Don’t mention the war

There’s a reason to keep Nazis out of the rhetoric, however heated.

Or maybe two. It exposes you to ridicule. It also means other folks might mention the war.

Look, I like Danny Ayalon. He was a terrific ambassador, he got onto the embassy grounds a range of the American public so broad — evangelical Christians, African American activists, Latinos, Democrats, Republicans — that you’d be hard pressed to find the same mix dining together at the local Arby’s.

But equating Richard Goldstone with "good Germans"? From Thursday’s Jerusalem Post, following on the Yedioth Achronot "expose" (it’s all old hat, by the way) that Goldstone sent black South Africans to the gallows under the Apartheid regime:

“This so-called respected judge is using this [Gaza] report in order to atone for his sins and gain international legitimacy,” Ayalon opined, referring to rumors that  Goldstone had sought work as a judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The deputy foreign minister said that he did not accept Goldstone’s response to the [South Africa] report that he was a part of the system and had to respect the laws of the state, occasionally having to enforce laws he was opposed to.

“I don’t want to exaggerate, but these are the same explanations we heard in Nazi Germany after World War II,” Ayalon said. “That is not an explanation that justifies his actions."

I would like to exaggerate, but instead, let me spell this out:

* Plenty of people  (Israel and others) have made the case that Goldstone’s report on the Gaza war is, mostly, specious. 

* Personal attacks are not going to make it more specious.

* Comparisons to the Nazis always, always bite back. Israel sold arms to, traded with, in some instances allied with Apartheid South Africa. At the time, when pressed on the matter, Israeli diplomats always boiled it down to "we take whatever friends we can get." (And I don’t remember budding diplomat Danny Ayalon sticking his neck out to say any different.)

How is that better than Goldstone’s defense, that he was working within the system?

Think of what this does: If Goldstone was a "good German" what does that make Israel? Fascist Italy? What about Haj Amin al Husseini? He also flirted with Hitler because he thought he needed "whatever friends he could get."

Of course, Israel’s friendliness to the Apartheid regime does not match the depravity of Mussolini, or Husseini — but neither is Goldstone Eichmann.

But you see where this "Nazi" thing takes you.

Also, most of South Africa’s Jews worked within the system. (And the minority who didn’t — well, there’s not a lot of love lost between them and the current Israeli government.)

Does Ayalon want to create a culture, a vibe, where, by damaging Goldstone, he endangers a Diaspora Jewish community? Does he think the safeties created by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be dismantled?

Really?

I’d better stop, if only because Basil Fawlty says it best: