Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence

ANONYMOUSE,

Too bad for you that the Israelis are not the unarmed Jews of WW2 nazi infested Europe.

Islamofascism will be defeated as your nazis were defeated.

It is sad that there is no true 'freedom of speech' in our supposed Democratic country. Mr. Gandhi's statements, although too broad and overencompassing, did touch on the truth. The truth that our Jewish heritage does not allow us to swallow. We can not continue to rely on and blame the Holocaust for everything bad or negative in our present.
It is also unjustified and unprovable to call someone's opinions anti-semitic. Antisemitism is an emotive, expressive hositility towards Jews as a religious, racial, or ethnic group. To classify someone's opinions as anti-semitic is simply uncultured, irrational and illogical.

That what Mr Ghandy choosed to say on the american newspaper. Other issues from his region seems to be less important. So, I assume this propogandist belongs to the political "nonviolent wing" of modern Nazi movement. BTW, Gebbels didn't operate the gas chambers by himself. May he also could be called "nonviolent".

Tony Silver,

It's a ridiculous PR stunt at best to call the situation in Israel apartheid and even more insulting to those who actually had to live through the realities of apartheid. You should be ashamed.

As a general rule, do not comment unless you actual know the facts, which it is clear you do not. I encourage you to find a nice home in the Gaza Strip as a likely white Christian man. I am sure you will be welcomed with opened arms with your wisdom and revisionist history. Why don't you go to Israel before you perpetuate Palestinian marketing tactics.

Socrate's son too, there is a rumour, was not really a genius.

Mercy,

Funny, I don't think many of our Jewish ancestors who were persecuted would agree with you. Jews must be pretty talented if they can start wars and oppress people throughout the ages when for the past few thousand years, they have been oppressed by Christians, Muslims, Romans, and everyone who came before.

I do agree that the Christians have historically caused far more of a menace, but given their positions of power and head start, it makes sense. I think it's only a matter of time before Muslims catch up as they are really applying themselves.

I would be ashamed to be Muslim these days and find myself lumped in with your Jihadist idiots. When in the Muslim community going to do something sincere and in public about their own internal problems. As it stands, statistically no other religion currently is pursuing violence with such vigor.

It is easy to picture the response if Ghandi has posted this fluff and replaced the word Jewish with Muslim and Israel with Saudia Arabia. I think at best his life might amount to the contents of a jar by this time today.

For the record, I do not believe in organized religion so do not lump me in with anyone.

The holocaust was not just the result of a warped individual, but many collaborators.

Boatloads of refugees arrived in other countries, including Canada and America, only to be turned back to Europe and the gas chambers.

"The world did feel sorry for the episode.." The Holocaust was just an "episode?" Is this much like 9-11 being just a "hiccup" in both American and World History?

Gandhi's apology was short sighted; in fact, I didn't even interpret it as being sincere. In my eyes, this blog should never have been accepted. Humans rely on history in order to construct a better future. Without the past, lessons are never learned and the same mistakes occur time and again.

Regardless of his personal feelings toward an entire race or country, he leads an institute which devotes itself to furthering peaceful intervention, interaction and education. Maybe Gandhi needs to concentrate more on his own institute rather than on his own bigoted feelings.

That's not much of an apology! Now Arun is essentially saying, "well, as long as a Jew hates Israel and thinks Israel shouldn't defend itself against murderous Arab terror attacks, then he's okay with me. But the rest of those Jews,the ones who think that Israel needs a military to defend its citizens, I include them with the Israelis, who I think are going to cause the destruction of humanity." Are you kidding me? He still doesn't get what is morally wrong with his statements.

It's a mystery why he would focus on Israel as the creator of "snake pits" and violence, rather than the Palestinians, who have based their entire culture on extremism, incitement, martyrdom and murderous terror attacks. Israel has reached out in peace to the Arabs repeatedly and been bombed in return. Arun, you are an embarrassment to all decent people.

(And it should also be the Washington Post and Newsweek who should be apologizing for allowing such a bigoted screed to be featured on their website as if it were remotely socially acceptable to bash Israel and the Jews for simply wanting to live)

I have read all the comments to Mr. Gandhi's article. As always the Jewish commentators are ignorant of the history of Israel and they repeat like parrots the AIPAC/ADL version of events. If they knew the history of Israel, they'll know that the Israelites never considered a dialog and a compromise that benefited both, them and the people they were displacing, them and their neighbors. On the contrary they arrived in Palestine totally armed, and used terrorism to displace the inhabitants of the land. Then, they proceed to arm themselves to the teeth (they have more than 200 nuclear warheads) with the help of our various administrations and our Congresspeople which have submitted to the political and economic blackmail of the AIPAC/ADL.
As for the Muslim menace, please read history and tell if there has been any civilization that has caused more destruction to the world in favor of Europe, and then the USA, than the Jewish-Christian Civilization. Read history of Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America.

Does the Washington Post believe that Ghandi's proclaiming that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in the "Culture of Violence" (that) " is eventually going to destroy humanity"? In view of the history of Arab initiated violence such as the Lebanese war of 2006, the continuous rocket attacks from Gaza, the refusal by so many of them to even recognize Israel's right to exist, etc., etc., that Israel is what Ghandi says it is? Does his screed fit your rules regarding defamation, degradation based on ethnicity, etc.? If so, how can you allow it to be posted on your web site?

Mr. Ghandi;

J'Accuse!

If one assumes the president of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence is intellectually capable of understanding "violence", to oppose its appearances in the real world, one would be WRONG!.

Your recent posting "We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity", proves you lack both the intellectual capacity to understand "violence" and the ability (or willingness) to oppose its appearances in the real world.

Calling Israel and the Jews the biggest players in provoking violence, while ignoring the daily TV, radio, and media coverage of Iran's President, Osama Ben Laden, Hezbollah, Hamas, and countless Islamic Clerics and other official Islamic sources urging their 1.5 BILLION Muslim followers to murder Jews and annihilate Israel is an Orwellian inversion of fact.

Such inversions must be child's play for an intellectual, moral giant like you. You, who attacks Israel for building a fence to deter suicide bombers and terrorists (most Muslim) from entering and murdering its citizens, while your beknighted India is building a much larger, longer fence for the the same purpose.

SHAME on you. And SHAME on the Washington Post for publishing such intellectually and morally bankrupt garbage.

We respectfully await your reply.

Richard Senturia, Director
Citizens for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East
231 S. Bemiston, suite 800
Clayton, MO 63105

314-854-9128 (office)
314-397-5230 (personal cell)

Having just re-read the "rules" of commentary on this site, it disturbs me that the Post is not responsible for the content of any comments by third parties, but seems to be very irresponsible with regard to the article by Gandhi.
In an ideal world, one can preach non-violence and "love thy neighbor" but that's a hell of a lot harder to do when you have not one but thousands of guns and rockets pointed at your home and family.
As Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, if for good men to do nothing." It is a little late to reach out to neighbors who have sworn to commit themselves to your destruction. If you think, Mr. Gandhi, that you can reason with a rabid dog, then I invite you to sit down with some of the more militant Arab leaders, but until you do, please don't excoriate Israel and the Jews (a rather broad generalization, to say the least) for self-defensive postures.
Israel has probably done more in the last 50 years to improve the lot of the average Palestinian family, through advances in medicine and technology, than all the Arab country governments put together. Wake up!

So in the opinion of the author, and many commenters in this forum "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in the culture that will destroy humanity".
So it would seem that to "save humanity"- you'd better stop the Jews! Only by excising the Jews from the world can humanity be saved. From this perspective the Holocaust was really an attempt to "save humanity". Just ask Hitler!

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: 'by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.' -Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

...the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew. -Mein Kampf

"If only one country, for whatever reason, tolerates a Jewish family in it, that family will become the germ center for fresh sedition. If one little Jewish boy survives without any Jewish education, with no synagogue and no Hebrew school, it [Judaism] is in his soul. Even if there had never been a synagogue or a Jewish school or an Old Testament, the Jewish spirit would still exist and exert its influence. It has been there from the beginning and there is no Jew, not a single one, who does not personify it."

- Robert Wistrich, Hitler's Apocalypse, p. 122; from a conversation with Croatian Foreign Minister General Kvaternik, July 21, 1941

"The internal expurgation of the Jewish spirit is not possible in any platonic way. For the Jewish spirit as the product of the Jewish person. Unless we expel the Jewish people. Unless we expel the Jewish people soon, they will have judaized our people within a very short time."

- Jackel, Hitler's Worldview, p. 52; from a speech at Nuremberg, January 13, 1923

So to everyone who insists that this author in NOT anti-semitic, and who jump to delegitimize any complaints of anti-semitism, where do YOU draw the line? Or was Hitler right in your opinion? I don't see very much difference between these quotes from Hitler, this author's opinions, and many comments in this forum.

Terrible article.

Israel is the leader of "culture of violence"???

... Look at the entire arab world

Anti-semetic spew...

well below the WP standards

"Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you?"

This policy was an abysmal failure with Hitler in Nazi Germany. The British tried appeasement. The Jews wore the stars, moved into the ghettos, and got on the trains. Hitler took Europe. And every last Jew was shot, gassed, or burned alive.

Ghandi KNOWS this. To suggest appeasement of radical Islamists dedicated to Israels's death -- who democratically elected leaders to this platform and who march to the chant "Death to Israel, Death to the Jews" -- is to suggest Jewish suicide.

No wonder Ghandi thinks the future of Jews is bleak. He is so arrogant as to presume we would be foolish enough to accept his advice!

Mr. Ghandi supposedly represents an organization dedicated to resolving conflicts by exploring solutions. Yet, his article posted, on the Washington Post web site, represents a viewpoint that is contrary to the goals of his organization. It is one of the most biased article I have ever read. It contains some of the same kind of calumny the world witnessed in the 1930s and hear today from the Islamic world. Is this how his organization finds solutions to world problems?

For example, Ghandi's application of the term "Culture of Violence" is revealing. He smears Israel and Jews when he equates the term "Culture of Violence" with Israel's efforts at defending itself.

The Washington Post, a major news outlet, has allowing itself to be used as a pawn in the on-going effort to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel. At the very least, if the Post permits an article of this nature, it should similarly post scholarly articles that refute scurrelious comments such as are contained in Ghandi's opinion piece.

Journalistic ethics demands this !!

That fact is Israel is nothing but a FORTRESS seving the American Jewish Imperialists.
It looks like a CANCER put by Imperiaists in the HEART OF THE ARAB WORLD.

Thanks to the powerful American Zionist Lobby,that baby Israel exists.

Israel is an apartheid State of TERROR !

Sad to know all those facts.

Ghandi's right, and he's wrong: there is indeed a cult of violence, but it is centered in Hamas' and surrounding Arab countries' unwillingness to live in peace with Israel. The Israeli reaction to this is forceful and not warm and fuzzy, but Lord knows, there's enough reason for that. And it's not out of proportion.
Ghandi and The Post should ask "Who makes the violence?" "Who's prepared to accept a two-state solution, and who not?" Making nice by Israel won't fix the problem. Accepting Israel's right to live in peace will.

I belive that Mr.Ghandi point of view is quite right.
Israel needs to stop its apartheid policy and its abuse of its military machines in order to live in peace in the heart of the Arab World.

This article by Arun Gandhi is outrageous, especially given that Gandhi is supposed to be a supporter of non-violence.

Israelis all know that in peacetime, Israel will survive and prosper. It is not the Israelis who want war! Yes, Israel occasionally defends itself. I wonder just what Gandhi would prefer it to do? Simply dying is no good: that merely enables one's killers.

If we want to preserve human civilization, I think we need to start with truth. We humans fare poorly without truth. And truth includes distinguishing between aggressors and victims.

One befriends allies. One befriends neutrals. One befriends former enemies. But one ought not enable outright enemies. I think Gandhi's suggestions are a poor idea. In addition, I think there was no need for a major newspaper to sully its reputation by publishing them.

" It is hard to reason with, negotiate with, or create a working relationship with, forces who insist on your ultimate demise."

No Steven. What it is, is impossible!

As a Jew (and non religious) I have to agree with one point made. It does seem like we want the world to weep into eternity.
Well, I for one am suffering from, compassion fatigue! I really am quite tired of hearing about the holocaust, as awful as it was. I've been so inundated I no longer care much. It's over and done.
I'm tired of it.

Hakim says "Here's a guy who exercises his right to free speech and gets hit with over 377 vitriolic messages. Shame on you, jews."

So Jews don't have the same rights to free speech. Shame on you Hakim

I'm a Jew, and while I think my co-religionists can sometimes overreact, I don't think this is such a case.

Mr. Gandhi's comments about Israel, Jews and the Holocaust may be the saddest I have ever read, considering the source. Like most bigots, he is blithely unaware of his prejudice. What he wrote is simply anti-Semitic. Period.

I think Jon Meacham, who so often cloaks himself in the spirit of religion, should be particularly ashamed to be associated with this web site.

For someone whose credibility is presumably grounded in his grrandfather's status as a historical figure, Mr. Gandhi is remarkably historically ignorant. He suggests that the Israelis "reach out" to the Palestinians in friendship. The Israeli's have attempted this numerous times over the years (e.g. Camp David; Ehud Barak's proposal; and others). The Palestinians' response in each case has ultimately been "We want you dead." It is hard to reason with, negotiate with, or create a working relationship with, forces who insist on your ultimate demise.

The brutal assaults on Mr. Ghandi's character and integrity in these pages because he dared to write some truths about Israel is an example of what happens to any journalist, newspaper, magazine, or television program that dares to publish even so much of a hint that Israel is not totally a benevolent, innocent, peace loving country under assault from all sides by hordes of high tech armies of Arabs. It follows that the media can't or won't stand up to such assaults, and visits by prominent Jewish authorities and customers, so they revert to constant repetition of the ADL/AIPAC propaganda lines about a peaceful, helpless Israel, our only ally in the Middle East, which is about to be driven into the sea by godless Arabs intent on conquering the world.

There are a few canards that run through the posts in defense of Israel and attacks on Mr. Ghandi and the Washington Post. One is that Israel only wants peace with its ungrateful and untrustworthy neighbors, another is that the Arabs always attacked Israel first, and a third is that Israel does not have to give back land it conquered in its "defensive" wars.

Israel wants peace to be sure but only on terms that make peace impossible and that is the complete surrender, subservience, and ghettoization of the Palestinians and the surrender of all the territory Israel wants....at this time. Israel and its partner, the United States, believe they can force those terms on the Palestinians but it hasn't worked so far and it is unlikely to work in the future.

Israel was the aggressor in the 1967 war, a fact that was admitted to by Prime Minister and former terrorist war criminal Menachim Begin who was quoted on the pages of the New York Times. No quote was really necessary, the no warning Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack, "A day that will live in infamy" in another context, on Egypt, Jordan and Syria are facts that only AIPAC/ADL could deny. Israel's attack was planned long before the actual invasion.

Finally, Israel is a member of the United Nations as are all countries on the planet and a protocol in the United Nations Charter that Israel accepted is that no nation can acquire territory by conquest. So that canard won't stand up unless Talmudic rules that affirm that it is ok, even required, to swear falsely for the benefit of Jews, is invoked, i.e., we really didn't mean it.

There are legitimate arguments to be made for and against Israel but let's keep out the propaganda such as that cited above, even though most Americans now believe such propaganda to be true, out of the discussion, shall we.

Mr Gandhi is totally wrong like his ancestor Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi. He was in Indian context " 100 chuhey kha ke Haj ko jana "( cat going to Haj pilgrimage after eating 100 rats !).So was his Lt. Mr. Nehru. When in 1947 partition mayhem was going on , both these gentelmen were rejoicing in Delhi in Parliament House. One was speaking "Tryst of Destiny" in English little or not understood by Indian masses.He was impressing people in London and Washington etc.Indians are gullible . Historically they never had good leaders and thats why they were subjected first to Mohdn. Rule ,right from Mir Qasim in 750 AD (appx.)and that continued in one form or the other and subsequently overtaken ( thankfully releasing Hindus free from the Mohdn. Embryonic embrace !!)by the British. British had mostly Trade Relations and unlike Mohdns. did not interfere with the prevailing indigenous Indian culture. But they shared Modernity with India and Aga Khan ( founder of Indian Muslim Leage in 1906 ), Mohd. Ali Jinnah , Nehru , Gandhi ( Mahtma.), Ambedkar , Rajaji, Patel et al etc. were all products of "Western Thought" who imbibed them so well that they hit back the same at British. They Indianised those concepts but it is still incomplete as majority of Indians still live in its villages with bare facilities in poverty and illiteracy and sickness. They do not understand English and unfortunately for them that thats the only medium through which the masses of India can be empowered and not Hindi or anyother regional laguage. Today English is acceptable to all Indians irrespective of their religion or cast or region. Indian leaders should do this hard work without missing on anymore time and Introduce English at Village Levels.It is a difficult job. But thats the only way to unite India , understand India without prejudice. That does not mean that we reject our own culture. Preserve it by all means .Those Indians and Non Indians , who are interested can study that. How many Indians have read and understood "RigVeda"?. Not one may be. No Gandhi , no Nehru. But they all beleaved in it without reading it or understanding it. Today it is a "Preserved" documents like so many others. Idea is to be HONEST in thinking or else you get only confussion.

Ghandi was a racist:

"Gandhi branded racist as Johannesburg honours freedom fighter

Rory Carroll in Johannesburg
Friday October 17, 2003
The Guardian

It was supposed to honour his resistance to racism in South Africa, but a new statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Johannesburg has triggered a row over his alleged contempt for black people.
The 2.5 metre high (8ft) bronze statue depicting Gandhi as a dashing young human rights lawyer has been welcomed by Nelson Mandela, among others, for recognising the Indian who launched the fight against white minority rule at the turn of the last century.

But critics have attacked the gesture for overlooking racist statements attributed to Gandhi, which suggest he viewed black people as lazy savages who were barely human.

Newspapers continue to publish letters from indignant readers: "Gandhi had no love for Africans. To [him], Africans were no better than the 'Untouchables' of India," said a correspondent to The Citizen.

Others are harsher, claiming the civil rights icon "hated" black people and ignored their suffering at the hands of colonial masters while championing the cause of Indians."

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/artsandhumanities/story/0,,1065103,00.html

Looks like he later also added Jews to his list of peoples he hated.

All in the name of "justice" of course.

Mr. Gandhi's pious pronouncements about the efficacy of "non-violence" kind of lose their force when you discover his deep, irrational hatred of all things Israeli and Jewish.

Washington Post, please spare us from worthless, bigoted pieces like this. They shed no light on anything, except Mr. Gandhi's prejudices, and certainly do nothing to futher the cause of Middle East peace.

I knew Mohatmas Gandhi and Arun you are no Mohatmas Gandhi. The Mohatmas would never countenance anti-semitic ramblings in order to appease your Islamic enemies in Pakistan.

Instead India should take your lead and "show the love" to the extremists in Pakistan and Kashmir as well as to those spoil sports in Arabia who control your oil spigot. Tread slowly though, there is all this talk about a Pakistan atom bomb.

Frankly your anti-semitic diatribe sounds silly and unfashionable in 2008. Not worthy of your namesake. Methinks you are confusing non-violence with appeasement. And it is so transparent it makes you sound foolish grandson.
Steve Laitman
13 Playhouse Sq
Westport, Ct 06880

Jan 8, 2008

The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada placed a quarter-page ad in today's New York Times, affirming the opposition of hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews to Zionism and Jewish rule over the Holy Land during exile, and denouncing religious Zionist groups as falsifiers of the Torah. The ad appeared in the newspaper on page A-20.

The text of the ad was as follows:

A Clarification of Torah Doctrine

Issued by the Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada

Consistently, throughout the peace process in the Middle East, various Jewish religious organizations and parties have raised their voices in opposition to the return of territories to the Arabs, issuing statements that, according to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to give up any land in the Holy Land (especially part of Jerusalem).

Accordingly, it has become a commonplace that religious Jews are supportive of stopping the peace process. In the public mind, the policies of these parties became synonymous with Torah Doctrine. Moreover, they are portrayed in the media as ‘ultra-nationalists’ willing to exchange ‘peace’ for ‘land’.

This impression is utterly false. All forms of Zionism, be they secular or religious, are inherently antithetical to the teaching of our faith! The great sages and saints of our people have always been opposed to the existence of the Zionist State. Indeed, when an obscure Viennese journalist first challenged the Torah approach to exile and redemption, over one hundred years ago, he was immediately attacked by the Torah sages of that time. Those orthodox Jews who support the Israeli state and ‘Greater Israel’ are falsifiers of Torah doctrine. They have abandoned the principles of their predecessors.

The harm of observant Jews supporting the Zionist state is compounded by the Israeli government’s consistent, public rebellion against G-d’s kingship. It is a state which constantly violates Torah law, and actively seeks to persecute its observers, via cemetery desecrations, autopsies, drafting of women, etc. Accordingly, when observant Jews wax enthusiastic over the state and its leaders, it creates a monstrous desecration of G-d’s name.

Torah true Jews who have remained loyal to their ancestral faith are not ‘nationalists’ who desire land at the price of peace. Throughout history, dating back to Temple days, the faithful Jews have opposed secular, militaristic solutions to Jewish problems. In Israel today these Jews do not participate in the electoral process of the Zionist state, nor do they accept its financial benefits. Frequently ignored by the media, they number in the hundreds of thousands worldwide. It is they who have remained firmly devoted to Judaism as received and taught throughout the millennia.

It is in their name that we restate the fundamental beliefs of our faith:

Torah Jewry sees its exile from the Holy Land as the result of a Divine decree. The land was given to us according to G-D’s will, and when our sins accumulated we were exiled from it. This exile is in essence a spiritual state that cannot and must not be remedied by temporal means. Until G-D chooses to redeem us, we are commanded by Him to live as cooperative, law abiding and patriotic citizens in our countries of residence. Accordingly, the Jewish people have no ‘claim’ to the Holy Land at present. They have no right to conquer or to rule over it.

Clearly, the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was in no way a fulfillment of the Jewish people’s millennia-long yearning for redemption. It was a bizarre, secularist substitute for that redemption. The doctrine of constantly leading the Jewish people into confrontations with other nations is the dogma of Zionism not of the Holy Torah. We are commanded by G-D to live in dignity and piety wherever Providence has so ordained.

Therefore, we declare that the Zionist state of Israel is not the legitimate representative of our people. Our position on the ceding of land is quite simple: Any Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land before the Messianic Epoch is sinful and sure to lead to tragedy. And it is certainly absurd to sacrifice even one human life for this illegitimate state.

May all mankind be worthy of true Redemption when the ‘Swords will be beaten into
plowshares’ and G-D’s Glory will fill the world.

CENTRAL RABBINICAL CONGRESS OF THE U.S.A. & CANADA

85 Division Avenue - Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211 - Tel: (718) 384-6765/6 - Fax: (718) 963-0494

The Central Rabbinical Congress, established in 1952, is a worldwide organization representing over 150 Orthodox communities.

It's a shame that Arun Gandhi did not inherit his grandfather's sensibilities. Jewish identity can't depend on violence??? DAILY rockets are launched by Hamas against Israel - even when the U.S. President was visiting. Hamas refuses to accept the state of Israel. Palestinian terrorists were blowing up busses of civilians, attacking schools, etc. The security fence was erected as a non-violent defensive measure to protect her citizens. Since the fence, the number of homocide bombings have drastically decreased. Perhaps Mr. Gandhi feels the security fence is infringing on the rights of terrorists to freely conduct more bombings. Israel has the might to strike back in force, but has shown greater restraint than any other country I can think of. Mr. Gandhi has an agenda, and that is his right. Keeping his harmful insights out of the Washing Post should also be an exercised right.

Mr Ghandi has an interesting-sounding last name. If it weren't for that name, no one would be paying any attention to his meanderings.
As was stated earlier, the Holocaust cannot be relegated to a historical blip. It did more than anything else before it in human history to prove that the jewish people need a country of their own, but that need desperately needed proving.
I am a secular jew who does not feel the creation of Israel was a mistake. And the snakepit mr Ghandi refers to was a snakepit before the first jew to follow Herzl's plan ever set foot in (then) Palestine.

As for anti-Semitism (more properly called anti-Judaism), it seems the anti-Semites have a new weapon in their arsenal: They can't be called anti-Semites anymore, because that term has lost all its meaning and power, having been used too often. Gee, I wonder how that happened?

How quickly people forget. The jews were promised a land of their own long before the Holocaust ever took place. The murder of six million jews only reemphasized the need for that homeland. The promise was broken again and again, more and more of their designated new homeland being sliced off and instead given to despotic Arabs. And the vast majority of the world feels even the last crumbs of the original mandate should not belong to the jews, but instead to more of the same Arabs, who already have twenty-two sovereign (and for all practical purposes indistinguishable) countries. All ruled by tyrants, despots, dicators. None ruled in a fashion even remotely resembling a modern democracy where human rights and freedoms are respected.

Arabs are members of the Israeli parliament. Jews cannot even own land in many Arab countries, and are not even allowed entry into Saudi-Arabia, let alone take any form of office. The Israeli supreme court has ruled in favor of Arabs against its own government more than once (the Fence and other land disputes), but tourists with an Israeli stamp in their passports can forget entering Arab countries.

The Arabs currently calling themselves Palestinians have been offered a country of their own (it would be the second Palestinian-Arab state, the first one being Jordan) several times. They always turned it down. They were not offered one by Jordan and Egypt when those countries had occupied and annexed the 'Westbank' and Gazastrip respectively, nor were they harboring any such desires!

What are we to make of people who wilfully ignore these FACTS, but keep harping on perceived Israeli wrongs? When it talks, walks and smells like an anti-Semite, chances are it's an anti-Semite.

This article is blatantly anti-Semitic. It is truely a shame that a publication like the Washington Post would give voice to such hate.

Gandi: “We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.” No matter how you care to view these hateful words, this is a glaring example of vicious anti-Semitism.

I, for one, am disgusted and insulted by this vile screed.

Nice little piece of racism.

Ghandi must be turning in his grave.

How sad to see some people wish to resurrect the work of the NAZIs.

Bwahahahahhahaha

Arun,

You are just miffed that Jews have guns now and know how to use them.

Suck it up, pal, and live with the fact that when/if you come to get us it's going to HURT !!

Bwahahahhaa

Go sit in the corner with the rest of the bigots unless you have the balls to eat lead.

Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts in his 1940 'open letter' to the British:

"I want you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions. Let them take possession of your beautiful island with your many beautiful buildings... If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourself, man, woman and child to be slaughtered... I am telling His Excellency the Viceroy that my services are at the disposal of His Majesty's government, should they consider them of any practical use in enhancing my appeal." (From Professor Stanley Wolpert's Jinnah of Pakistan.)

It seems that Arun Gandhi is no less a crackpot than his grandfather.
By the way, have you noticed the resemblance (both physical and in the views they express) between Arun Gandhi and Jimmy Carter. Are they by any chance related?

And Gandhi's absurd analysis shows what happens when people cut themselves adrift from history. The man is clearly destined for obscurity - thank goodness.

The writer has ironically done more to validate the need for Jews worldwide to live in a state of preparedness lest those of his ilk aspire to once again challenge the right of the Jewish people to survive. I grew up amongst those who lost entire families in the holocaust and had numbers burned into their flesh to serve as a daily reminder. I believe that it takes a man of diminished perspective and atrophied morality to refer to the systematic extermination of half of Europe's Jewish population a mere 63 years ago as a "historical experience". I submit that ramblings from this brazenly ignorant and hateful man are well beneath the minimum journalistic standards of the Post. It does not offend as a result of any opposing viewpoint, but due to it's complete lack of anything resembling reason or fact to support the writer's outrageous and repugnant assertions. What's in next weeks Post? Perhaps an offering from Adolph's grandson Ralph Hitler claiming that the concentration camps were really just weight loss spas.

To the riled up "white" man above, your heroes declared War on the US on December 11, 1941. That as four days after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japan.

In the end your heroes SURRENDERED, UNCONDITIONALLY, to the US, UK and Soviet Union on May 7, 1945.

I demand that your current day heroes, the Islamofascists surrender, unconditionally as well.

Your Islamofascist heroes who committed

- 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center
- Bombing of Pan Am 103
- Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beiruit
- Bombing of USS Cole
- Bombing of Khobar Towers in saudi arabia
- Bombing of two US Embassies in Africa
- Destruction of two 1,500 year old Buddahs in Afghanistan
- 7/7 Bombing in London
- 3/11 bombings in Madrid
- Summer 2007 SUV jihad in the UK
- Beslan school massacre
- Death Fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing a book of fiction
- Riots over Mohammed Cartoons
- Beltway sniper John Mohammed
- Failed sneaker bomber Richard Reid
- "white" fascist timothy mcveighs bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City

The Finsbury Park Mosque in the UK hails "The Magnificent 19" behind the 9/11 sneak attack on the US. Their tribute doesn't seem to distance themselves from that sneak attack on the US.

ANONYMOUS, your pathetic attempts to blame others for the murderous acts of "The Religion of Peace" are laughable.

Lets see....

Jimmy Carter (noble prize winner), Arun Gandhi (peace activist and philosopher), and the two highly respected academics who wrote "The Israel Lobby" are all suddenly "anti semites" because they dare become critics of the Jewish State of Israel or the neo conservative movement which advocated endless, pre-emptive war in the name of our and Israel's interests????

Get real, people!

Look at YOUR actions and you will see cause for conflict.

Stop using the victim card!

We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players)

Really? So not Darfur, Iraq, Drug lords, War Lords, Suicide bombers? Israel and the Jews are the biggest players?

Explain how this is not anti-semetic

providence candlelight,

One need only go to tenc dot net, read the 'British Record on Partition' from 'The Nation' Magazine in 1948 to realize that you are spewing fiction and hatred.

Far from being hapless victims of colonialist imperialism, the Arabs were aided by the British and various German Nazi POWs in their attempts to crush Israel, in exchange for giving the British military base rights in the region.

Oh, and there was no land 'stolen' in 1948. The Arab effendi (including the prominent Husseini and Nashishibi families) gladly sold all their land to the Zionists, as well as killing fellow Arabs that sought to do likewise. Then they bought their land for pennies on the dollar and sold it too to the Jews.

Some Arabs fled at the behest of their leaders, some were driven out b/c they could not be trusted to refrain from attacking nearby Jews. But in any case, a larger number of Jews were forcibly expelled from the Arab countries.

I will trust that you are merely ignorant, and not deliberately spreading antisemitic lies in an attempt to stir up hatred of Jews.

A riled up Jewish man writes "God Bless America for giving the Jews the means to defend themselves and crush their avowed enemies."

The period of neo conservative / AIPAC hijacking of American politics is almost over. The founders of the neo con movement were all jewish (Strauss, Kristol and Podhoretz), btw.

Not war on Iran for you sake, Ari...

Are Jewish people not introspective, or what? Anti-semitism is not irrational.

Look at their involvement in early communism or the neo conservative movement.

THESE POLITICAL MOVEMENTS cause anti-semitism! Not religion.

I gasped when I read this article. It is simply evil to burden the Jewish state of Israel for all of the conflict in the Middle East. This is a classic characteristic of an anti-semite. To identify a religion/race/state as inherently violent is hatred, pure and simple. This is precisely why the Jews need a state of their own to shelter themselves from people like Mr. Gandhi who blame them for every damn thing!

What a disgrace and shame on the Washington Post for publishing this vile article. Disgusting and unforgivable.

I am amazed at the scope of Mr. Ghandi's ignorance. He does not seem to understand the Holocaust at all; it was a great deal more than the wrongheadedness of one man and his influence on his followers. The whole world was involved in it---much of Europe felt the same hatred of Jews and were happy to lend a hand in the destruction. Even America which in most ways has been very generous to the Jewish people, failed to help them during the war. And Mr. Ghandi knows nothing about Israel or the history of its relations with the Arabs. You cannot befriend people who dream of being not your friend but your killer. The Palestinians have had several chances to have a
state of their own, but have sabotaged every offer. The reason is simple: they do not want a state of their own unless the state is all of Palestine, with Israel destroyed and all the Jews dead or gone

Judith: You cannot stay safely in Palestine - ever. What can we do to bring the Hebrews to American where they are wanted and needed?

WTF (your initials? interesting)

Thank you for reading and responding in such detail to my post. I will do my best to return the courtesy.

wtf:

Providence Candlelight,

You wrote:
I do not even know where to begin with your stupidity, hopefully your writing is pure sarcasm. First of all, who says "Hebrews?" This is nearly akin to calling African Americans "colored.

My reponse:
Doing my best, wtf: afterall the language is called Hebrew not Jew. Further, the term Jew is often used in the context of religion. Please note that no African language to my knowledge is called *colored language*. Further, I resent any insinuation intended or otherwise that I might be remotely racist.

You wrote:
Secondly, you wrote, "Allow the Palestinians to govern themselves without the constant threat of terror." What terror are you referring? Do you see Israeli children in the streets with rocket launchers or celebrating when a Palestinian kid dies? The only terror in the region is from Muslims, this is a fact that even pains most sane Muslims.

My response:
The terrorists, since the 1930's have been the Zionist followed by others like them. The Palestinians want the land that was stolen back. No Hebrew can stay safely in Palestine. Israel is a failed state - founded illegally and immorally - we are not surprised at the past (60 years), present, and future prospects.

You wrote:
"Occupiers?" Israelis have put up with nothing but occupation for centuries. You had all kinds of tribes they fought with in the area, and then later Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, and more recently Ottoman Empire, and the British. How would you feel if someone continually claimed your home as your own, forced you out, and then said well, since we killed or kicked most of you out a long time ago, you have no right to return? This is ludicrous. Some of the oldest documents in recorded history refer specifically to the owners of this land and I will tell you it was not Arabs or Muslims. Perhaps the Greeks should get a claim?

My response:
Palestinians were deceitfully and forcefully disenfranchised by Hebrew terrorist (Rabin, et.al.) with the encouragement of the British and the military support of the British, French, and the US (I am sure you do not need a schooling in 19th and 20th century history).

You bring in smoke and mirrors with your references to so many irrelevant people - characteristic of a weak or none existent argument.

With respect to your documents (as yet unnamed nor provided) they likely have no relevance in that they cannot be enforced. Please get back to me with respect to your "documents".

You wrote
As for the Palestinians who "lost their land," there are certainly some who did, but what country did this not happen in? Did they have a right to the land in the first place? Probably not. Many came from places such as Jordan and Syria with promises of a place where they could rule, but plans did not work out. Frankly, they dug their own graves. The few that did have legitimate claims could have stayed if not for the violent positions of their own people.

My response:
More smoke and mirrors. Using your logic, two wrong do make a right. I do not agree. There are valid title holders - Palestinians with more perfect claim to the property expropriated by the Zionist Hebrew occupiers of Palestine. Palestinians want it returned; they will die for it and they will kill you for it. Unlike the Native American, the Palestinians have champions who will continue to make the theft of Palestine untenable for the thieves. For that reason let us bring the Hebrews to American where they are wanted and needed and where they can thrive in peace and be morally clean.

You wrote:
Further, if they are so called refugees, why did no other Arab country accept them? The simple answer is no one wants them and what they did years ago in Jordan did not help the situation. Did you know when that happened many actually fled from Jordan into Israel for safety? Irony sucks, doesn't it?

My response:
Your remarks are irrelevant. The US did not welcome the Hebrews as they should have during the early part of the 20th century. Today, Hebrews are not only welcome, they are respected, successful, and bring great advantage. Should they stay in Palestine, they have only death as their future. I cannot abide that.

You wrote:
I also think you do not realize that many "Hebrews" do not want to live in the US. Many have left the US because it is a Christian country that historically not only did not protect them, but turned a blind eye to discrimination of not only the Jews, but others.

My response.
Yes, I do know that. I am not advocating a forced evacuation. I am advocating an opportunity to the Hebrews in Palestine - some are my kin - to return Palestine to the rightful owners and to come and be strong with us in America.

You wrote:
The fact remains that Israel is the only sane, tolerant, and modern state in the region. Many religious groups such as the Druz have fled to Israel even because of the "excellent" treatment given by Muslims.

My response:
There is nothing sane about the existence of Israel. Just the opposite is true. Anecdotally, insanity is continuing the same behaviour and expecting a different result. What could be more insane that remaining in Palestine?

You wrote:
Somehow, other Arab Israelis have managed to make a comfortable home within Israel for themselves without blowing everything up. I don't think you could find many Arab Israelis who would want to leave the so called "failed state" in favor of any country in the entire middle east.

My response:
You are disingenuous to a moral fault. I know not one Arab living in occupied Palestine who support the occupiers.

You wrote:
Unfortunately, the loudest voices in this whole conflict seem to be extremists and people who are incapable of exploring and understanding history.

My response:
Rhetoric. The loudest voices cannot be distinguished. Extremists? (e.g. Zionists) yes. Incapable of exploring and understanding history?
What a silly statement. I doubt that you want to "explore" history with me - though - you would be a better person for having done so.

Please do not forget to get back to me with respect to the documents of which you speak.

Thank you,

Providence

criticism of Israel has everything to do with antisemitism. Anti-Israelites are merely too cowardly to come out of the closet with their antisemitism.

And no--there is nothing wrong with Israel. There is only something wrong with the Husseini-Eichmann spawned vermin known as the PLO. And this movement is entirely and covertly supported by the US State Department and CIA, which were created by absorbing the entire Nazi intelligence apparatus after WWII.

