Achmadinijad's Secret Weapon

By Moshe Feiglin

Why does Achmadinijad keep banging on the Holocaust drum? What does he need it for?

Achmadinijad is very smart. His world view is grounded in the labyrinths of the Middle East, but he understands the weak spots of the West. Achmadinijad understands that the Holocaust created the world opinion that gave birth to the State of Israel. It is hard to argue with him on that point. The chance that the UN would have decided on the establishment of the State of Israel before the Holocaust is miniscule.

But the Holocaust is not just a one-time tool that Israel used to tweak the conscience of the world before the fateful vote. It is the tool that the State of Israel uses until this very day to justify its existence. Just like a beggar who displays his open wounds to drum up business, Israel coerces every VIP who visits here to run directly from the airport to the horrors of the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Between us -- have you ever seen another country that justifies it existence by explaining that there is no other choice? "Look Mr. President... Please understand, Mr. Prime Minister, did you see what they did to us when we had no State? After pictures like these, can you even ask why Israel must exist?"

The ploy worked for fifty years. But the world is already tired of it. It is very unfortunate that you were once persecuted, but it doesn't give you the right to steal the land of a different nation -- that in the meantime has also learned how to create photo-ops of wretchedness and suffering, entangling the entire Western world in a struggle with the Islamic world.

Achmadinijad clearly identifies the weak point of Israel's claim:

If the only justification for Israel's existence is the Holocaust, then you know what? We'll find the Jews a solution in Europe or in outer space...

And if the world will close its eyes again, as it managed to do in 1944,I am willing to do the dirty work and rid the world of the Jewish problem. I even dare to claim that the Holocaust never occurred, and nothing happened to me. If you don't get in my way, I will finish the job for you. It won't take more than a few minutes. By the time you open your eyes, it will all be over. We won't even have to deny anything.

Achmadinijad is also smart enough to surround himself with Jews. That way, he can say to the world, "What do you mean that I am Hitler? Did you ever see Hitler hug a Jew? On the contrary! I like Jews. All that I oppose is the Zionist attempt to turn the Jews into a nation that works within history and influences it."

In truth, I do not understand why everybody is so up in arms over the Ultra-Orthodox Jews that attended the Holocaust denial conference in Iran. Achmadinijad has not yet killed one Jew. Arafat, on the other hand, declared that his goal was to destroy Israel and never renounced it. Not only did he make declarations, he also acted on them. He murdered more Jewish citizens than any person since Hitler. But Arafat was the darling of Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu and a long line of Israeli personalities. So what does everyone want from an odd Jew from Brooklyn? Is he the Prime Minister of Israel? A Knesset Member? A prominent journalist? If Binyamin Netanyahu could warmly shake Arafat's hand and tell the world that he had "found a new friend," why should we be appalled by some bizarre Jews from the most eccentric fringes of Ultra-Orthodox Jewry who also found a friend from the same neighborhood?

The hugs that Arafat received from the representatives of the State of Israel obliterated Israel's most basic survival instinct. Not only did we no longer see any justification for our existence other than the Holocaust, we even began to accept the opposite claim -- that suggests that our existence be terminated.

Achmadinijad's best weapon is his claims. On one hand, they are based on Israel's inability to justify its existence for positive reasons. On the other hand, they play on Western Anti-Semitism and get additional maneuvering space in exchange. That is exactly what Hitler did. When the American bombers flew over Auschwitz without bombing it, he got additional time to finish his job.

To deal with Achmadinijad, we must deal with his claims. Israel currently fears the Jewish answer, rendering it incapable of justifying its existence. As a result, it cannot protect itself. Not from the Kassam and not from a nuclear Iran.

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