Comment from Jesse
Time January 16, 2009 at 8:53 pm

I’m glad I’m not the only one who has made the connection between how the jews were treated by the Nazi’s and how they’re treating the Palestinians today.

Comment from Lori
Time January 16, 2009 at 9:15 pm

This comparison is offensive. What people don\’t seem to take into account is that Israel was provoked into action having been under attack from the Palestinians and other Arab representatives for years and years. The Nazis were the attackers. There is no allegory here. Israel is not a Nazi state, nor will it ever be. Yes, there is violence in Israel against the Palestinians. There is no denying this, however why shouldn\’t Israel be able to defend itself against an enemy set on destroying not only the country, but the world\’s populations of Jews. Hamas is the enemy here and they are the ones hiding behind their own citizens and putting them in harm\’s way.

The reason why such cartoons are deemed anti-semitic is that the cartoons so narrow minded. There is a failure to consult history. We\’ve all heard over the years about the markets or buses that were blown up by suicide bombers. Many, many innocent Israelis died at the hands of Palestinians. It\’s a two way street. But to compare what is happening to Gaza to the plight of the Jews in the Holocaust is completely offensive and incredibly ignorant.

Comment from Robert
Time January 16, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Mr. Fish’s cartoon is WAY beyond a political statement and he should be ashamed to use that image, even to try and make a statement. Where has everyone been to complain about Hamas rockets that land in southern Israel? As for his statements comparing Gaza to a WWII ghetto??!?!? In Warsaw there really was nowhere to go and they were surrounded on all sides. Gaza? There’s always Sinai and Egypt. Oh, wait a minute, didn’t Egypt cut them off too?

Comment from Jamie Parks
Time January 16, 2009 at 10:06 pm

Some Jews in Israel actually see this ironic similarity very clearly. But what could possibly be a REAL solution? I see there to be only 1 of the following 4 options ever likely to happen.

1. Two separate states? (Everyone knows this won’t work. If it would it would have already happened.)
2. Israel leaves? (Everyone knows this won’t happen. If it could they would have already left.)
3. Palestinian genocide and holocaust continues, capitalism and democracy prevail…
4. The Aliens land…

You know what I’m hoping for, but like everyone reading (except for the Palestinians) you’ll have to choose your own adventure.

Comment from Tom Minkler
Time January 19, 2009 at 5:26 am

There are so many things wrong. The world should not have imposed a state on a region, especially a religious one. Horrible idea and we\\\’re paying the price. According to the U.S. Constutution theocracies are not acceptable (the \\"founding fathers\\" left Europe because of it!).

Yes, Israel is not like the Nazis because the Jews didn\\\’t bomb and kill the Nazis (however ineffectively) and it was all internal (the world didn\\\’t install them there).

Do the Radical Muslims believe the holocaust or not??!

I think the main problem is the lack of freedom and free thought in the Middle Eastern/Muslim countries. Their version of Islam seems to be missing the concept of FREE WILL. Many modern \\"Christians\\" (e.g. the \\"religious right\\") seem to be forgetting that concept as well. It isn\\\’t really even Biblical (is it?) but it was deduced logically from \\"love your neighbor as your self.\\"

For instance, some cartoons satirizing Mohammad are printed in European newspapers, but the Rad Muslims want to kill the authors! The appropriate response is to print equivalent cartoons. But they overreact like schoolyard bullies because they have no self-esteem! And it\\\’s Free Will again.

Two-state solution is the only one possible. Jerusalem must be shared (but Sharon f*ed that up). It\\\’s hard to imagine that ever happening, it\\\’s a matter of \\"allowing\\" the middle-eastern peoples the freedoms we believe God gave every human being, but not before they are ready to use them without killing people.

For instance we supported Saddam because we believed the alternative was worse. At some point we had to decide it was OK to let the people decide. (Ack we helped repress them so now it\\\’s OK to bomb and kill them so they can be free from the repression we assisted???) Look how much trouble it is, but democracy and rights are not that easily balanced (think about the recent recounts and controversies in the US).

I really think the key is FREE WILL. God gave gay people the right to do whatever they want (e.g. marry) unless it takes away my rights. If we can\\\’t even grasp that here how do we expect the middle east to sort itself out?

Comment from Matt
Time January 19, 2009 at 11:05 pm

You Mr. Fish are another in a long line of people who will eventually get all of us killed by people who don’t want to hug out all the worlds problems. If I shot at you and your family over a property dispute and you then gave me that property you’d expect me to stop right? If I shot at you 8,000 times over the next three years wouldn’t you do something about it?! Should they just randomly shoot 8,000 rockets back into Gaza?

What the f%# is wrong with you?

Comment from Chris
Time January 22, 2009 at 2:07 pm

why is it that any negative criticism of israel is immediately jumped on as anti-semitic, bad, horrible, etc? these cries that gaza has been “attacking” israel for years and years and they just couldn’t take it anymore? they live in a GHETTO! 80% unemployment, no visas, little food, medicine, and now electricity! the comparison is accurate, although the portrayal may be too harsh for some, the world needs to look at the underlying social and economic reasons BEHIND why palestinians have been reduced to firing rockets at israel. and, let’s do some comparison: 10 years, over 10,000 rockets fired from gaza, 11 deaths. 3 weeks, over 1200 palestinians dead. hmmmmm. doesn’t seem too reasonable to me.

let’s not forget that some of the points of the truce included israel’s commitment to 1)opening the borders, 2)allowing medical and other help in, 3)providing food and other infrastructure assistance. all have been completely ignored on israel’s part.

i’m really sorry that ANYONE has died, on either side. but israel has the money, the weapons (from the US), the eduction, and the means to HELP these people. uplift them. maybe, someday things will change.

Comment from jone
Time January 23, 2009 at 12:22 am

Bottom line Jewish people have been blessed by God He gave them that land and no one has a right to take it! If you’ve ever been to the middle east u will see that God has blessed the muslim with bigger land.Both and all of those countries are blessed with a lot of wealth!So then leave the Jews alone they have such a small country and yet the others around them want it.It will never belong to the Palistin people That land waz never ment for them.If you’ve ever been there you would see on the border walls who’s for peace and who’s for war!palistin people are hateful and they hate americans too!No matter what anyone does that country will always belong to the Jewish people!And for us Americans a little advise-”Let us never forget how we got our country.It was found/blessed by God.” He tells us you bless my people I will bless you-you curse my people I will curse you!This is why for so many years we have stood with Isreal.May God bless us w/this understanding!

Comment from Daniel P
Time January 23, 2009 at 11:42 am

Simply put, the Jews were not firing rockets into German cities, and their leaders sworn goal was the not destruction of the German state. I\\\’m not offended by your comic or your opinion Mr. Fish, and your more than entitled to both. I just think your dead wrong.

Comment from Vitaliy
Time January 23, 2009 at 8:45 pm

“The Jew as Nazi allegory is probably the most common editorial cartoon that is drawn in the Middle East.”

And the second most common cartoon is Jews literally drinking blood of Muslim children. There are also plenty cartoons about Jewish conspiracies to rule the world. (The puppet master with long nose and a star of David is a stock character in Arab cartoons.) Can we look forward to seeing such cartoons on your site as well? Just because something is commonly done (like racism in America until recent times) doesn’t make it acceptable.

As for the comparison of Palestinian “refugee camps” with Nazi death camps, let’s start with the fact that all of these “refugee camps” were created by Arabs themselves. Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt were the countries that locked up all Palestinian refugees into camps, refusing to allow Palestinians to integrate with local population. Many of these camps ended up under Israeli control after 1967, but the living conditions in camps still under Arab rule are no better than the conditions in West Bank and Gaza. Yet we don’t see any cartoons drawing Arabs as Nazis, torturing Palestinian victims.

When discussing recent conflict in Gaza, your comparison becomes even more rediculous. One country responded to hundreds of rockets fired against its cities, often from schools, mosques, and other civilan buildings, by launching operation 60-70% of whose casualties were enemy fighters. (According to most military experts, this is a high accuracy rate for urban warfare.) The other coutry built Death Camps that killed more Jews in a single day that total number of people who died in Israel/Palestine over the last ten years.

The actions of Israel are far more restrained than actions of other Middle Eastern countries under similar circumstances. So the only reason Middle East is full of cartoons depicting Jews as Nazis is the same as the reason it’s full of cartoons depicting Jews as baby-eaters, or as conspirators trying to take over the world.