Is it any wonder that the MSM controlled by such apparati attack Israel relentlessly, while lying about Israel and whitewashing the genocidal nazis that attack Israel to this day?

Read hirhome dot com to get the truth.

When did the Washington Post become the mouthpiece for vile, old fashioned Jew hatred? I urge Mr. Gandhi to focus less on the Jewish "snake pit" that he calls Israel and more on the far more violent and hate filled conflict between his own nation of India and their neighbor Pakistan. I urge Mr. Gandhi to focus his efforts on disarming his own nation of nuclear weapons and to dismantle the barbed wire and heavily mined "wall" between India and Pakistan before he lectures Israel on befriending their enemies.

Gandhi's post contains perhaps the most explicitly hostile attitudes towards Jews and Israel that I've ever seen in the mainstream media. Do the editors of the Post believe this to be a reasonable critique of the world's Jews? "We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity" That Gandhi believes the Jews have a proclivity towards violence which will eventually destroy the world is extremely disappointing, but it is completely indefensible for a "progressive" paper like the Washington Post to give legitimacy to such a hateful view.

By nameing "the Jews" as the "biggest players" in a "culture of violence" Mr. Arund Gandhi makes it clear that if the Jews were wiped out violence in the World would end and peace will reign. How does this belief of Mr. Gandhi's fit in with his institute for "Nonviolence"? How does his hatred of Jews fit in with his call for neighborly affection?
Interesting that he does not mention the hundreds of children and families blown to tiny fragments before the security fence was constructed. Oh silly me, killing Jews isn't really violence, is it? What a sad, sorry and hateful man this grandson of the Mahatma is. How pathetic. I cannot believe this was even published. This site has really deteriorated.

Arun Gandhis essay doesn't play the coy game that he "only hates Israel". He explicitly hates Jews as well, blaming Jews for their "biggest" role in violence in the World.

I'd rather have Arun and his fellow fascists hate Jews for not playing their age old role as victim.

God Bless America for giving the Jews the means to defend themselves and crush their avowed enemies.

Another hateful, biased and factless article that unfairly attacks Jews by some hateful person that attempts to make himself look credible.

First of all if the author has issues with Israel, state that. But somehow the message seems to be about all Jews, which is something all Jew haters do.

There are about 12-18 million Jews on this planet. There are 6 billion people. First of all Jews are one of the least violent groups out there. Additionally, this small group of people, Jews, have and continue to provide enormous contributions to this planet in every area: medicine, technology, science, etc. that enable all of us to thrive and have a better life.

Lets stop the hate against Jews. Please speak up against it!

The Jewish People have survived for over three thousand years.

(The earliest reference to Israel is from the funery stela of the Egyptian Pharoah Merneptah, now in the Cairo Museum, which dates to 1209 B.C.)

All other empires that persecuted the Jews, from the Arameans to the Moabites, from the Babylonians to the Assyrians to the Selucids, from the Romans to the Spanish Inquisition to the Nazis to Communists, have fallen.

Yet the Jewish People are still here.

Yes, they are very tiny: there are only 13.2 million Jews in the world, compared to 1.7 Billion Muslims and 2 Billion Christians. However, I believe they will continue to survive.

Today, every Jew by birth that is alive is not only a descendent of the people of ancient Israel, but a descendent of those who survived great persecution and pressure to convert over countless centuries.

This is a great privilage and an incredible legacy.

Yet, today many Jews are ignorant of their own heritage, from the Hebrew Bible itself to the archaeology of Israel, from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the great works of the Rabbinic Era.

Thus, in this country and others they are intermarrying, turning away from the sacrifices of their ancestors and casting out this heritage.

Pressured by societies that still hold true to the ideas of Replacement Theology--the theology that the Church, or the Islamic Ummah, has replaced the Jewish People as G-d's choosen--they often want to assimilate into the maintstream.

Without the knowledge of their history, the Jewish People cannot understand the religious roots of Replacement Theology and how it evolved into anti-Judaism and then anti-Semitism.

They cannot understand how their tiny group can be so hated. After, all they were expelled by the Roman Empire and forced into millenia of Exile. Centuries of pogroms and explusion culminated in wholesale slaughter of gas chambers and mass graves that saw 1/3 of all Jews, including 2 million children, killed off in 4 years. Then final expulsion from the Arab world. Finally, a miraculous return to their ancestral homeland. Yet, no sympathy or support, only continual hatred.

They forget that Jesus was a Jew, as was Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, all the Disciples, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the Prophets, King David, Solomon, Jacob, Isaac, and Moses...

Thus, the Jewish People, simply, and tragically, internalize the word's hatred.

So, will they disappear over time?

No, it cannot be a coincidence that after 2,000 years of Exile the Jews have returned to their ancestral homeland to build a state, as it was predicted by Jeremiah and Isaiah.

Here is the future of the Jewish People, and as they have done for three millenium, they will--however small their numbers become--continue to survive and continue their ancestral legacy.

Mr Gandhi appears to be completely ignorant of what Jewish identity means to Jews. A few relevant points: 1) It has almost nothing to do with the Nazi Holocaust in modern times, but a bit more to do with the ancient Roman holocaust that resulted in a large Jewish Diaspora. 2) His assertion/observation that "Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews" is a complete fabrication with not a shred of basis in fact. 3) The meaning of the Holocaust to Jews today is simply lost loved ones and lost community. It is appropriately memorialized within the remaining Jewish community. 4) The fact that non-Jews have sought to memorialize the Holocaust cannot be attributed to the world's tiny Jewish community. However, Jews are prominently active in anti-genocide movements where the victims are not Jews. Darfur is an excellent example of the latter. 5) Mr Gandhi appears to imply that Jews nonviolently resist attempts to exterminate them, something his grandfather is said to have urged upon them in the midst of the Holocaust. Many members of the Jewish community did just that. They were exterminated. Had the advice worked, certainly Israel would use only nonviolent means to defend itself today.

I would like to take what you take; I love sometimes to feel so detached with reality. I am very surprised at the complete ignorance of your thoughts. The future of the Jews is no bleaker than in 720 BC when 80% of the Jews were exiled and lost, by the Asyrians (no longer around) the 10 lost tribes, then again in 586 BC when exiled and Jerusalem destroyed by the Babilonians (long since gone!) or spiritually decimated by the Greeks and Helenists in the second-third Centuries BC (long gone), or after the exile by the Romans (have you seen any lately) or after the expulsion from Spain and the inquisition (where are they?) or during the pogroms of Tzarist Russia (anybody home) or after the Holocaust...(where are you mine Furhrer?) You see, THE JEWS SURVIVE THEM ALL, AND WILL ALWAYS BE HERE TILL THE END OF TIMES...
By the way, your nation, India, also relies on the BOMB and INDIA still lives in the past, way in the past, most in the stone age, burning widows with their deceased husbands, the Caste system, "sacred cows"...need I say more? What tolerance do the Indian Hindus have towards the Indian Muslims? what "friendship" do you extend to Pakistan? who are you kidding? Don't you have the Bomb?
Like Jesus say: "He who is free of sin may throw the first stone"...

The Nazis murdered half of my family while the world largely stood by and did nothing. The Communists killed the another half of what was left.

Now the entire Arab and most of the Muslim world is united in their visceral Jew-hatred while the world is busily debating what should the next concession to terrorism that Israel should make.

What are you, India, EU or US are going to do after Arabs overrun Tel-Aviv and Haifa? Write a strongly worded letter to the US Security Consul? So, call me a snake, Mr. Arun Gandhi, but I think I’ll carry a gun to protect myself.

This moron is worthy of a blog at your paper?? What next political commentary by Nasrallah ??

It's funny how the hindus and muslims couldn't live together and evetually partitioned into two countries with fences and troop. They still however kill eachother in much higher numbers per year than Israelis and Arabs.Look at the siutation like in Kashmir where India and Pakistan stand gun to gun.

But according to this writer, Israel is somehow supposed to permit Islamist terrorists to attack them without complaint.

Jewish identity during the holocaust revolved around victimhood. The perpertrators often got away, the collaborator hide. Never again.

Build the wall.

For those who say that Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle east...did you forget about Turkey?

It's a fight between the Crips and the Bloods...no one is innocent in any of it. I do not like the policies of the Jews..I think they enjoy the power; Building walls segregating those they look down on,some roads are ok for those Others to travel on, some not. Reminds me of certain people getting off the side walk or labeled water fountains. People needing passes to travel outside of their villages...homes bulldozed at the whim of those in power.

And this is a democracy? It is apartheid.

terra

Creating a snake pit? You call that logic? Why don't you first explain why your grandfather's country has nuclear weapons? And then tell me when was the last time the Jews threatened the Hindus?

"Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in a culture of voilence that will eventually destroy humanity," saids Ghandi.

Emphasis on the word "biggest."

If that statement doesn't constitute blatant Anti-Semitism and racism, then what exactly does these days?

In any case, I do suppose that the thousands of Hindus who die from terror attacks and riots in Ghandi's native country of India every year are actually murdered by Jews.

Jews are overplaying the Holocaust to the point where good "friends" like Ghandi are repulsed. Tut, tut...that should be a real cause for concern for Jews.

By the same token, would it be fair to also say that African Americans are overplaying their slavery experience? Or even better - third world countries like India overplaying their past experience with White colonalisation? Why can't all these people just move on, ey?

Whatever the case maybe, I can personally say with great confidence that Muslims are certainly downplaying all their alleged grievances. Just look at the 9/11 attacks, 7/7 London bombings, Madrid bombings, Bali, the French riots, the Danish riots or the fact that Muslims are involved in 95% of the world's conflicts including India, etc, etc.

Perhaps Jews should downplay their grievance by sending suicide bombers to Germany or at least start up riots there?

Is this what Ghandi is actually proposing?

Dear Mr. Ghandi,
I guess it can't be said too often: if the Muslims put down their weapons there will be no war- if the Israelis put down their weapons there will be no Israel.
Do you see how your words opened the floodgates for an outpouring of Jew hatred barely disguised as purportedly neutral anti-Zionism? Some of the wilful ignorance is astounding. Do bigots even read the thoughtful, well written comments based on historical fact? Apparently the most reasoned arguments cannot overcome the impulse to blame the Jews.

I'm afraid that Mr. Gandi is seeing the world upside down. Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in the culture of violence? Israel is daily the victim of rocket fire from Gaza, and has had to endure years of random terrorist attacks on innocent civilians (in discos, schools, restaurants - not military facilities). The snakes are outside of Israel. The separation barrier is the only way, so far, that Israel has been able to limit these attacks. Israel and the Jews have been seeking peace with their neighbors since the founding of the country. Has Mr. Gandi read the Israel Declaration of Independence? The wish for peaceful coexistence and cooperation is in black and white. Has he read the charter of Hamas which declares it's goal is the destruction of Israel? Furthermore, Mr. Gandi criticizes Israel for not sharing her technologies with her neighbors. That is a very difficult thing to do when most of the neighbors are boycotting you. Mr. Gandi you must learn the truth about Israel and the Jews, not make it up to conform to your own obvious hatred of us.

It would be nice to see the Post acknowledge that they exercised terrible judgement by giving this hate-monger a forum.

I'm not going to hold my breath.

Mr. Gandhi.
A reveiw of what is going on in Israel would show that Israel is being bombarded every day with rockets. I think it would be more appropriate for the Palestinians to put forth the hand of peace and stop their terrorist acts against Israel. Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East and the Arab countries that circle them would do well to emulate them. They treat women like human beings and not as cattle. They have given the world a good deal of its technology and share wonderful discoveries in healing medicines with us. Why there is this world hatred against them I simply do not understand. All the Arab nations would do well to leave them alone and perhaps one day when they extend the hand of peace there will be real peace in this world.

Your grandfather told the Jews that "satyagragha" is the way to fight Hitler. He threatened to fast till death when Nehru refused to hand over to Pakistan a portion of the treasury that the British wanted him to give to Pakistan at partition. Your grandfather forgot that the same money will be used to finance and arm the tribals and Pakistani regulars who were marching towards Kashmir.
Its a great shame that your grandfather thought that Hitler would behave just like the British. The British didn't shoot the non-violence demonstrators. Nazis would and did. Jews of todays world want to live in peace but the Arabs don't want to allow them that luxury. Your grandfather's non violence would not have worked with Imperial Japan either. Yep, he had all praise for Muhammad too but strangely he didn't become a Muhamedan.
Why didn't you ask your idiotic question to the Arabs? They are the ones who are behaving like snakes.
May be the Jews are using the Holocaust too much but one thing is certain. You are using your grandfather's name way too much. Your opinion is idiotic. It's a shame that you are using that name to sell such a virulent idea.

The Culture of Violence is indeed rampant- but it is the Arab nations that are perpetuating and reinforcing it. The Arab nations teach little children that is their destiny to wear bombs and blow up the Jews while killing themselves. The Arab nations teach hate and try to infiltrate into Israel to blow up innocent civilians. Israel has already given back the Sinai and Gaza and offered about 98% of the West Bank and the Arabs are still not satisfied. What is wrong here?

What a vile man.

Israel has always sought peace with her neighbors, but the Muslim militants will not have it.

This is little more than leftist anti-semetic drivel, the kind of which that Code Pink and International ANSWER would cling onto like flies to horse manure.

It is amusing to see all of the rabid posters on this board accusing Arun Gandhi (and that's GANDHI you ignorant dolts, not GHANDI; are you blind as well?) of racism in the most racist terms themselves. It is amusing to see them bring up Mr. Gandhi's ancestry to ridicule his ideas! Kinda like the mozzie fundoos who go "islam is peaceful, and anyone who says otherwise should be killed!".

I guess the take away from this board is that there is no difference between jihadis and these rabid jews and others we see here. Mr. Gandhi should stop worrying about the snakepit: snakes in the pit and outside!

Perhaps Gandhi lacks an understanding even of how the Muslims treated (and will treat) Hindus and so, why protection by arms is necessary, pretty much forever. The problem in the Middle East is not "Palestinian" anything, but the inability of the Arab states to see through their religion and culture, the cause of their despotism and backwardness.

Ghandi's perception is so wrong, so warped.

Mr. Gandhi,

I would expect this hateful rhetoric against Jews on Washingon Post by its esteemed panelists and Islamic terrorist apologists like Eboo Patel and Fareed Zakaria ( I believe both Indian Muslims).

But certainly not from an Indian Hindu as your own community has been a target and victim of Islamic terrorism for centuries.

How revolting to publish an article blaming Jews for creating a culture of violence that will ultimately destroy the world.

His grandfather believed that those Jews who tried to escape from concentration camps should not have because collective suicide is heroic. In Judaism life is sacred and defending yourself is not only allowed but demanded. What does Arun Ghandi have to say about those that are forcing the Jews to defend themselves? Aren't they to blame?

The vast majority of Israelis have always wanted good relations with their neighbors. The same neighbors who from day one of Israel's existence have been trying to exterminate her. The vast majority of the Arab world have made it clear that they won't accept Israel and never will. Israel has a duty to protect her citizens.

Dear Mr. Gandhi,

Pacifism brings out the humanity in one's opponents. Pacifism assumes humanity in one's opponents.

Unfortunately, peace has been brought about historically when the good guys win in war. Evil persons can not always be compelled to goodness.

Jewish identity doesn't depend on violence...it is preserved by the protection that the rifle affords.

"you can create a snake pit -- with many deadly snakes in it"

"Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you?"

"Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?"

Even if you hate Jews, you must admit this man writes like a 12 year old.

Mr Ghandi,
For a man of your supposed credentials, I must admit- I was not only flabbergasted at the complete lack of authenticity, and knowledge that you exhibit in your tacky essay, but quite stymied by the fact that the editors of the Washington Post even allowed such an unabashed ranting of anti-Semitism to be posted. You are nothing more that a hate-monger, a racist, and a pseudo-intellectual exploiting the illustrious name of your heritage.
Your opening statements clearly show your hatred of the Jewish people, and so to argue your points would be demeaning and disrespectful to the greatest civilization mankind has ever known. Perhaps you need to review your history, prior to the Holocaust, the worst genocide ever manifested against a people by supposedly the most "civilized" civilization to date-the Germans. The achievements of the Jewish people span lifetimes-thousands of years-in every category of the human spectrum- but especially in their unshakeable faith in God and God's commandments to perform acts of kindness, justice and mercy-commandments of such a godly caliber, that subsequent nations, including one of the greatest ever-the United States of America, based their constitutions on.
FYI-there have been many holocausts in Jewish history- four thousand years- of so much peril and decimation to a people that never had armies, weapons or the like- but were pursued, tortured, murdered by rogues of every generation.
There have always been Jews in Israel from the time Abraham entered the Land to now, and their "good neighbors" continually tried to exhile them, if not annihilate them.
In spite of 60 years of continually living under the threat of sporadic wars, the murder of innocent civilians, and terrorism by people who behave in subhuman ways, who lie and cheat blatantly, who can't seem to grow up and behave in any kind of moral fashion despite the offers of peace and land- the Israelis continue to tolerate an intolerable people-the Palestinians. Palestinians who have from the get-go refused to be a nation of Palestinians when it was offered to them in 1947, and instead chose war, murder, deceit, and destruction. Still,Israel continues to deal with them as if they really had the will to be a nation among nations, continues to supply them with water, electricity, pick up their garbage, give them health care and all the benefits that their own people or fellow Arabs have refused to do. Israel, my friend, does not cry, "Woe are we, look what the Holocaust did to us". Israel is way past that- a dynamic country, made up of people from all over the world, of every color and race. We have turned deserts into gardens, turned energy into technology,and share it with all the world. We have done what no other civilization has accomplished ever-survived! And survived well. And by the way, Mr. Ghandi, Israel and the Jews have "forgiven" Germany,not the Germans of the Third Reich, but the Germany of today who makes amends and rejoins the free world. Israel has good relations with Poland, in spite of Poland's betrayal of the Jewish people, watching in silence the smoke of the crematorium. Did you know Mr Ghandi,the significant role the Jews played in the development of Poland over a period of 600 years? We Jews do not forget, Mr. Ghandi, but we do forgive, and we have proved that time and time again.
And so Mr. Ghandi, what exactly is your problem? Envy? Jealousy? Frustration? Or just simple-mindedness and illiteracy? Would the world be a better place for you without Jews and without Israel? In your own twisted mind, you may nod yes, but I will caution you that your ignorance and racism will ultimately be the cause of your own undoing and shame.

Today, Palenstinians launced 12 rockets into civilian areas in Israel. Israel responded by striking a terrorist cell in Gaza.

So, one targets civilians. The other targets the ones targeting civilians.

So, Mr. Ghandi, remind us again who the ones are inciting all the violence?

