get along with white supremacists isn’t an argument against them being similar to Nazis.
I prefer talking about the specific way they behave Nazi-like vs just throwing out “NAZI” as a drive-by insult. We learn nothing that way and it’s not factually accurate.
Calling them Nazis is boring and reductive. Not only is it plainly NOT true, it deprives us of the ability to speak about what they are doing that is specifically horrible. I hear white supremacists and IDF members both called Nazis but I don’t think those two groups would really get along that well. Let’s look at some parallels between Nazi Germany and Israel:
Authoritarian Governance - Both regimes are characterized by strong central governments with little tolerance for dissenting views, often suppressing free speech and opposition movements.
Expansionist Policies - In the case of Nazi Germany, their expansionism was marked by aggressive territorial conquest and annexation. Likewise, Israel’s policies towards Palestinians have been accused of being expansionist in nature, as they continue to build settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Ethnic Cleansing and Displacement - The Holocaust was the most notorious example of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Nazis against the Jewish population. Similarly, Zionist settlers forced around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation. Today, many Palestinians are still displaced and unable to return to their homeland due to Israeli policies.
Racial Purity - During Nazi rule, racial purity became a key tenet of the Third Reich’s ideology. Jews were considered racially inferior and subjected to extreme measures like mass murder in order to preserve the Aryan race. In Israel, there is a longstanding emphasis on Jewishness as a requirement for full citizenship rights, while non-Jewish citizens, especially those of Arab or Palestinian descent, face discrimination and exclusion.
Control over Media and Education - Both regimes sought to control the dissemination of information through state-controlled media and propaganda. They also manipulated education systems to inculcate nationalistic values and a particular historical narrative.
I could go on, but isn’t it nice to talk specifics instead of just lobbing insulting slurs back and forth?
Sure, it’s reductive. I agree. I even alluded to that in my comment. However, it doesn’t deprive us of discussing things further, as you just demonstrated. The fact of the matter is Israel is using many of the same behaviors they don’t like Nazi Germany for using. I don’t think every comment needs to list what they’ve done in order point out how they are behaving like Nazis. That would be very verbose very quickly without adding anything to anyone paying attention. We don’t need to list what Nazi Germany did to say they’re bad, and we equally don’t every time Israel is criticized.
For the point of Nazis not getting along, that isn’t unusual. Many Nazis were killed by Nazis. Some Nazi generals tried to assassinate Hitler. Saying they wouldn’t get along with white supremacists isn’t an argument against them being similar to Nazis.
I prefer talking about the specific way they behave Nazi-like vs just throwing out “NAZI” as a drive-by insult. We learn nothing that way and it’s not factually accurate.