The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Auschwitz survivor: 'Israel acts like Nazis'
Exclusive: Graeme Murray and Chris Watt
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/auschwitz-survivor-israel-acts-like-nazis-1.1000918
24 Jan 2010
One of the last remaining Auschwitz survivors has launched a
blistering attack on Israel over its occupation of Palestine as he
began a lecture tour of Scotland.
Dr Hajo Meyer, 86, who survived 10 months in the Nazi death camp,
spoke out as his 10-day tour of the UK and Ireland – taking in three
Scottish venues – got under way. His comments sparked a furious
reaction from hardline Jewish lobby groups, with Dr Meyer branded an
"anti-Semite" and accused of abusing his position as a Holocaust
survivor.
Dr Meyer also attended hearings at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on
Thursday, where five pro-Palestine campaigners are accused of racially
aggravated conduct after disrupting a concert by the Jerusalem Quartet
at the city's Queen's Hall.
Speaking as his tour got under way, Dr Meyer said there were parallels
between the treatment of Jews by Germans in the Second World War and
the current treatment of Palestinians by Israelis.
He said: "The Israelis tried to dehumanise the Palestinians, just like
the Nazis tried to dehumanise me. Nobody should dehumanise any other
and those who try to dehumanise another are not human.
"It may be that Israel is not the most cruel country in the world …
but one thing I know for sure is that Israel is the world champion in
pretending to be civilised and cultured."
Dr Meyer was born in 1924 in Bielefeld, Germany. He was not allowed to
attend school there after November 1938. He then fled to the
Netherlands, alone. In 1944, after a year in the underground, he was
caught by the Gestapo and survived 10 months at Auschwitz
concentration camp in Poland.
He now lives in the Netherlands, and is the author of three books on
Judaism, the Holocaust and Zionism.
Dr Meyer also insisted the definition of "anti-Semitic" had now
changed, saying: "Formerly an anti-Semite was somebody who hated Jews
because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an
anti-Semite is somebody who is hated by Jews."
A spokesman for the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, of
which Dr Meyer is a member, said criticising Israel was "not the same"
as criticising Jews.
Mick Napier, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairman and one
of the five demonstrators facing charges when the court case continues
in March, said: "Palestinians are happy to have him as an ally in
their cause.
"Hajo knows that Israel has a long history of abusing the tragic
history of the Holocaust in order to suppress legitimate criticism of
its own crimes.
"Especially since Gaza, people are no longer taken in by their claim
that anyone that criticises Israel is anti-Semitic."
Dr Meyer's claims met with a furious reaction from pro-Israel groups,
who branded him "a disgrace".
Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice-chairman of the Zionist Federation, said: "I
shall be telling him he is abusing his status as a survivor, and I
shall be telling him that if Israel had been created 10 years earlier,
millions of lives might have been saved.
"Whether he is a survivor or not, to use Nazi comparisons in relation
to Israel's policies is anti-Semitic, unquestionably."
The tour was cynically timed, Mr Hoffman added, to coincide with
Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.
Dr Ezra Golombok, Scottish spokesman for the Israel Information
Office, accused the anti-zionist lobby of "exploiting" Dr Meyer, who
he described as someone "who's got into a situation he doesn't
understand".
"This is a propaganda exercise by Mick Napier and his friends, and
nothing more. It's preposterous to compare Israel with Nazi tactics."
The lecture series, entitled Never Again – For Anyone, continues until
January 30.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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