This is an incorrect summary of the MidEast conflict. Ghandi ignores the many attacks and constant propaganda from the Palestinian terrorists. This is from a group of Ismalists stuck in the past, not Israelis. Israel has built a forward-looking progressive society. The Palestinians have built rockets to aim at Israel.

1.Like you, I look forward to the day when the fence can come down. The fact is before the barrier, there was the Palestinian bomber. Why isn’t it clear that the barrier can be dismantled, but the bomber's victims are gone forever?

2.Both the charters of the PLO and Hamas call for the destruction of Israel. Who will tell the self-appointed martyrs of Islam to give up their dream of annihilating Israel so the fence can come down?

I think George Orwell in his Essays, over sixty years ago, had an answer to indian non violence when you are being shot or "peacefully, escort to extermination camps.

Mr. Gandhi's vile attack on Judaism and Israel should be seen for the anti-Semitic nonsense it is. The Jewish state has a right to exist, recognized by international law and by any sane moral outlook; and by the same standards it has a right to defend itself. To call self-defense part of a "culture of violence" is to blame the victim for aggression, and thus Mr. Gandhi is taking the side of those who wish to destroy the Jews and their nation.

Perhaps Mr.Gandhi should focus his energies on India's own "snake pit" as he's defined it. Has he forgotten the 340+ mile fence protecting Indian nationals at the DISPUTED Kashmir border? (Washington Post, July 30, 2003) Or, more likely, he's expressing his own prejudice: What he's really saying is 'it's okay to protect people as long as they're not Jews.'

Bigotry, even when written by someone credentialed by riding the coattails of his esteemed grandfather, is still nothing more than bigotry. Correcting the rest of his erroneous statement, a fatuous concoction of misstatements designed to justify his bias, is a waste of time.

The Washington Post should be embarrassed to condone and perpetuate such blatant bias.

I just read Arun Ghandi's anti-Semitic posting, Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence, on your website, and I am shocked! This is a free country, and Ghandi has a right to be anti-Semitic if he chooses. But, have you at Washington Post / Newsweek no standards of decency? Has openly anti-Semitic slander become acceptable to the Washington Post and Newsweek? The comments on this site are, presumably, monitored and screened because you indicate that "User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site." Since you have not removed them, are we to conclude that you find Ghandi's scurrilous anti-Jewish comments to be "appropriate"? Shame on you!

Carl Goldberg
Tempe, Arizona

It's fairly disturbing to see an ostensibly intelligent man disgorge such ignorant tripe.

It is even more disturbing to see the Washington Post give him a platform to do so.

Ghandi's grandson apparently doesn't recognize the difference between dealing with a civilized society (the British) the way his grandfather did and dealing with a hateful, Middle Age group of people (Israel's Arab enemies, including the Palestinian Arabs) dedicated to exterminating you, the way the Israelis have to.

Non-violence works when dealing with people like the British; when used when dealing with Israel's enemies, it's a prescription for suicide.

Gandi's grandson obviously has a problem with Jews.
Not quite the family namesake.

Mr. Ghandi, Hitler would have been proud of you. You are a nazi. The University of Rochester should condemn you, and then fire you. I hope all of your funding is pulled. You are a vile Jew-hater, and now you've shown it to the world. Why don't you go live in Iran, as you'd obviouly get along brilliantly with Amedinejad. Get out of my country! America doesn't need your worthless opinions.

Like many committed to the idea that it is sufficient for one side to want peace for peace to prevail, Mr. Gandhi suggests this route for Jews.

I wonder whether he suggests the same for Muslims in their dealings with Hindus, as well as with Christians and Jews. Members of all three of these groups have been targets of Muslim violence for some fourteen centuries, since long before there was a security barrier, checkpoints, refugees, or any of the other issues offered up as excuses for denigrating Israel.

Rational policy, and peace, can follow only when one is prepared to think clearly about who is doing what, and why, and respond accordingly. In the conflict between Israel and its neighbors, the problem has always been that Muslims believe that Israel's very existence is contrary to their religion. If Mr. Gandhi really wants peace, he should focus on how Muslims could abandon this belief.

Is not this piece which shows such a total lack of understanding of Israel's history and position an embarrassment to Newsweek? In fact does not writing like this only encourage the Arab leaders not to make peace and prolong the problems of their own people?

Like many committed to the idea that it is sufficient for one side to want peace for peace to prevail, Mr. Gandhi suggests this route for Jews.

I wonder whether he suggests the same for Muslims in their dealings with Hindus, as well as with Christians and Jews. Members of all three of these groups have been targets of Muslim violence for some fourteen centuries, since long before there was a security barrier, checkpoints, refugees, or any of the other issues offered up as excuses for denigrating Israel.

Rational policy, and peace, can follow only when one is prepared to think clearly about who is doing what, and why, and respond accordingly. In the conflict between Israel and its neighbors, the problem has always been that Muslims believe that Israel's very existence is contrary to their religion. If Mr. Gandhi really wants peace, he should focus on how Muslims could abandon this belief.

This is not a "conversation on religion". It is a politically twisted distortion of reality. Israel gave Arafat 97% of what he demanded and received the Intifada. Gaza was given and Israel received Kassam rockests. Who is dominating whom?
This article is vicious in its content and morally reprehensible.

This is nothing short of a hideously inaccurate hate crime. Shame on you Mr. Gandhi. You disrespect not only my family, but yours.

You need to get a grip on Reality! "The World" as well as the German people are responsible for the Holocaust as well as the Terrorism throughout the World today!

They talk, negotiate, and Discuss(UN) while Atrocities take place around the world!

How's that go, "When good men do nothing,....."

"Rome Burned While Nero Fiddled!"

"The World" should learn from history, sadly, it seems like we never do!

Hopefully you'll get a clue some day, but I doubt it!

That arun is a grandson of Gandhi means nothing and Gandhi's philosophy worked only because the British were exhausted (they're ready to turn over the rule of their island to a foreign entity today!). And frankly, he spouts a lot of hot air--how's the caste system doing in India these days Mr. Gandhi? And as a Jew, you're damn right I won't forget what happened--just in case some jerk tries it again (which could be argued that it's happening now) I'll take a few with me! Finally, if another "cleansing" of Jews in Israel is coming then I say to Israel, "do it baby, let the nukes fly!!!" Ghandi, another leftist "fakir" full of his own BS.

Of course, the previous examples weren't supposed to be taken seriously.

Is there a "REPORT OFFENSE COMMENTS" button for the main article?

The Arab-Israeli conflict rates at #49 in the fatality rankings, and that's for over fifty years of conflict. There are much better options than the Jews for the "biggest players" in the "culture of violence":

Maybe it's the Chinese or the Russians, who are responsible for the deaths of dozens of millions in their manmade famines and gulags?

Or maybe it's the Catholics? I mean, nobody ever expected the Spanish Inquisition.

Or maybe the blacks are the most responsible? Look at what they did in Rwanda and the Congo, and they're still blaming the Americans and the French.

And what about the Arabs? Saddam wasn't the friendliest fellow, and didn't the Arabs start off the conflict with the Israelis?

Seriously, this article is despicable. His grandfather must be rolling in his grave!

Who is he to make these sweeping conclusions about millions of people? Suppose I stand up and start making generalizing speeches about India, Indians and Hinduism (and I know more about these than he does about Jews, Israel or Judaism). Suppose we all start inventing stereotypes and throwing them at each other. People like this are routinely called "racists" in the US. As is typical for such people, the stereotypes they throw at others are really about themselves. It is not that "Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience", it is that Arun Gandhi does not know much about his subject other than the Holocaust and "Israel oppresses Palestinians."

It is this combination of stunning ignorance and equally stunning arrogance that is the real source of much of the world's trouble.

As for "Jews... [are] eventually going to destroy humanity", we have been accused of this by anyone from Mel Gibson to Adolf Hitler, and before them for thousands of years. Yet humanity is still here, and still bent on destroying us. It seems that humanity is projecting on us what it wants to do to us.

And if this is not antisemitism, can anyone tell me what antisemitism is?

But it is disappointing to see the grandson of Gandhi in this crowd. Before pointing fingers at Jews, why don't you fix your problems with Pakistan, mister.

I ask Arun whether a very similar analysis could be made with respect to the Palestianians, for they surely fester in a wound which is almost exactly as old as the Holocaust - namely the refugee crisis created in the Isareli war for independence. Are the Palestianinas able to forgive? Do they prefer peaceful solutions?

Oh, I see, we are too tied to the Holocaust. Shame on me, I should have ignored the tattoed numbers on my mothers arm that she got in Auschwitz. I should forget the times when she would have a nervous breakdown and be sedated with electric shock, which I saw as a child. I should forget that this so traumatized her that she had to give up her children to foster care.

I should "move on" from the fact that I have no grandparents, cousins or relatives who remained from that Holocaust. We should instead "befriend those who hate you". I can see it now, as the Nazis were carting off the Jews to the camps, the Jews should have just "befriended" them. As they were butchering us in Babi Yar, and in the Warsaw Ghetto, we should have come offering candy and gifts.

To set Mr. Ghandi straight, it wasnt Hitler who personally manned the death camps or led the execution squads. It was ordinairy Germans.

Who says we want the world to feel guilty? I certainly don't. However, I certainly don't want the world to forget that man can be evil and those who don't learn from history will repeat it. Sorry, we refuse to go through that again. As for our "attitude" towards our neighbours, has this guy read the Hamas Charter lately? Has he watched Hamas TV?

What a vile, antisemitic article. The Jews and Israel are going to destroy the world? The writer has gone too far. He is way outside his caste on this one. Maybe a stray nuke from Pakistan hitting Mumbai would change his perspective a bit.

Arun Gandhi is NOT an anti-semite. He's a truth teller. Right now, Jews and israelis need a heavy dose of the truth serum.

At least in India they don't built walls around muslim villages, create checkpoints to harass their movement and force muslims to drive in some roads and not others because they are muslim. They don't built illegal settlements on muslim land either. Jews or Israelis are the lowest of low in the human scale. Actually they don't deserve to be called human either. If a muslim wants to buy a house in Tel Aviv or haifa, he's not allowed, but a jew can buy property anywhere. To me that is pure aparthield.

Mr. Gandhi's comments are anti-semitic, in my opinion.

Israel's Arab population has a higher rate of literacy than India's Hindus or Muslims. Israel's Arab population has a higher rate of land and home ownership than India's Hindus or Muslims. They have a lower rate of infant mortality, a higher life expectancy as well.
Why is Israel able to allow its Arab/Muslim population to prosper more than India allows for either its Hindu or Muslim populations.

After reading some of the commentary in here supporting Mr. Gandhi's ignorant and reprehensible statements, it becomes easier to understand how the German people allowed themselves to lulled by Hitler and become participants in mass murder.

It's like the 1930's all over again. Only this time around the excuse is called Palestine.

On this topic, some of you keep repeating 'facts' without bothering to check the sources, or perhaps seek additional ones to obtain a better-balanced understanding of region and the current conflict. Almost as a rule, you choose to parrot the pro-Palestinian byline, a narrative that is based largely on myths and outright lies. If some of you took the time to actually study the history of the region, you might not jump to conclusions so easily. Such ignorance allows you to be manipulated--pushing you from feeling indignation towards hatred, and finally to condoning murder.

No, maybe some of you aren't anti-Semites. But what gets me is that so many of you are willing to sacrifice the Jews and Israel in the name of 'peace.' What makes you think you can appease evil?

The Holocaust wasn't the first pogrom against the Jews, and I'm coming to the realization that it won't be the last.

I am not a Jew, but I for one, will not stand by and see it happen again without a fight.

Leave it to the Washington Post to propagate anti-semitism in a most virulent, liberal and chaotic manner - and it's readership ate it up like a bunch of rabid dogs (wearing foil hats).

It is quite intriguing to witness an ancestor of Mahatma Gandhi using his heritage as moral/ethical authority for spreading hate in an artical that shuns the use of historicism to establish an upper-hand, no less.

I'm sorry, but this is an absurd position. The Middle East has no love for Israel, none. To most people there, it doesn't even exist. To expect Israel to reach out to those that wish them destroyed is absurd.

Why can't the other countries of the Middle East reach out to Israel first? All they need to do is demostrate that their existence is wanted and desired.

If 200 million people want aid from 6 million, perhaps they should invite Israel into a economic partnership.

This Ghandi is a feeble, shallow and bigoted reproduction of the original.
As for the "warped individual" referred to in the article, it is clear many of his followers are alive and well in the WaPo readership.

regarding "But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews"

I am a jew and the son of a holocaust survivor. Although I abhor what the German's did during the holocaust (my father lost 6 brother and sisters and was orphaned), I don't waste my time wanting the Germans or the whole world to regret anything. I am too busy being a productive member of society. In fact, with the exception of this comment, I don't ever invoke the holocaust in my daily life. Perhaps Mr. Ghandi should stick to recounting his own miserable life experiences.
I resent Mr. Ghandi's generalization and I am deeply offended by his comments. He is a disgrace to his heritage.

India: millions of untouchables, massive pollution of air, earth and water, child labor on a grand scale, violent conflicts and an arms race with its nuclear armed neighbor that annually costs many more lives than Israeli/Arab conflicts -- hundreds of millions living in extreme poverty, and uncontrolled population growth -- and a still existent caste system despite claims to the contrary.

Pardon Gandhi, but what about Jews??

well...this pakistani muslim likes and respects Arun Gandhi a lot. I had the same respect for his grandfather who lost his life trying to smooth communal relationships in India. Here's a guy who exercises his right to free speech and gets hit with over 377 vitriolic messages. Shame on you, jews.

what a perfect idiot. analyzing it is a waste of time.

This man is an absolute idiot. Where does he live? How does he not see what goes on? Jews are the problem? How I wish I could drop ship him into Pakistan and see how easy it is for him to get the Muslims to like him. What a moron.

A history lesson for all the ignorant people here who beliee the Plo proaganda. There has never been a Palestinian country, people, language, or culture. Israel was re-named Palestine by the Romans and the name has no connection to the Arabs. Jews were the first to be called Palestinians because there was always a Jewish presence in Israel/Palestine.

The Plo in the late 1960's created they mythical "Palestinian people" and stole the historical connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. It's the biggest fraud in the world! A co-founder of the Plo admitted in an interview two decades ago that a Palestinian people didn't exist.

Most of the Arabs who live in Israel and the surrounding area immigrated from Arabia during the last century. It is they who are the invadors and occupiers. Jews are indigenous to Israel/Palestine and it belongs to them!

So, if Israel would just disband its military and police forces, and ignore attacks by Hamas and others, everything would be right in the world. I think I understand what Mr. Gandhi is advocating.

I am amazed the Post published this shallow dirt. I am insulted by almost every deluded sentence. Thank you for making me realize why I became a Zionist and move to Israel. May the history of the Jewish people and Israel continue to be remembered. This world is full of snake pits. Just ignore the distraction of this nonsense!

Arun Gandhi says "Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead..."

Well I guess the whole world is sort of anchored in the past.

I mean, what would Arun Gandhi be doing if he he wasn't abusing the power of his grandfather's name. I'd say he'd be shoveling fries, but there's always employment opportunities for barely disguised antisemites, in the Middle east.

If we weren't anchored with the past, why would the Washington Post consider giving column inches to such an ignoramus? Anything to do with his surname?

All this loathsome article (and many of its comments) prove is that the convergence of extreme leftists, far right Neo Nazis and isolationists, dim-bulb pacifists and wacko conspiracy nuts is getting increasingly focussed.

Now, more than any time since WW2, Jewish people need to remember the last holocaust and watch out for the creeps who want to usher in a new one.

This is the most blatantly anti-semitic, hate-filled trash I have read in a long time. This is classic "blame the victim". No matter what Israel does to accommodate it's hate filled neighbors, they are blamed for generating the irrational hatred of their enemies. Hitler would have loved this piece. Very sad.

Mr. Gandhi-

While I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I kindly hope you starve yourself as your grandfather once did. May Pakistan nuke your country so you understand the Muslims.

Like his grandfather, Mr. Gandhi advocates Jewish suicide. (1946: "...the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs…") One wonders today, in the face of Palestinians who tie bombs to their own children, of Iraqi dictators who employed human meat grinders, of Iranian dictators pursuing atomic weapons and of Islamists the world over who slit throats, punish rape victims, fly airplanes into office buildings and slice off heads, what for Mr. Gandhi might constitute an offense heinous enough NOT to extend one's hand in friendship and neighborliness to its perpetrator. Apparently, the answer is NOTHING, and for that Mr. Gandhi is easily dismissed as a fool. (The elder Mr. Gandhi's success was due, it has been said, because "the British had a conscience to appeal to.") More disturbing is that The Washington Post and Newsweek deem the younger's absurd, disgusting, dangerous and victim-blaming viewpoint as worthy of dissemination. Shameful.

Wow..I think big Ghandi would choke his grandson if he was still alive...perhaps some of the commenters here as well. I'm not sure if it's just a lack of knowledge or surplus of stupidy that drives a topic like this but here's a short rundown of history for those who like to have an opinion but don't really have any idea what they're talking about.

After the Jews were kicked out of their homeland by the Romans, they were either sold into slavery or scattered to different parts of the globe. There was however, always a Jewish presence in Jerusalem from then until present day.

From the time the Kingdom of Judea fell, Jews were forced to live under the rule of different kings and empires. Jews then experienced pogroms, inquisitions, stripped of possessions, and kicked out of their homes in just about every country for hundreds of years. This was all a precursor to the Holocaust.

Before the Holocaust even happened, the Balfour Declaration made the move to create a State for Jews in which to live and protect themselves, as Europe had failed to do. The land was to be created in their ancient homeland which includes present day Israel, Jordan, and parts of Syria. Jews received but a tiny sliver of that, mostly desert, after the Holocaust.

From before the creation of the State of Israel, Jews were attacked repeatedly by the Arabs who lived under British Mandate. They were then attacked when they declared independence. Not by the British, but by their 5 large arab neighbors. From then on, its been war after war, all started by aggressive neighbors, just for being there and existing.

There is a reason why there isn't peace. There is no Martin Luther King or Mohatma Ghandi in the Arab world and no peaceful leader for Palestinians. Instead, they have been preaching hatred for generations and the only thing stopping them from their goal of destroying Israel is the ability to do so. This is why Israel must maintain a military edge...its survival. Ask Egypt and Jordan (Israel's two largest borders) when the last time they were afraid Israel was going to attack them was. The answer will be before the peace treaties were signed. The snakepit is not Israel as the "author" suggests. The snakes are rather surrounding Israel and Israel is Indiana Jones with a torch trying to keep the snakes at bay. Without the torch to maintain an advantage over the snakes, Indiana would surely perish and so would Israel.

