Would you say that John Glenn is a war criminal as well? He flew over Korea. As far as I remember…North Korea had never invaded the United States.

Yes.

“anti-semite” comes from Wilhelm Marr, who coined the term to refer to Jews. He was an anti-semite himself. Jews didn’t invent the word, the term, or the concept. Other people did. Don’t tag Jews with creating something they’d rather have never been created. But when you use it, at least use it properly.

“The Holocaust” wasn’t an invention of the Israeli Government. It first started being used in the late 50′s, and 60′s, and only came into real prominence after the miniseries in 1978. In fact, many Jews don’t like the term at all and prefer “Shoah”, as Holocaust signifies a burned offering to “God”. There is still an ongoing debate in Jewish circles as to whether or not the term is appropriate, but it appears to be here to stay. I also have never, ever, met a Jew who was offended by somebody referring to it as “The Nazi Holocaust” or any equally descriptive term, and I have never seen a Holocaust museum display which does not mention the millions of others massacred along with the Jews. If you actually take the time to read the literature, instead of just spewing out hatred about things Israeli online, you might actually discover that the reason the topic is so singular is because of the hitherto unforeseen methods of mass extermination and planned execution on a literally global scale – not because Jews say so, but because almost all historians say so.

Also, I beg to differ on the “racist Israeli government” line. I recently moved to Haifa and you could have fooled me that this is a racist state. After all, I walk out into the street and see Arabs (Christian and Muslim), Ethiopians, Russians, Georgians, Moroccans, Yemenites, Americans, French, and even Indian walking down the streets. Israel lists Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English as official languages they cater to – because there are a hell of a lot of people who speak those languages living here and working here as citizens. You’ll also see tons of other ethnicities working and living here – happily, I might add.

If you’re thinking that they’re all Jewish, you’d be dead wrong. I live in a sizably Christian Arab city, but I was in Beer Sheva last week and surrounded by Muslim Arabs – some of the women who were wearing full Burkas (as it’s not illegal to do so unlike France – where I recently moved from). Some of those Bedouins even volunteer for the army and serve in tracker units which are extremely dangerous and highly decorated. They’re not Jewish either.

I’m not saying everything is happy and great between all types of ethnicities, but it sure isn’t a racist government. And if you were snidely referring to the Palestinians, I might remind you that they are not a race at all. They’re a nationality – or, at least, that is what many Palestinians would want us to believe (and I do).

In summation: I don’t consider you pedantic, but merely grossly uninformed.

Iraq was in a state of war against Israel since 1948. During a state of war, you don’t need another “provocation”.  The Israelis bombed Osirak – a nuclear reactor. In hindsight, I’m glad they did. They also managed to take it out without a full scale invasion “on the cheap”, and without an occupation lasting ten years. Overall, I’d call it a success.

Would you say that John Glenn is a war criminal as well? He flew over Korea. As far as I remember…North Korea had never invaded the United States.

Probably a GBush wouldn’t say that, though..

So in a way, a very sad and tragic way, this was the perfect ending for that little piece of paper. Kind of like this has been accomplished, now it is time to rest.

As to The Holocaust, The Nazi Holocaust, The Jewish Holocaust, good marketing is simply that, the only issue I have ever had with the way those events are remembered is it typically excludes those Ito mentions; along with the Jews another, approximately, 6 million political prisoners and assorted untermensch were worked and starved to death by the Nazis.

For me the camp system was responsible for closer to 12 million murders, every one as cold-blooded and methodical as the attempted extermination of the Jews.

The desire to exterminate the Jews and all other undesirables was so strong that it was conducted to the detriment of the war effort. The goal of the leadership, who knew this was all going to end, was to wipe out everyone, especially the Jews, regardless of the impact those operations had on the war, before the war ended.

When one looks at those events in this light, the holocaust is in fact a more singular event as opposed to so many other atrocities and genocides.

People will consider you a boringly pedantic buzzkiller at parties, though.

http://www.refusingtokill.net/Israel/israeliaiforcepilots.htm