More Cairo: On One Hand, There's the Holocaust; On the Other Hand, There's What Jews Are Doing to Palestinians Every Day

Yup. Big applause line, I'm sure.

Erick Erickson has a problem with the "on the other hand" phraseology here, suggesting that the Holocaust and the Palestinian's war on Israel are two sides of the same issue.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people - Muslims and Christians - have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations - large and small - that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

A better "on one hand/on the other hand" would have compared... oh, let's say the suffering of the Palestinians to the suffering the Palestinians impose on the Israelis through constant murder and rocket attacks.

It's not like Obama had to go back 60 years to find some Jewish suffering. He could have gone back to last week.

Yid with Lid says Obama threw Israel under the bus.

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

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