Before Israel was Israel, it was a depressing desert, with its few Arab inhabitants living in mud and stone huts. When Jews moved En Masse, they planted trees, created irrigation, built cities, created new technologies, and created a rose in the desert. It's fine to disagree with some of the actions Israel has taken in its defense, but to say the world is better off without it is just idiocy.

If the Palestinians were peaceful they would have had a state to call their own decades ago. If they were marching with flowers instead of bombs and rockets and guns, or perhaps practicing non-violence in any way shape or form, this could end tomorrow. I guess when all you see or hear is that Killing Jews is good, and Allah wants you to blow yourself up in a pizza parlor, or people chanting Death to Israel, Death to America, you just don't have it in you to be peaceful.

Arun Gandhi's argument is so befuddled, it's difficult to know where to begin.

I've heard of mixed metaphors, but what do you call a misplaced one? If the Holocaust is a "German burden," then why is it something "the Jews have not been able to shed." Germans might want to shed that burden, and Jews might be able to help them remove it from their backs. But no one can "shed" another's burden. And the only Jews I've met whose lives are dominated by the Holocaust are its direct survivors and the depth of their sorrow is understandable. You only have to look at how prosperous and innovative Israeli's economy is to see that it's not a nation "anchored in the past and unable to move ahead."

There's also the dreadful history. The Holocaust wasn't "the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful." German anti-Semitism didn't begin with Hitler and if he'd died in 1943, it's unlikely that the killing in Nazi death camps would have slowed in the slightest. No evil that immense has a cause that small and simplistic.

Consider also his remark about a "bleak" Jewish identity. He'd be right if he'd have meant that outside Israel the Jewish people have so lost their identity that their low birthrates and high intermarriage rates with non-Jews threatens their long-term existence. But he links it to the one thing that kept Israeli's Jews alive in the midst of millions who'd like to exterminate them--their military prowess. No people that has fought as bravely and well as the Jews of Israel is troubled with a loss of identity. His remark about weapons and Arab hatred makes as much sense as blaming the London Blitz on the Spitfire.

For the past year I've been editing a book (due out in late January) that's a collection of articles by someone who radically altered Mahatma Gandhi's views of nationalism. Unfortunately, G. K. Chesterton's good sense about war didn't have a similar impact on Gandhi's pacifism. Read Chesterton if you'd like a brilliant explanation of what's wrong with modern pacifism and why it and violent groups "are always in alliance, by a fatal logic far beyond any conscious conspiracy." Chesterton explains why the critics of Israel are so rarely the critics of Arab terrorism.

--Michael W. Perry, Chesterton on War: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to World War II

Shame on the Washington Post for posting anti-semitic articles like this one.

Thomas, Denmark

Mr Ghandi, please do tell which Jews are using the Holocaust as a means to pick your pockets and weigh the world down with guilt?You are a common garden variety Jew hater who cannot abide that the Jew in their rightful homeland of Israel will never again board the trains without a fight.btw, why do you use the name of your long dead ancestor to gain credibility? The past is over and done with after all.

A lot of ignorant people read the Washington Post it seems. Seriously you gotta get over this "chosen people" thing, all religions are triumphalist. And you need to stop classing Jews as a religion only.

clearly the consumption of lsd did not end with the death of tim leary and jerry garcia! i wish i had a famous grandfather so i could say stupid things and get them published.

I believe that Mr. Gandhi, in person, is a pleasant and civil man. The memory of his grandfather is very dear to me, as it should be to the world.

So it pains me almost beyond words at the way he can posit here an "anger" and "repulsion" at Jews as something with a valid historic logic. This takes him right up to the border of antisemitism--his statement that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in a world "culture of violence" takes him well over that border.

This is simply disgraceful. It doesn't merit any other comment.

Kudos to the Washington Post for exposing this man for the Anti-Semite he is.
While being the Grandchild of a great man must have it's benefits (probably cash, lectures, book deals), inheriting his wisdom does not appear to have been one of them.

Calling Israel a nation of peace and tolarance is an insult to every thinking man, woman and child. Israel is established on stolen land and their arab citizens are treated like slaves. Even black people have it better in the U.S. than do the arabs in Israel.

The only correction for this piece would be to just Find and Replace "jew" for "islam" or "socialist."

Mr. Gandhi:

You do not know me. Nor do I know you. Please do not condescend to presume what I, as a Jew, think or believe. I will extend you the same courtesy.

I have been a local, national and international leader of various Jewish organizations. I have never used the Holocaust as a justification for the creation of the State of Israel. Neither have I heard many other Jews or Jewish leaders do so. The various justifications for Israel existed long before the Holocaust. The Holocaust merely exemplified one of those justifications.

Sadly, the lessons of the Holocaust have not yet been learned. Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Darfur all speak to that. That is the reason many of us continue to educate about the Holocaust- not to generate pity for our dead families but rather so that others will not suffer genocide in the future. Those who truly are concerned with the 'culture of violence' have studied and learned the lessons of the past and are involved in attempting to stop that 'culture' from taking even more lives, today, in Sudan and any other place where real genocide is planned and perpetrated. To be taken seriously when you talk the talk you must also walk the walk.

It seems the biggest advocates of evil and hatred in the world today come in the guise of “peace”. You, Mr. Gandhi, are apparently no exception.

With regard to the Holocaust, you state the Jews “overplay a historic experience”, as if Jews today are deviously attempting to turn this episode of horror to their advantage. The Jews have every right, after suffering repeated persecutions throughout history, to seek justice for themselves and provide for their defense. If that “repulse[s]” you, Mr. Gandhi, it says more about your own twisted morality than it does about the Jews.

And yes, Mr. Gandhi, from a Jewish perspective, the “whole world must regret what happened to the Jews”, just as the whole world must regret the brutality perpetrated against innocents in Rwanda, Darfur, and countless other places around the world. You see, Mr. Gandhi, Judaism holds we are each our brother’s keeper. When evil is perpetrated against human beings, it is our responsibility to do what we can to stop it -- including employment of the use of force -- and to deeply regret when it occurs. So do us a favor, Mr. Gandhi, don’t try to persuade us that your “anger” toward the Jews is anything other than what it apparently is.

You continue your smear by stating the Jews have “refuse[d] to forgive and move on” from the Holocaust. First, from a Jewish perspective, the right to forgive belongs exclusively to the one who was wronged and, as we know, most of the Jews affected by the Holocaust never had an opportunity to forgive. Second, the thriving Jewish communities throughout the world today put the lie to your claim that the Jews have refused to “move on” after the Holocaust.

You then provide us with the insight that “Jewish identity in the future appears bleak” because “[a]ny nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead”. Really, Mr. Gandhi? The Jewish people have been firmly rooted in their traditions for over 3000 years. They are still here, they are still thriving, and they are still contributing to the welfare of humanity well out of proportion to their numbers.

And, Mr. Gandhi, to set the record straight, we Jews don’t believe our “survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs” -- we also put our trust in our Creator. But, like any other nation, we have an obligation and right to make the effort to provide for our own safety. If Jews defending themselves offends you, too bad.

You then mention, apparently without embarrassment, that in 2004 you bestowed your wisdom upon Israelis, telling them the security fence and military operations were no substitute for “befriend[ing] those who hate you.” Can anyone really be so gullible as to believe such nonsense? Just how do Israelis befriend those who have implacably dedicated themselves to Israel’s demise? You may also want to check some statistics: since substantial completion of the security fence in 2006, suicide bombings in Israel have come to a near halt. So much for your sound advice.

You culminate your wretched diatribe stating “Israel and the Jews are the biggest players” in the “Culture of Violence [that] is eventually going to destroy humanity.” Do you feel no shame in foisting such lies upon the public? The violence in Israel is a result of the long-standing Arab refusal to accept the State of Israel. It was the Arabs who rejected the UN partition plan in 1948, and commenced a brutal war to eradicate the Jews. Since then the Arabs have launched successive wars and terrorist campaigns in their attempt to destroy the Jewish state. When Israel evacuated Gaza and left the Arabs to their own devices, they were answered by incessant rocket attacks designed to kill and maim Israeli civilians. Of course, not a word of your screed mentions these facts.

It is a shame that people like you turn the word peace on its head by spewing such hate.

Mr. Gandhi has dishonored the legacy of his grandfather, who called for love, peace and tolerance, with blantant anti-Semitism. He claims that Jews and Israel are the biggest players in a culture of violence. I pity Mr. Gandhi since he apparently has lost all sense of reality and reason. It is so ridiculous of an accusation, so absurd that it almost not worthy of a response. How can he ignore the murderous regime of Sudan? The numerous dictatorships around the world who kill their people at will? Hatred of Jews has become an obsession, a disease, and whether it comes from someone dressed in a suit representing an organization that supposedly promotes peace, or from someone wearing a white sheet, it is still anti-Semitism. This is hate speech, and has no place in rational debate or discussion. And anyone who uses these comments to try to make any arguments is guilty of aiding and abetting this anti-Semitic man.

A little secret: the history of civilization is filled with the names of cultures and people that no longer exist, because they did not value life and peace, as does Judaism.

I am a Jew who has lost generations directly as a result of the holocaust in Europe. My grandmother, who is 104 years old, was the oldest of nine. All of her siblings and their families as well as her parents and extended families were murdered in the concentration camps.

I ask how and why are we to forget? How can we forget when the same form of inhumanity is still occurring today in Darfur. We need to keep the awareness alive so it stops happening.

You said: "The Jewish identity in the future appears bleak. Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead... "
-Actually, I think its exactly the opposite.
We have been a people for over 3,000 years. What holds us together is our history and our believe in one G-d.

What you are saying is that we stop defending ourselves against people who want to see nothing less than our destruction as a people! If people in countries bordering the United States were continually bombing and killing citizens, the world would see its right to fight back.

And just so that you know, all religion is protected and guarded in Israel. The Christians, Muslims, and Jews are able to practice their religions freely. This is not the case in most Muslim countries.

Israel is not a nation of violence. We are a nation of tolerance.

Open your eyes, and see that you are merely repeating back the same propaganda and falsehood that led to the dehumanization of Jews in Europe, during the holocaust.

I am here to not forget the past and to make sure that it doesn't become our future.

"In other words, I asked, you believe that you can create a snake pit -- with many deadly snakes in it -- and expect to live in the pit secure and alive? What do you mean? they countered. Well, with your superior weapons and armaments and your attitude towards your neighbors would it not be right to say that you are creating a snake pit? How can anyone live peacefully in such an atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?"

First, in this case, the snakes are being kept out. The securiy fence saves lives. It stops terrorists attacks. It stops people who wish to destroy you from entering.

Second, Ghandi is right, it is better to befriend those who hate you. Israel has tried this countless times. It has given up land for peace. It has given humanitarian aid for peace. It has released murderers for peace. At every instance, these acts of peace have been misinterpreted as acts of weakness and have been responded to with violence. On a daily basis, rockets and morters attack Israel from Hamas. Today alone, 18 rockets hit one town. Why is Ghandi not calling on those firing the rockets from stopping?

Who is living in the past, the Israelis who remember the Holocaust, or the palestinians who attacked Israel, lost land in a war that they started, and still claim the right of return for people who never left the area?

The Washington Post should be ashamed of printing this ugly antisemitic essay. Why are they spreading lies about the Jewish people and the State of Israel? What do they hope to gain? I can hardly believe this filth was spread by a major U.S. newspaper.

This article is so full of hate towards the Jewish people I am shocked that the Washington post actually published it. I guess it was published in the name of freedom of speech. Will the Washington post allow the KKK to spew their hate on its pages? How about the Aryan Nation? After all they also blame the “Jews” for all the worlds’ problems.
Oh, when are the Indians giving up Kashmir?

Sick.

Gandhi, and about half the commenters here.

yeah, those darn jews try WAY too hard to survive and prosper, it's just so unfair to the rest of us who hate them and want them all dead.

Give me a break.

What nonsense. The Jewish People have moved on and forgiven. We have not forgotten, but we have forgiven. Today, Jews and Israel are at the leading edge of medical science and other technologies. Today and always, Israel has wanted peace with the Palestinians.

Mr. Arun Gandhi writes, "Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead...". I've been to India and it sounds to me like Mr. Ganhdi is describing his country...a people stuck in the past and living in the past where the caste system, though illegal, is as strong as ever.

It is upsetting to see people, in such an inconsiderate way, criticizing Mr. Gandhi. He is a famous man. Well, maybe he's not famous, but he is the grandson of a famous man. As such, he is our better and knows how the world works. We should all listen to him and obey his dicta.

Still, it's unfortunate that he is not a movie star. Then, his opinion would've held even more importance.

Arun Gandhi is the Billy Carter of India.

He is willing to be the next Gandhi... Who was Shot dead by a Hindu....

Use more Hindu Tag... but remember that Hindus are not Muslims, who will allow you to defame Hinduism... certainly we neither allowed you M.K.Gandhi..

This article is pathetic. Why the washingtonpost allowed this be printed I don't know. Perhaps, they're anti-semitic, hmm...

Don't forget that many Indians admire Hitler and the NAZI party and that Berlin had special emissaries there during the war to help forming a Neo-Aryan cult.
Anyway, this is NOT hinduism. Arun Ghandi has nothing to do with genuine hinduism and most indians hate him

Anyone remember how Israel was the ONLY country in the world that was disappointed when our intelligence services came out with the NIE report that Iran had stopped building a nuclear bomb? They really wanted our boys to die in a false war with Iran. They are the reason why our boys are dying in Iraq. Wake up people, or the U.S. will give birth to its own Hitler in 30 years time.

I think Mr. Arun Gandhi would do far better denouncing the hindu attacks on Christian churches, which took place over Christmas, instead of repeating anti-semetic canards, and blaming Jews/Israel for all the violence on the planet. (It wasn't Israel,or the Jews, who attacked those Indian churches, Mr. Gandhi.)'

And, oh yes---what about the untouchables? And India's possession of nuclear weapons?

More German civilians than American civilians died in WW2.

Was the US the aggressor in WW2?

What arrant, insensitive, anti-Semitic tripe! I don't believe this mental midget is a Ghandi.

Yes, Mr. Gandhi- Jews and Israel are the biggest players in the culture of violence. Of course, who killed Bhutto, who is murdering daily in Sudan, who provides suicide murderers world wide, who keeps the people of Burma in slavery- the Jews and Israel- of course. The Post may have given you a platform but you are a liar and a fool.

How unfortunate - but not surprising - that the Washington Post has lent itself to such a blatantly anti-semitic screed...just further confirmation of how the modern Liberal/Left has embraced and imbibed anti-semitism, lock, stock and barrell.

anyone who thinks Israel wants peace for land, wake up! It's not in the jews character to give up one inch of land, since peace essentially has no monetary value. Read merchant of venice by the word's greater writer who ever lived, william shakespare. Once may even ask why jews have big noses, and the reason is because oxygen is still free. One also needs to ask why God's supposedly chosen people turned out to be so greedy. Buddism is a way better religion than Judaism.

Further on the topic of this Gandhi treating Jews and Muslims differently: In this article - http://tinyurl.com/yogfwb - Mr. G argues post 9/11 against labeling all Muslims as terrorists.

How can he make such an argument and then generalise about all Jews?

Here's how: he says:

'Israel has already branded all Palestinians as "terrorists" and has launched a campaign to eliminate them.'

This is a lie to support his biases.

There's frankly not much difference conceptually between what Gandhi says and "The Protocols" and the WaPo is supporting the dissemination of these views.

I wonder what University of Rochester president Dr. Joel Seligman (a muslim? a christian? a hindu? hmmmm) will have to say about this "honorable" member of his institute.

His E-mail

seligman@rochester.edu

Georgann:

"Just look at the stats. It's Palestinians who are dying 4 to 1 in that conflict."

The only reason that's the case is because Israel prevents most Palestinian attacks. For example, in 2006, out of 197 suicide bombing, 190 were prevented. Israel is constantly finding cars and vans with bombs and constantly stopping Palestinian attacks. One mega attack that was thwarted was the destruction of the Azrieli Towers in Tel-Aviv, an attack that would have killed thousands. If you include all the Palestinian attacks that have been stopped, the Israeli death toll would be ca. 20 000-30 000. On the other hand, the Palestinians cannot stop Israeli attacks. So the figures of 1000 Israelis killed to 4000 Palestinians killed are quite misleading on the surface.

"Jewish identity in the past" begins this piece. And the author negates 5000 years of history and focuses only on one event that occured 60 years ago. The Jewish identity, the politics of Israel and the philosophies of Jews around the world are based on millenia of history, not one event. Yes, the holocaust was a tramatic event that should never be repeated - unto any group of people - but the Jewish right to survive - nay, thrive - in this world is not predicated on what "one man" was able to convince his followers to do in Nazi Germany. The Jewish right to survive and thrive - all while retaining whatever religion they choose - is the same as any human beings'.

As for the building of a snake pit, I ask the author, and anyone else reading this, to consider who orginially built the pit. Numerous wars started by Israel's "neighbors" have put a nation on edge. Continual attacks by suicide bombers unable or unwilling to "reach out" to their Jewish neighbors in peace have been perpetrated against them. Would any other nation on the surface of the earth be asked to sit quietly and accept the death and destruction dealt to them by their neighbors? Would any other people fighting for their survival due to religious intolerance be chastised for taking the measures necessary to protect themselves?

Israel is a sovreign nation, with all of the rights and responsabilities that entails. The right of self defense is foremost on that list for any nation, not just one with a long history of non-violence that has led to death, hatred and destruction.

Mr. Gandi is correct provided he has good knowledge that Israel is created by terrorism, millions of Palestinians are still stranded on the desert, the occupation is still going on even after 60 years - there is no paralel to this in any other part of the world.

What the Jews is wrong is to equate critism of Zionism or Israel as anti Semitic.

Not all Jews are terrorist and approved to expropriate Palestinian lands exclusively for the Jews.

Please take a look at the following statement from New York Times 1/8/2008:

-------------------------------------------------
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/news/currentarticle.cfm?id=104

Jan 8, 2008

The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada placed a quarter-page ad in today's New York Times, affirming the opposition of hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews to Zionism and Jewish rule over the Holy Land during exile, and denouncing religious Zionist groups as falsifiers of the Torah. The ad appeared in the newspaper on page A-20.

The text of the ad was as follows:

A Clarification of Torah Doctrine

Issued by the Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada

Consistently, throughout the peace process in the Middle East, various Jewish religious organizations and parties have raised their voices in opposition to the return of territories to the Arabs, issuing statements that, according to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to give up any land in the Holy Land (especially part of Jerusalem).

Accordingly, it has become a commonplace that religious Jews are supportive of stopping the peace process. In the public mind, the policies of these parties became synonymous with Torah Doctrine. Moreover, they are portrayed in the media as ‘ultra-nationalists’ willing to exchange ‘peace’ for ‘land’.

This impression is utterly false. All forms of Zionism, be they secular or religious, are inherently antithetical to the teaching of our faith! The great sages and saints of our people have always been opposed to the existence of the Zionist State. Indeed, when an obscure Viennese journalist first challenged the Torah approach to exile and redemption, over one hundred years ago, he was immediately attacked by the Torah sages of that time. Those orthodox Jews who support the Israeli state and ‘Greater Israel’ are falsifiers of Torah doctrine. They have abandoned the principles of their predecessors.

The harm of observant Jews supporting the Zionist state is compounded by the Israeli government’s consistent, public rebellion against G-d’s kingship. It is a state which constantly violates Torah law, and actively seeks to persecute its observers, via cemetery desecrations, autopsies, drafting of women, etc. Accordingly, when observant Jews wax enthusiastic over the state and its leaders, it creates a monstrous desecration of G-d’s name.

Torah true Jews who have remained loyal to their ancestral faith are not ‘nationalists’ who desire land at the price of peace. Throughout history, dating back to Temple days, the faithful Jews have opposed secular, militaristic solutions to Jewish problems. In Israel today these Jews do not participate in the electoral process of the Zionist state, nor do they accept its financial benefits. Frequently ignored by the media, they number in the hundreds of thousands worldwide. It is they who have remained firmly devoted to Judaism as received and taught throughout the millennia.

It is in their name that we restate the fundamental beliefs of our faith:

Torah Jewry sees its exile from the Holy Land as the result of a Divine decree. The land was given to us according to G-D’s will, and when our sins accumulated we were exiled from it. This exile is in essence a spiritual state that cannot and must not be remedied by temporal means. Until G-D chooses to redeem us, we are commanded by Him to live as cooperative, law abiding and patriotic citizens in our countries of residence. Accordingly, the Jewish people have no ‘claim’ to the Holy Land at present. They have no right to conquer or to rule over it.

Clearly, the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was in no way a fulfillment of the Jewish people’s millennia-long yearning for redemption. It was a bizarre, secularist substitute for that redemption. The doctrine of constantly leading the Jewish people into confrontations with other nations is the dogma of Zionism not of the Holy Torah. We are commanded by G-D to live in dignity and piety wherever Providence has so ordained.

Therefore, we declare that the Zionist state of Israel is not the legitimate representative of our people. Our position on the ceding of land is quite simple: Any Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land before the Messianic Epoch is sinful and sure to lead to tragedy. And it is certainly absurd to sacrifice even one human life for this illegitimate state.

May all mankind be worthy of true Redemption when the ‘Swords will be beaten into
plowshares’ and G-D’s Glory will fill the world.

CENTRAL RABBINICAL CONGRESS OF THE U.S.A. & CANADA

85 Division Avenue - Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211 - Tel: (718) 384-6765/6 - Fax: (718) 963-0494

The Central Rabbinical Congress, established in 1952, is a worldwide organization representing over 150 Orthodox communities.

Whether Mr. Gandhi identifies with the term or not, he appears to be among the Liberation Theologists. Like some others, from that orientation, Mr. Gandhi seems to identify, on a pacifistic basis, totally with the Palestinians, absolving the Palestinians of any responsibility for the continuance of the conflict.

This stance poses a great problem because underlying everything is first, their belief that Israel has absolutely no right to exist and second, that having no right to exist, Israel should shed its status as a state for the Jewish people and "do the right thing" by combining with a Palestinan majority to create a single Middle Eastern state.

Such hopes must be resisted. Such hopes cannot lead to a win-win situation for both peoples.

Exactly! This is the kind of thing that in the USA marks you as some flaming accolyte of Adolf Hitler. The suffocating discussion in this country does not allow any serious examintion of Israel's deeply institutionalized racism against its neighbors, its psychotic militarist siege mentality, its total refusal to view its neighbors as full human beings with legitimate grievances and its absolute refusal to acknowledge its own appalling, criminal history of atrocities, racism and ethnic cleansing. Israelis and their amen crowd in the US view themselves as superior human beings and view their neighbors as untermenschen, subhumans who deserve absolutely no recognition of humanity whatsoever. This is no recipe for surival. As some Israeli anti-zionist critics have often said, Israel is not a state with a military. It's a military with a state.

Too bad for the anti-semites of the World that the Israelis are NOT the unarmed Jews of WW2 Europe.

To all those who are supposedly outraged over the 1967 Six-Day War friendly fire on the USS Liberty Incident, why don't we ever hear from you about the Islamofascist attacks on the
- USS Cole
- Khobar Towers
- US Marine Barracks in Beirut
- Pan Am 103
- Colonel Higgins
- Robert Stethem
- bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by timothy mcveigh
- trillions of after tax dollars shelled out for overpriced oil
- 1993 bombing of the WTC
- 9/11 sneak attack on the US

I think WaPo publishes these extremely controversial pieces to get more traffic/hits (on this website) and thus more money from advertisers.

In other words, they can sell their journalistic integrity for a little bit of money.

Wow let's pile on the Jews they're the cause for everything bad in this world. Right! As for holding on to the holocaust how about the Muslims holding on to the Crusades that happened I don't know 900 years ago. But the Catholics and Christians feel an urge to apologize. I still hear the same anti-semitism that was around in the 1930's. Scary really scary.

I dare the Washington Post to publish a cartoon of Mohammed.

Mr. Ghandi's commentary is naive and childish. We should expect more of the name he leverages. German antisemitism was not the work of one man, Hitler. An entire German culture and nation pervasively suffered from an eliminationist mind-set. The Jews in particular but all of Eastern Europe in fact was designed as an enormous slave labor region filled with camps for that purpose. The Islamic mind-set today, based upon a tribal culture, apes the same eliminationist and slave-based approach to non-believers. Israel is not holding firm enough. The law of Arba/Islamic tribal culture demands what Israel, unfortunately has to give it. The tribal mentality must be changed for civility and peace to be achieved.

This is the most vile article I have ever seen published by the Washington Post. Does the Post normally give space to such unhinged screeds against entire nations and religious groups? Is all sick slander forgiven because it's under the rubric of "peace"? Simply despicable.

And apparently the "moderator" is asleep at the wheel.

Israel-haters such as Messr. Gandhi should ponder the following Gedankenexperiment:

Suppose that our neighbors to the south crossed our border, not with their children in tow and with the intent to secure a job and a peaceful existence, but instead with explosive vests and the intent to murder as many Americans as possible. Suppose the entire apparatus of Mexican society was dedicated to genocide against the "Manifest Destiny-ist occupiers," that they lived and died by the slogan, "From the Sierras to the sea, Aztlan will be free," and that Mexicans were from childhood indoctrinated with the belief that dying while slaughtering Californians was the noblest cause they could aspire to.

Under this scenario, would our response differ in any fundamental way from that of Israel vis-a-vis Gaza and the West Bank? Sure, the peaceniks in the Bay Area would take MEChA's side at first, but wouldn't they change their tune once the first few head shops and gay discos were hit with car bombs?

Were Israel to attempt a pacifistic, non-violent approach such as the Messr. Gandhi's grandfather used against the British colonial government, peace would not be the result. Rather, the result would be that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran would find it all the easier to succeed in their openly-avowed goal of murdering every Jew in the Middle-East. "Peace" is not an accurate descriptor of the situation that results when your enemies run out of victims.

What we really don't need is people like you feeding off someone's name. You're a nobody without the Ghandi surname.

Well Ghandi, why doesnt India put your stupid theory to the test: Destroy your nuclear weapons and disarm your armed forces. Let us see how Pakistan warms up to you.

jojo:
I'm seeing a lot of hurt jews on this board. What...someone just outed your dirty laundry? LMAO.

Impossible.

Your mother is still washing it.

Americans have absolutely no right to a country let alone self-determination.

They should all be sent back to Europe and the other countries of their ancestors.

Everyone of them.

There is no historical, Biblical or any other justification for White Europeans to be within 3000 miles of North America.

But I'm not anti-American, or anything......

Rwanda, 1994 - 800,000 dead
Bosnia, 1992-1996 - 200,000 dead
Darfur, 2004-now - 200,000 dead
Afghanistan, 1978-now - millions dead
India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, 1970-now - millions dead
Israel/Palestine/Lebanon, 2000-now - 5,000 dead

Israel, world's biggest source of violence???

Mr. Gandhi, what planet are you on?

It is always sad to see the way the antisemitism oozes out of these comments. Of course, disagreeing with Israel's policies or Jewish religion is not antisemitism but many of the comments go way beyond disagreeing.

During World War II, Mahatma Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.”

Memo to the grandson. DROP DEAD.

A lot of Pakistanis could say the same things about India'a iron fisted treatment of Kashmir. India, therefore, is an 'abomination.' The whole article is a bunch of crap. Israel's bloodthirsty neighbors are SOLELY to blame for the 'plight' of the 'palestinians.'

Ah, yes, Arun Gandhi, how much more fondly we would be remembering the millions of dead Jews had they only gone rejoiceing into the death chambers instead of making all this fuss about Holocausts and Homelands.

Mathatma Gandhi never supported the idea of a Jewish state as refuge from death camps nor did he support war with Hitler.

So what were Jews to do? "Can the Jews resist this organized and shameless persecution? Is there a way to preserve their self-respect, and not to feel helpless, neglected and forlorn? I submit there is." Gandhi suggests they either settle in Paelstine (but "...only with the goodwill of the Arabs")& attempt reconcilation or, "They can offer satyagraha(passive resistance)in front of the Arabs and offer themselves to be shot or thrown in to the Dead Sea without raising a little finger against them."

The world would think much better of them, Gandhi argued, if Jews simply let themselves be slaughtered. "And suffering voluntarily undergone will bring them an inner strength and joy which no number of resolutions of sympathy passed in the world outside Germany can."

The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree...

Hey Jacob,

I think that you are taking me to task for carping about the Zionist invaders while neglecting the Pakistani issue.

Two points:

1. The partition of Pakistan was done by the British following WW II I believe in order to allow the indigenous majority Muslim population to have self governance, or self determination of its region of the country, and the Hindu population to have self governance of its region. There was no importing of an alien population of hundreds of thousands of immigrants to displace the local indigenous population as was the case in the Zionist invasion of Palestine.

2. The partition of Pakistan was not supported by my government using my tax dollars as far as I know. My government does not guarantee the supremacy of an apartheid minority of invaders controlling the indigenous majority population as in the case of Palestine. In other words, its none of my business.

One of the more disturbing things about antisemites is that when you call them on it, they start whining that they have been called that *just* for making bigoted, ignorant and stupid remarks that slander a whole people.

You have twisted reality! It is the Palestinian Arabs who "live by the bomb" and whose entire culture is warped by their hatred and violence toward the Jews. Israelis, on the other hand, have established a modern, democratic, vibrant culture that focuses on science, music, and helping others (have you not heard of their numerous medical and agricultural humanitarian missions in Africa?). Their military and security concerns are not in their head and not based on their past experience of almost being annihilated by the Nazis. Every day, every single day, the Palestinians from Gaza are sending Qassam rockets into Israel, terrifying everyone within rocket range. Are you suggesting that Israel not defend itself? Non-violent, pacifist resistance only works against a decent democracy, not against the genocidal Muslim supremacists of Hamas/Islamic Jihad/Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade/Hezbollah, etc.

The Palestnians and Jews were offered homelands at the same time that India and Pakistan were. The Muslims and Hindus accepted the solution and now live in two sovereign nations. The Jews accepted the UN Partition plan and live in their nation, established in the place of their ancient homeland. The Palestinians turned down the offer, hoping to wipe out the Jews and take all the land. They continue to turn down reasonable solutions and continue to prefer violence and genocide for the Jews. The Israelis are just defending themselves. There will never be peace until the Palestinians turn away from extremism and turn toward coexistence and a real acceptance of Israel's existence.

Is a guy named Noam Chomsky a Jew? I guess...

These are a few excerpts from some of his essays. What do you think?

1. ...The Israeli offensive of April 1996, much like those of earlier years, has the openly expressed intent of punishing the civilian population so that the government of Lebanon will be compelled to accept U.S. - Israeli demands. It is this "rational prospect" that has always motivated Israel's attacks on civilian populations, Israeli diplomat Abba Eban explained years ago...It is well to remember that Israel's actions, however one assesses them, are conducted with virtual impunity. As Washington's leading client state, Israel inherits the right to do as it chooses....

2. Like Israel's invasion of Lebanon, leaving some 18,000 killed, these actions and others in Lebanon were not undertaken in self-defense but rather for political ends, as recognized at once in Israel. The same was true, almost entirely, of those that followed, up to Peres's murderous invasion of 1996...

3. 2007: The death of a nation is a rare and somber event. But the vision of a unified, independent Palestine threatens to be another casualty of a Hamas-Fatah civil war, stoked by Israel and its enabling ally the United States...The punishment of Palestinians for the crime of voting the wrong way was severe. With US backing, Israel stepped up its violence in Gaza, withheld funds it was legally obligated to transmit to the Palestinian Authority, tightened its siege and even cut off the flow of water to the arid Gaza Strip...

I think the facts of persistant Arab rejectionism (from the very start, and not just on the part of Palestinians) and antiSemitism might have something to do with Israel's attitudes. In particular, Israel is small, geographically vulnerable, and existentially threatened by many of her local neighbours, and moreover always has been.

If Israel and Jews are the biggest players in creating a culture of violence, how do you explain the ongoing violence between Hindus and Moslems? The way I read it, that kinda antedates the Holocaust, and Muslims and Hindus have pretty much been at war since partition. What about the ongoing violence between Muslims? Was the genocide of Benaglis by Pakistanis a Jewish thing? I could go on.

I think the facts of persistant Arab rejectionism (from the very start, and not just on the part of Palestinians) and antiSemitism might have something to do with Israel's attitudes. In particular, Israel is small, geographically vulnerable, and existentially threatened by many of her local neighbours, and moreover always has been.

If Israel and Jews are the biggest players in creating a culture of violence, how do you explain the ongoing violence between Hindus and Moslems? The way I read it, that kinda antedates the Holocaust, and Muslims and Hindus have pretty much been at war since partition. What about the ongoing violence between Muslims? Was the genocide of Benaglis by Pakistanis a Jewish thing? I could go on.

Remember how all the progs wet themselves when Del Hargrave said blacks needed to get over slavery!!!

Not that I expect progs to be consistant. Rabid ideos rarely are.

It's funny how so many commenters here are basically telling the Jewish people to forgive, forget, and move on.

How many of these commenters have said this to the blacks and Native Americans of this country?

Thought so...

I'm surprised that the Washington Post allows this sort of anti-Semitism in its publication. Gandhi says: "Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?" To which I respond: "Why? So we should make it easier for those who hate us to kill us?" His own country divided itself along religious lines and the Pakistanis (Muslims) and Indians (Hindus) are doing their best to kill each other over Kashmir. And the both have the bomb. Why doesn't India just give Pakistan Kashmir to end the violence? And his grandfather said, "Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.”
It seems the nut doesn't fall far from the bigoted tree. Next time you want an opinion, get it from someone who has a clue.

Tell Arun last I checked it was muslims wreaking havoc in India and the muslims of India are not doing what they are doing there because of the Israel-Palestinian conflict,they are doing it for a land grab(Kashmir) and intolerance towards Hindus and any other non-muslims.Don't the left of the world despise nepotism.We are supposed to believe just because his last name is Gandhi that we assume he is what Mohatma was.

Arun Gandhi's comments reveal him to be ignorant of the sentiments of the contemporary Diaspora Jewish community, the different segments of Israeli society, and contemporary as well as historical Judaism. His claims about anti-German sentiment among the Jewish community make me wonder how many Diaspora Jews under the age of 40 he has talked to, as well as making clear that that he has never engaged in a conversation about Germans with Israelis in the same age group.

I have no problem with the Washington Post publishing critiques of contemporary Jewish society or Israel. However, there are people who are capable of providing meaningful critiques and Arun Gandhi is not one of them. The fact that the editorial oversight at WAPO decided to go to Mr. Gandhi for his views on this matter shows that they are just as blind on Jewish matters as Mr. Gandhi.

All I learned from reading Mr. Gandhi's comments is that he lacks a sense of proportion and that he was once in Tel Aviv.

Look at what the Jews say on this board.

There are no Good Germans. Just law abiding Germans.

Now take that statement and change the word German to Jew.

There are no good Jews.

How long would a statement like that remain on any website?

There are certainly different standards for Jews and speech. Perhaps that is because of the Jews who own media.

uh,oh - a generalization about Jews - Can't have any o that eh, Hersh?

Who cares if Gandhi is a Jew hater? There are loads of Jews haters around and a good number of them come to this board on a regular basis.

What bugs me is that Gandhi is so stupid and ignorant. He has no idea what is he talking about.

First, Jews don't obsess with the Holocaust, it is the Holocaust deniers that are obsessed with it.

Second, Gandhi does not have the slightest understanding about Jewish theology, he certainly does not note any information here.

Third, the best friends that the Arabs near Israel have are the Jews. It is only because of the Jews that the entire middle east is not a prison camp or a sanctuary for apartheid like Saudi Arabia.

Fourth, he plays on his grandfather's name, but lete be clear, if the British had the same worldview as the Nazis, they would just murdered Gandhi and about 10 million Hindu and Muslims in India.

Fifth, take a look at this video and you will see clearly what the issue is

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ClipMediaID=60227&ak=null

Arun Gandhi is a liar. He says "We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) ..."

Let's see. Around 6 million Jews were killed in the camps. Pol Pot killed around 2 million Cambodians. Around 20 million Russians were killed in Stalin's Gulags. Over 1 million died in the Iran-Iraq war. . The Turks wiped out the Armenians. Arabs have killed around 200,000 in Darfur. Saddam Hussein killed about the same number of Iraquis. And in India, his own country, 1 million Hindus and Mulsims were killed when Pakistan was formed.

The Jews have never been guilty of anything on this scale. Arun Ghandi is a disgrace.

Practice what you preach, Gandhi: Encourage India to stop fighting its Muslim neighbors, hand over Kashmir, and disarm itself of its many nukes and conventional weapons. Then, after you've offered your throats to the the Muslims and they surrender to you, the Jews can be inspired by your great victory through pacifism and will happily follow your lead. On the other hand, if India ends up covered by a giant mushroom cloud, you'll understand if the Jews opt to remain "anchored in the past".

Interesting that name like Gandhi allows you to generalize. "Jews" not even "Zionists" or "Israelis" he blames all Jews. I can only imaging someone writing something similar about Moslems, Hindus... the name "racist fascist" would be immediately put on that writer but when you have a name Gandhi then you can write something this racist and anti Semitic and the Post will publish it.

Israel and THE JEWS are the biggest players? Oh really? If Gandhi had simply said just "Israel" someone might be able to make the argument, albeit weak, that Gandhi is not anti-semetic. But "the Jews?" Come on. Course, he can feel comfortable saying that, because he knows that Jews are not violent.

By the way, Gandhi, I have a really easy solution for you to remove one nuclear power from the world. It's called Pakistan. Tell India they should sit down and be friends with Pakistan. Then Pakistan can take over and we'll have greater Pakistan. What do you think? The Hindus should submit to dhimmitude... Actually scratch that. Hindus aren't people of the book, it's just that after the Arabs slaughtered so many (back when they were busy conquering the Middle East, north Africa, much of Asia and Europe), they were afraid of running out of dhimmis and their coifers were drying up. So they let the Hindus be like dhimmis. But now the Arabs have all this oil, see, so they won't need so much extortio.... oops, I mean jizya tax, so they can just slaughter all the Hindus. What you you think?

While I respect Mr. Gandhi’s opinion and agree that peace happens when the guns are laid down; I do feel his blame of Israel is misplaced. One must keep in mind that all of Israel’s neighbors want them pushed into the sea; they never embraced a two state solution. If Mr. Gandhi can facilitate a process whereby the Arab nations will lay down their guns, I can guarantee you that Israel will welcome and embrace it; just like was done in Egypt. The holocaust is not being used as a smokescreen; it’s merely an important story to tell.

It is really sad that the Washington Post has to publish this pure anti-semitic nonsence.

Mr Ghandi is adopting a view of the situation that relies on a pre-existing ideological disposition.

To illustrate, consider that the Jews underwent centuries of abuse from Christian and Muslim alike prior to the Holocaust. That event then took 1/3 of Jewish life from earth in an attempt at annihilation.

Now consider Muslim reaction to the plight of the Palestinians; at worst, less than a million of them had to move and a tiny Jewish state was created where a million Arabs now live. They call this a "Naqba" - tragedy. The whining never stops and the UN is compromised.

Ghandi and most on this board need to explain why the side that was and is most threatened is maligned while the side that underwent a relatively minor upheaval has captured their sympathy.

"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful."

No, it was the result of German culture, committed by ordinary Germans.

There are no good Germans: there are only law-abiding Germans. When killing is illegal, they don't kill; when killing Jews is legal, they kill as many Jews as they can; as soon as killing Jews becomes legal again, every German over the age of ten will leave his home in search of a Jew to kill.

How much peace could we only have in India if the resistant and recalcitrant Hindus would simply lay down their arms and present their throats to their Islamic neighbors? A small price to pay for the great karma I'm sure you'd agree. Wasn't this Ghandi's exhortation to the entirety of Europe during WWII after all? As quoted extensively he advised Jews and Europeans to allow "Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini" to take their nations and lives without the least bit of resistance. This, Ghandi claimed, was 'real heroism'.

Mohandas Ghandi - your stupidity is appalling and self-indulgent. A snake pit? Wouldn't a better analogy have been "Do you think you can live surrounded by snakes without putting up a barrier?" You seem to believe in karma and the idea that one's actions have repercussions on some spiritual level. I certainly hope you're right, although not for your sake.

Anti Semite plain and simple. No knowledge of what he is talking about. Since when just having a "name" gives you a right to say something this stupid. Washington Post actually is a perfect place for this diabolical outburst to be posted - WP is known for its extreme anti Israeli and anti Jewish bias now it will be known for anti Semitism as well.

Probably one of the most deranged statement I read about Jews lately. You learned NOTHING from your Grandfather, the ignorance is sickening, the hate is relentless.

One more thing: Let's not forget that the coattails Mr. Gandhi is trying to ride, his grandfather's, are also extremely anti-Semitic as well as idiotic. The elder Mr. Gandhi would have preferred all the Jews to die at the hands of the Nazis rather than resist them. The only reason Gandhi's movement succeeded was due to the humanity and goodness of the British. If the Nazis ruled India, we would not know the name of Gandhi and his moronic grandson would not have been born.

But all this begs the question: What is the Post's purpose in giving this vile and poorly educated anti-Semite a platform? At least you (Post) should have asked David Irving, who actually went to school.

The fact that Gandhi calls the Holocaust an "episode" says it all.

Pitiful is all I can think. Ghandi must have rolled over many times listening to this sorry apologist for terrorists.

Quote, "Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you?"

Surely this has to rank as the dumbest, most simplistically ignorant comment of today and why the W.P. chooses to printanything simply based on genetic connection I don't understand. On the other hand, it occurs that this might be the way the editors think too.

The author's grandfather criticized the Jews for rising up against the Nazis during the Warsaw Ghetto riots in 1944-45. He preferred they take death in a peaceful manner rather than resist Nazi genocide. Apparently his grandson now believes Israel is better off turning the other cheek and forgetting the Holocaust. I am detecting a pattern amongst the Ghandi family; one of wishful hope the Jewish state and Jews in general would just disappear without a whisper. Ignore 2000+ missiles and all your problems will disappear. What ignorance!

The Israeli's use their past to gain political and ideological immunity to the extent that they can do what they like and recieve protection from the US....no matter how repulsive their action

When this writer states that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in "creat[ing] a culture of violence" does he forget or ignore history: the Arab/Muslim opposition to Jewish migration to Palestine accompanied by murderous riots, the Arab/Muslim rejection of partition (the U.N.'s suggestion of how to "befriend those who hate you") and the war declared on the newborn State of Israel, the three "Nos" of Khartoum, etc., etc.

Clearly this opinion is motivated by an agenda other than the search for truth which was so dear to Gandhi's message.

Re: WWII and the Holocaust, Gandhi once said....

"The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife" adding, "They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs."

Mahatma Gandhi was a fool and so it seems is his grandson.

I'm certain young Mr. Grandson Ghandi should move to India, where his considerable intellect will put an
end to the Kashmir problem, end all violence between Hindus and Muslims there, and move both coutries from the past into the future. I certainly hope he finds no Jews in the Kashmir to ruin his wonderful plans.

When Hamas publishes a charter that enshrines a place for a Jewish homeland and rights, Israel, a democracy heavily burdened by the cost of defense spending, would only be too happy to do things different. Until then stop criticizing Israel and start telling the Palestinians to end their fruitless war and live with Israel in peace.

wow, this man is probably a holocaust denier as well. He completely ignores the multiple military offenses launched against Israel by Arab neighbors and determines israel is too militant because it has a defense force. What a clown.

Ray Robison is the author of Both In One Trench: Saddam's Secret Terror Documents'

http://www.bothinonetrench.com

Unbelievable. It looks like whatever tendencies towards greatness expressed in the grandfather has completely petered out over 2 generations and we're sadly left with this pathetic idiot whose surname belies his ineptitude. This part is partciularly wonderful "We have created a culture of violence (and Israel and the Jews are the prime instigators) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

The strife between India and Pakistan has claimed infinitely more lives than the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Is Mohandas truly too ignorant of his own nation's history to recognize that even this one obvious example disproves his entire wrong-headed lunacy?

Let's not forget that the original Ghandi was against the physical or violent resistance of Europeans against the Nazis. It is easy to say we can all live in peace and love, but the fact is the the Middle East is filled with corrupt, Islamic governments and terrorist organizations devoted to the destruction of Israel.

I understand the point about the "culture of violence", but this is nothing new. Violence is sometimes necessary (to defeat the Nazis for example).

Finally, the whole point is that Jews and others should be more vocal and constantly remind ourselves about the lessons of the Holocaust, which in some respect, was a failure of modern Western society that affected everyone. This is especially important, seeing how we have permitted many more genocides since then (for example, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sudan, etc)

It appears that Mr. Gandhi is prejudiced and bigoted when it comes to Jews--He's the kind of guy who would blame the Jews for the wreck of the Titanic--Goldberg--Iceberg--what's the difference?

No Jew ever blew himself up in a German restaurant--and the Jews would have passed it off as a bad joke if only the Germans had drawn cartoons of Jews in death camps instead of actually putting them there. Nor would Jews blow up railroads and buses in revenge for someone naming a dog or a pig or a cow or a plant after Moses. the Jews are not exploiting the Holocaust, they are living in light of the lessons of the Holocaust. The Jews do not want Germans to feel guilty--but only to do as they have done (more than the Japanese or the Mulsims--who murdered 60 million Hindus when they swept through the subcontinent) to take responsibility and to come to grips with what was done in their name and to establish--as they have so well done--a democratic society at peace with the world. Mr. Gandhi--and to all you sychophants who egg him on--you are making yourself look very bad

I find it interesting that this article itself comes close to violating the rules for commenting on this article. Imagine how inflammatory such an article would be if it accused Muslims of being "the prime instigators" of violence and that their "Culture of Violence" will "destroy humanity." I doubt it would have made it past the editors, and the writer would have been branded a racist. And rightly so. Yet for some reason it's ok to say such dispicable things about Jews.

Frankly, I don't think Jews want the whole world to regret what happened in the Holocaust. I think Jews are smart enough to know that memory is short, and guilt only takes you so far. A more parsimonious read of Israel's actions is that she will do whatever it takes to NEVER let it happen again. If that means building a wall, so be it. If that means being pre-emptive, so be it. Ghandi simply interpreted such actions in the worst possible way, revealing either his limited abilities to understand or his vile biases.

Last I checked, this was America...land of the free. All this vitriol on Arun Gandhi just for expressing his opinion (quite valid at that, I might add). Pointing out the follies of Israel and the inability of Jews (a few arguably, not everyone) to move beyond the holocaust and hold the world on a guilt-ransom DOES NOT make him an anti-semite. Neither does that make him ignorant. A poster here made a comment saying that is Arun Gandhi had replaced the word Jew with Muslim, he would have a fatwa issued against him (I paraphrase). True, the crazy islamists would be out to get his head...but at the same time, all these posters here would be praising him effusively and agreeing with him too. HYPOCRITES!

How dare you spew this bigotry and how dare the Washington Post print this crap. Funny but I don't remember the Jews rioting over 12 cartoons, nor do I remember them burning and killing nuns when the Pope read a dead emperor's words .. and I think I missed the Jewish honor killings that go on day after day all over the world .. and gee guess I missed the Jews blowing up discos in Bali, trains in Spain, buses in London, railroads in Germany and office buildings in NYC ..

Mt Gandhi, you need to read a book or maybe you're so full of Jew hatred you're blind to the obvious truths around you. Fortunately, according to a recent poll done by well known pollster Stanley Greenberg, American support for Israel is at the highest ever.

So much for your idiotic notions.

I am horrified by the hateful anti-Semitism in this column.

Overt racism on the WP. And I see a large number of readers like it. Nice.

Newsweek and WashPOST -- place for gathering the mutterings of the American Nazis!

What vile, anti-semitic and insensitive trash. Just as his father was unmoved by the Holocaust, so I see the apple did not fall far from the tree.

This guy is a complete idiot. As for his famous grandfather, I work with many Indians (hi-tech industry) and to a person, they loathe Gandhi, so he may not be beacon of whatever his grandson is trying to capitalize on.

As for this dumb remarks on Israel, well, they are just dumb. The product of a poorly educated person speaking rubbish. I know no Jews (and I am of Jewish background) whose lives or identity revolve around the Holocaust (of course some do, specifically those who went through it or are descended from survivors; very natural; see Armenians who suffered a similar fate at the hands of Turks, the main difference is that the Armenian tragedy, genocide, hasn't captured our imagination to the same degree).

I'm just not sure why the Post wanted to publish the anti-Semitic rantings of a fool like this man. Frankly, they should apologize for it. If they want to publicize anti-Semitic rantings, there are many others who are at least moderately articulate and even educated. This guy is just a stupid loser and an embarrassment (to the Post).

Apparently, Jewish identity means defenseless and easily murdered by anti-semitic enemies who will get a free pass from myopic, pathological pacifists.

Arun Gandhi is a very good example of how a person can overplay his grandfather's historic experience to the point that it begins be repulsive.

Newsweek and WashPost -- place for gathering the mutterings of the American "running dog" Nazis!

pure ANTI-SEMETISM of a high octane.
thank you for exposing yourself.

Are you the snake?

pure ANTI SEMETISM. thank you for exposing yourself.

Providence Candlelight,

I do not even know where to begin with your stupidity, hopefully your writing is pure sarcasm. First of all, who says "Hebrews?" This is nearly akin to calling African Americans "colored."

Secondly, you wrote, "Allow the Palestinians to govern themselves without the constant threat of terror." What terror are you referring? Do you see Israeli children in the streets with rocket launchers or celebrating when a Palestinian kid dies? The only terror in the region is from Muslims, this is a fact that even pains most sane Muslims.

"Occupiers?" Israelis have put up with nothing but occupation for centuries. You had all kinds of tribes they fought with in the area, and then later Greeks, Romans, and Arabs, and more recently Ottoman Empire, and the British. How would you feel if someone continually claimed your home as your own, forced you out, and then said well, since we killed or kicked most of you out a long time ago, you have no right to return? This is ludicrous. Some of the oldest documents in recorded history refer specifically to the owners of this land and I will tell you it was not Arabs or Muslims. Perhaps the Greeks should get a claim?

As for the Palestinians who "lost their land," there are certainly some who did, but what country did this not happen in? Did they have a right to the land in the first place? Probably not. Many came from places such as Jordan and Syria with promises of a place where they could rule, but plans did not work out. Frankly, they dug their own graves. The few that did have legitimate claims could have stayed if not for the violent positions of their own people.

Further, if they are so called refugees, why did no other Arab country accept them? The simple answer is no one wants them and what they did years ago in Jordan did not help the situation. Did you know when that happened many actually fled from Jordan into Israel for safety? Irony sucks, doesn't it?

I also think you do not realize that many "Hebrews" do not want to live in the US. Many have left the US because it is a Christian country that historically not only did not protect them, but turned a blind eye to discrimination of not only the Jews, but others.

The fact remains that Israel is the only sane, tolerant, and modern state in the region. Many religious groups such as the Druz have fled to Israel even because of the "excellent" treatment given by Muslims.

Somehow, other Arab Israelis have managed to make a comfortable home within Israel for themselves without blowing everything up. I don't think you could find many Arab Israelis who would want to leave the so called "failed state" in favor of any country in the entire middle east.

Unfortunately, the loudest voices in this whole conflict seem to be extremists and people who are incapable of exploring and understanding history.

Who the heck are you, to say what Jews are or are not allowed to feel, or what we tell or expect the world to feel or not to feel on our behalf? A bit funny, coming from someone who is still riding high on the reputation of a leader such as Mahatma Gandhi. May I remind you that the holocaust happened even after Mahatma Gandhi was well on his way to liberate the Indian people from the Raj. His final success, the liberation of India, happened only a few years after the liberation of what remained of our families from the concentration camps. You are entitled to feel the way you want about your historical past, and no one can take that away from you. But so are we. As a granddaughter of an entire clan murdered by the Nazis, except for one, namely my mother, (which is why I am here and able to comment), I feel we are just as entitled to our feelings about our past. Are you ready to embrace and forgive and forget all the atrocities launched upon your people by the British during the Raj? Amritsar? I did not think so. 60 or so years is not even a life time. We will reserve the right to respect our memories, many of which are still held by the victims themselves who are still alive today, and we reserve the right to respect them and what they went through, as well. If that means you feel we stepped on your toes for some obscure reason, that is too bad. You keep your history, we will keep ours.

Arunji:

Once I was advised to use term "Jewish people" to refer to them. I read you used other reference too. That I was told some of the Jewish people may find it offensive.

Another thing I found that Jewish people exhibit feelings of hurt if an attempt is made to show them a way they may live and coexist in peace.

If you read the comments on your article they would validate some of the claims you made in your article.

As a computer programmer I know a computer cannot function contrary to the codes in the software it is running on. From a point of view, we humans are like computers in certain respects.

Jewish people are programmed to be disciplined, well organized, and risk taking. This enables them to become resourceful within a short time. This miracle happens because Jewish people are quick to identify and serve the interest of community that may be the most powerful on earth… the likes of the US at the present. Jewish people also are exploited by those who are the most powerful in achievement of their mutual interest.

This usually generates jealousy from third parties that Jewish people take care of effortlessly and they become more confident. Unfortunately this goes to the extreme and ultimately Jewish people end up taking on the very community, cooperation of which made it possible for them to become what they become.

And then there is a downfall. A hard one. The likes of that in ancient Egypt, in Roman Empire, and before long in Germany.

Holocaust was bad.

Today I believe it would be good if that one was the last one. I hope it does not repeat. I believe you too are hoping the same.

But no one cannot stop Jewish people from creating circumstances that it may re-occur... Holocaust perhaps may not have occurred if Jewish people learn from history. But are they interested in learning from history? To me it does not appear so.

All I would like to pray is may Gods grant wisdom to all…

Know that I am wrong if you read no negative comments on my comment!

Samantas

Mr. Gandhi
You talk of all Jews yet then speak about a nation? Don't confuse a nation with a group of people who believe in a religion. If you wanted to write about a country then write about a country. But don't stereotype people you don't even know.

As a young Jewish woman in the US, I thank G-d that I do not know you- even though you believe you know me because I am Jewish. And as a Jewish woman who is engaged to a Muslim man and will raise her children Muslim I pity your ignorance and small-minded thinking about humanity-and about my people.

My fiancé who is afraid for my well-being and safety so much so that he doesn't want me to wear my Star of David around my neck would be the last person to say that I am a 'big player' in the culture of violence.

Mr. Gandhi
You talk of all Jews yet then speak about a nation? Don't confuse a nation with a group of people who believe in a religion. If you wanted to write about a country then write about a country. But don't stereotype people you don't even know.

As a young Jewish woman in the US, I thank G-d that I do not know you- even though you believe you know me because I am Jewish. And as a Jewish woman who is engaged to a Muslim man and will raise her children Muslim I pity your ignorance and small-minded thinking about about my people-and more broadly about humanity.

My fiancé who is afraid for my well-being and safety so much so that he doesn't want me to wear my Star of David around my neck would be the last person to say that I am a 'big player' in the culture of violence.

Breaking News::

Al Qaeda has just issued a Communique signed by bin Laden and Zawahiri hailing Arun Gandhi as a hero and a great friend of Islam.

It went on to say that if Gandhi continues to spew hatred and venom against Jews, he could be next in line to be the next prophet. Of course bin Laden and Zawahiri are the first in line. Let's also not forget the peaceful 19 foot soldiers of 9/11.

The one that maintains we can establish a Jewish Home here through the suppression of the political aspirations of the Arabs, and therefore a Home necessarily established on bayonets over a long period – [is] a policy which I think bound to fail because of the violence against us it would occasion, and because good opinion in Britain and the conscience of the Jewish people itself would revolt against it. The other policy holds that we can establish a Home here only if we are true to ourselves as democrats and internationalists, thus being just and helpful to others, and to ask for the protection of life and property while we are eagerly and sincerely at work to find a ‘modus vivendi et operandi’ with our neighbours.

Founding chancellor of Hebrew University and founder of the binational political party Berit Shalom, Rabbi Judah Magnes, 1930.
Judah Magnes, “Like All the Nations?”, 1930 in Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader, New York, 1959, p. 448 as cited in--Desmond Stewart, The Middle East: Temple of Janus, New York: Double Day and Co, 1971, p. 308.

If Mr. Gandhi had replaced the word Jews with Muslims in this article, he would probably be dead by now, shot or blown up by some peace loving Muslim or at the very least gone underground after numerous threats.

Thanks Pagan,

The rightful thing to do would be to return Palestine to the rightful owners; i.e. those having title or heirs of those having title.

Remove the occupiers.

Allow the Palestinians to govern themselves without the constant threat of terror. Provide aid and assistance as was done to establish and sustain the failed state of Israel.

Bring/take all the Hebrews that would prefer to live in the US to the US (which should have been done long ago).

Providence

Perhaps Mr. Ghandi should speak with a convocation of members from India's caste of Untouchables concerning their feelings of security in their own nation.
I, too, share the concerned belief that violence does not bring peace.But where is the first shred of evidence that one can negotiate with the so-called Palestinian Arabs? Ask Israeli Arabs if they wish to emigrate elsewhere in the Arab world. Who does one negotiate with, the corrupt PA or the hostile Hamas? What happened when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza? They were attacked from Gaza and from Lebanon, because that withdrawal was taken as weakness, not an offer of accommodation.
True, one cannot survive the future by living in the past. That message has been lost on the Arab Muslim community for at least 500 years.
Peace cannot be pursued with platitudes. The Israeli nation is far from faultless. M.Ghandi's fasts for peace did not stop Hindu-Muslim massacres.

I believe that this was an excellent point that shows the danger that Isreal poses not only to that region, but throughout the world. Isreal continues emphasizing their past to justify attacking any nation that does not agree with their policies.
The "snake pit" atmosphere Mr Ghandi mentions is causing a paranoia that is hurting the Isreali people. The Isreali people have never lived in a peaceful environment and never will as long as they arrogantly think that their past suffering justifies their denying freedom for Palestinians to have a equal and prosperous nation or attacking Lebanon with arms and weapons supplied by the United States. Jewish people should recognize the evil of Hitler. But Hitler also killed millions of British, Americans, French, Blacks, Whites, Christians, Muslims and the like. So can all of these people justify taking another peoples land, building walls to keep them out and calling the land they took their promised land and anyone opposed to these acts anti-semetic? No they cannot. So where is the Justice?

BTW, india burned down Christian churches during Christmas maybe you should talk to them about their violence.

I agree in general, but beware of conflating "Jewish" identity and future with the "Israeli" identity and future.

I'm a bit baffled by this. Whoever Arun Gandhi's grandfather is, his piece above is a poorly argued piece that verges on racism. I've read and re-read the last sentence numerous times: Israel and the Jews are the biggest players in the Culture of Violence that is eventually going to destroy humanity. Is there any other way to read that?

What is it doing in the Washington Post website?

As an Israeli, I find this article an insult to an average level of intelligence. The wall and the so called snake pit we have created is truly a necessary evil. I do not recall Indian nationalists attempting to blow themselves up in crowded places during British colonial rule. Furthermore, reaching out to the enemy is correct provided that the enemy is driven by pragmatism and wishing to compromise.
Hamas refuses to accept our existence as a nation which leads to acts of terrorism directed at Israeli civilians. Mr. Gandhi you are not an expert in the evolution of the Arab Israeli conflict with its core issue of the Palestinian victimization. Therefore, prior to trying to teach us how to behave the Gandhi way, please look at the snake pit closely and tell me who should I reach out to. The Palestinians themselves must decide if they wish to reach a painful compromise and accept Israel's right to exist or continue to live in a snake pit and suffer.
We prevail through our military might in this region. Your attempt to portray us as a nation that justifies its actions because of the Holocust
is unfair. You may argue that Zionism is problematic in terms of inclusiveness concerning Israeli Arabs.
Please do not blame us for lack of unity on the Arab side.

I came late to read. I see everyone has already chosen sides and the vitriol is escalating. What would Ghandhi-ji do? There is nothing in a name. WaPo/Newsweek should note the polarizing world and use wisdom and knowledge in their decisions.

"Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding."

That someone of such "stature" believes that Israel is to blame for the violence in the Middle East is just another example that antisemitism is unfortunately alive and well.

Israel represents a tiny fraction of the overall landmass of the Middle East, as well as the population. Israel doesn't send its young men and women wrapped in explosives to kill themselves and as many innocent, non-combatants as possible. Israel doesn't launch rockets into Arab lands without provocation, in order to destroy lives and property. But, when Israel does take action to defend itself against such attacks, it is vilified for taking action and reacting to the attacks.

Is it coincidence that since the wall went up the suicide attacks have dropped off significantly?

As we see in the news every day, Israel, as well as the US and many other countries, are dealing with a culture where the fundamental idea of the sanctity of life DOES NOT exist. To claim that Israel and the Jews have created a "Culture of Violence" is not only a farce, it is blaming the victim for the actions of the attackers. The violence is not just against others, the violence is Arab on Arab. There is a Culture of Hate and there is a Culture of Death that exists today within the Arab community.

That said, Israel is not perfect and there are instances where it does do wrong; there is no utopia on earth. However, unless and until the Arabs get their own house in order there will be no change. They blame everyone else for their own plight. They must look inward, and work with one another for the benefit of their entire community. Then the violence will stop, then they will obtain some measure of economic prosperity that benefits the majority of its population, and then they will embrace a Culture of Life and cease to embrace the Culture of Death and Destruction.

As for people such as Mr. Gandhi, perhaps more time should be spent on self-examination and paying attention to what is really happening. Stop blaming the victim, start examining the true root causes and provide positive suggestions for change...or just keep your own hidden message of hate to yourself. Or perhaps the editors of the Post should look more closely at what is published under their auspices and finally realize that they are not part of the solution. Their slanted coverage does themselves and journalism in general a disservice.

Speed 123 criticizes the Israelis for rejecting a cease fire with Gaza. If he looks into it, Israelis accepted a cease fire with Gaza two years ago, but despite the cease fire, they have been pounded with over 2,000 rockets fired by the Arabs since its commencement.

The Arab versions of a cease fire is to be free to fire rockets at Israel, without any retribution from Israel.

Speed 123 should also look into the "Peace of Huddibyah" That's what Arrafat reminded the Arabs of when he had been criticized by some of the Arabs in Palestine for entering into the Oslo Accords".

Mr. Ghandi asks:
Well, with your [Israeli] superior weapons and armaments and your attitude towards your neighbors would it not be right to say that you are creating a snake pit? How can anyone live peacefully in such an atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?

The facts:

"The larger part of the story [of the Jewish occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza] still untold in all its detail, is of the astounding social and economic progress made by the Palestinian Arabs under Israeli "oppression." At the inception of the occupation, conditions in the territories were quite dire. Life expectancy was low; malnutrition, infectious diseases, and child mortality were rife; and the level of education was very poor. Prior to the 1967 war, fewer than 60 percent of all male adults had been employed, with unemployment among refugees running as high as 83 percent. Within a brief period after the war, Israeli occupation had led to dramatic improvements in general well-being, placing the population of the territories ahead of most of their Arab neighbors.

In the economic sphere, most of this progress was the result of access to the far larger and more advanced Israeli economy: the number of Palestinians working in Israel rose from zero in 1967 to 66,000 in 1975 and 109,000 by 1986, accounting for 35 percent of the employed population of the West Bank and 45 percent in Gaza. Close to 2,000 industrial plants, employing almost half of the work force, were established in the territories under Israeli rule.

During the 1970's, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world-ahead of such "wonders" as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea, and substantially ahead of Israel itself. Although GNP per capita grew somewhat more slowly, the rate was still high by international standards, with per-capita GNP expanding tenfold between 1968 and 1991 from $165 to $1,715 (compared with Jordan's $1,050, Egypt's $600, Turkey's $1,630, and Tunisia's $1,440). By 1999, Palestinian per-capita income was nearly double Syria's, more than four times Yemen's, and 10 percent higher than Jordan's (one of the betteroff Arab states). Only the oil-rich Gulf states and Lebanon were more affluent.

Under Israeli rule, the Palestinians also made vast progress in social welfare. Perhaps most significantly, mortality rates in the West Bank and Gaza fell by more than two-thirds between 1970 and 1990, while life expectancy rose from 48 years in 1967 to 72 in 2000 (compared with an average of 68 years for all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa). Israeli medical programs reduced the infant-mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births in 1968 to 15 per 1,000 in 2000 (in Iraq the rate is 64, in Egypt 40, in Jordan 23, in Syria 22). And under a systematic program of inoculation, childhood diseases like polio, whooping cough, tetanus, and measles were eradicated.

No less remarkable were advances in the Palestinians' standard of living. By 1986, 92.8 percent of the population in the West Bank and Gaza had electricity around the clock, as compared to 20.5 percent in 1967; 85 percent had running water in dwellings, as compared to 16 percent in 1967; 83.5 percent had electric or gas ranges for cooking, as compared to 4 percent in 1967; and so on for refrigerators, televisions, and cars.

Finally, and perhaps most strikingly, during the two decades preceding the intifada of the late 1980's, the number of schoolchildren in the territories grew by 102 percent, and the number of classes by 99 percent, though the population itself had grown by only 28 percent. Even more dramatic was the progress in higher education. At the time of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, not a single university existed in these territories. By the early 1990's, there were seven such institutions, boasting some 16,500 students. Illiteracy rates dropped to 14 percent of adults over age 15, compared with 69 percent in Morocco, 61 percent in Egypt, 45 percent in Tunisia, and 44 percent in Syria.

ALL THIS, as I have noted, took place against the backdrop of Israel's hands-off policy in the political and administrative spheres. Indeed, even as the PLO (until 1982 headquartered in Lebanon and thereafter in Tunisia) proclaimed its ongoing commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state, the Israelis did surprisingly little to limit its political influence in the territories. The publication of proPLO editorials was permitted in the local press, and anti-Israel activities by PLO supporters were tolerated so long as they did not involve overt incitements to violence. Israel also allowed the free flow of PLO-controlled funds, a policy justified by Minister of Defense Ezer Weizmann in 1978 in these (deluded) words: "It does not matter that they get money from the PLO, as long as they don't build arms factories with it." Nor, with very few exceptions, did Israel encourage the formation of Palestinian political institutions that might serve as a counterweight to the PLO. As a result, the PLO gradually established itself as the predominant force in the territories, relegating the pragmatic traditional leadership to the fringes of the political system.*

Given the extreme and even self-destructive leniency of Israel's administrative policies, what seems remarkable is that it took as long as it did for the PLO to entice the residents of the West Bank and Gaza into a popular struggle against the Jewish state. Here Israel's counterinsurgency measures must be given their due, as well as the low level of national consciousness among the Palestinians and the sheer rapidity and scope of the improvements in their standard of living. The fact remains, however, that during the two-and-a-half decades from the occupation of the territories to the onset of the Oslo peace process in 1993, there was very little "armed resistance," and most terrorist attacks emanated from outside-from Jordan in the late 1960's, then from Lebanon."

From Karsh, "What Occupation"
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/What_Occupation$.asp

Does anyone know that 12-13 million Chinese went through a similar cruel treatment in their own land as 6 million Jews faced in Europe. Have you heard about it as much as we hear about holocaust day in day out.

I think original resident Jews of Israel are more peaceful then the jews go from other countries to live in Israel and to do so grab more and more of Palestinian land with the help of the support and force from Israeli government. It is so sad that the psychology of holocaust, a huge targedy, has resulted in the holocaust of Palestinians by uprooted jews from Europe. Mr. Gandhi has a good suggestion to try people to see from palestinian point of view too. I don't care about the issues of other Muslim countries in the region with Israel that much if Israel and Palestine come to a solution..

That's really nice Mr. Gandhi. Now, here is how it works in the real world. Israel lays down its arms, and its neighbors invade and kill them. The entire Muslim world is aiming to blow them off of the face of the earth. If they want to survive, they are going to have to maintain military strength indefinitely.

Does anyone know that 12-13 million Chinese went through a similar cruel treatment in their own land as 6 million Jews faced in Europe. Have you heard about it as much as we hear about holocaust day in day out.

I think original resident Jews of Israel are more peaceful then the jews go from other countries to live in Israel and to do so grab more and more of Palestinian land with the help of the support and force from Israeli government. It is so sad that the psychology of holocaust, a huge targedy, has resulted in the holocaust of Palestinians by uprooted jews from Europe. Mr. Gandhi has a good suggestion to try people to see from palestinian point of view too. I don't care about the issues of other Muslim countries in the region with Israel that much if Israel and Palestine come to a solution..

being Gandhi's grandson makes you neither an expert on Judaism or Middle East politics! Clearly you are confused. shame on you.

Firstly, I apologize if what I am about to say has already been said by someone else here - I didn't have time to read through 220 comments before posting.

First of all, when you say, "we have created a culture of violence" who are you referring to? Who is "we?"

Secondly, to insinuate that the Jews/Israel (as if we were all one big bloc) are the worst offenders in this culture is hardly a valid point. We build walls and checkpoints to keep bombers out of our restaurants and off of our buses and out of our universities, etc. As a Jew who lives in Israel, I can tell you from experience that Israeli/Jewish culture is hardly a culture of violence. Especially coming from the outside - you're making a very strong statement about a culture that you don't know at all.

However, if it's violence that you want, let's talk about Darfur. Let's talk about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. Let's talk about the suppression, arrests, and beatings of dissenters in Egypt. Let's talk about Tianenman Square. Let's talk about a whole range of other violent acts committed all over the world.

Yet the world obsesses over us. Why is this? I still don't know.

In regards to the Holocaust now, yes, it is a major point of historical memory. And why not? Because it wasn't simply a phenomenon of "one insane leader." It was a phenomenon of people across all of Europe (and into the Middle East, even) in which people went along with this leader. There's a board as part of a display at Yad Vashem in which that old poem that ends "when they come for me, who will speak up for me?" This is exactly the point - in 7 years of Hitler's atrocities, so few people spoke up. The United States even turned back ships full of Jewish refugees...the British wouldn't let survivors out of camps in Cyprus. No one in the world wanted an entire people...except for ourselves. So when Eliezer Shkedy visits a couple of survivors and says "never forget and trust only ourselves" then yes, these are words that have deep meaning - especially for the second and third generation. To ask us to simply "grow up and get over it" is deeply naive and vastly oversimple.

Lena
Tel Aviv
esajudita@gmail.com

Speed 123 repeats the canard that Israel lobbied for the US to attack Iraq. Even Mearsheimer reports that when Israel first learned of the US plan to attack Iraq Israel suggested it would be much better to attack Iran. Iraq was their buffer against Iran.
Is Israel, that as a good ally to its much larger friend the US to be criticized with going along with its ally even though opposing its strategy?

American Jews continue to vote for a political party that barely supports Israel and would throw Israel to the wolves in a heartbeat in favor of the arabs, American Jews better wake up or stop calling themselves jewish. After all didn't hillary hug and kiss the wife of arafat?

Mr. Gandhi should be ashamed of himself for writing such twaddle. If he wishes to decry violence in today's societies he should use India as an example where Hindus are slaughtering muslims and christians, where dalits are still being brutalized by upper caste hindus, where the nuclear weapon is king. Israel is surrounded by enemies who will annihilate every single jew in that tiny state if given a chance. They have a right and a moral obligation to arm themselves so as not to allow a second, greater holocaust. Mr.
Gandhi is spouting the usual platitudes of lecturing Israel while ignoring the real threat posed by its neighbours. The question of "jewishness" is a separate issue which cannot be linked with the defence policies of Israel. Mr. Gandhi does not address that, and I doubt whether he is qualified to address that.

Could the same be said of blacks that can't let go of slavery in their past. no offense, I believe that only jews can speak of jews in terms of identity. BTW,Mahatma Gandhi spoke ill of blacks, lets not add jews to the list of ills to his family.

I'm less annoyed by Mr. Gandhi's actual post than by some of the responses. After all, we generally expect flawed, superficial, one-sided op-ed from academics (especially those trading on a famous name). What the heck happened to the rest of you? Have you ever read anything about the Middle East not written by Noam Chomsky? Have you studied European History at all? The history and theology of any major branch of Judaism (which is a religion and as such different from Israel, a country)? I have a hint for you: if a pundit takes a complicated problem and breaks it down so that all the angels are on one side and all the devils are on the other, then beware: He's selling ideology, not understanding. If the Middle East had an easy solution, it would have been found by now. To pretend an easy solution exists (Israel should play nice) when it's obviously not (their enemies seldom do) is intellectually dishonest and ultimately causes more harm than good.

I feel that the people who claim lineage to biblical figures are insane. It is possible to not only believe a lie but convince others of that lie if that lie is perpetual. There is no proof that the people who profess to be Jewish related by blood to Abraham and Muslims who profess to be related by blood to Ishmael are anything more than confused people who after thousands of years of perpetual lies have gone insane in this belief.

The same goes for the land that these people are fighting over. After thousands of years of searching there is no proof that this land is the land where Jesus was born. Where is the proof? There are no skeletal remains of Jesus, Abraham etc. The only proof that we have been offered is manmade buildings and manmade artifacts.

The conflict between Muslims and Jews must be a never ending conflict because the very concept that they believe in and are willing to die for is based on an insane belief that they are direct descendents of God. God help them because that kind of insanity is untreatable.

The violence against each other by these to factions proves how far away from God these people are. God talked to man one time through Moses with the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments provided by God ORDERS man to not kill, to treat thy neighbor as thyself etc. Jesus, as the Son of God, which neither of these factions believes in, orders man to turn the other cheek and to respect your neighbor.

These people have fallen far away from God. They are insane and that insanity has spread to the rest of the world. END THE WAR IN IRAQ.

I find Mr. Arun Gandhi's commentary to be true however incomplete. As he points out, Israel's survival appears to be increasingly dependent on its use of weapons and violence. However, I believe that Jews, both within and outside Israel, have become increasingly aware of this reality, and thus in essence, it is the collective decision of these individuals to shape the direction of the state of Israel, and in doing so, also shape a key component of the collective modern "Jewish identity".

I am an Indian and do not agree with Mr. Arun Gandhi's assertions.

First of all, I agree that people even know who he is just because of his Grandfather, whose policies can't be said has been the most "Non-Violent" after his death. Mahatma Gandhi's most trusted confidante Mr Nehru's daughter married a Muslim and then since that was 'preposterous' he renamed the whole family "Gandhi" which people to this day confuse and shower them with votes for no reason.

I have lived too long in America to adhere to Indian way of thinking, and if it wasn't for my family relations to India I probably would never go there, since the soceity in India is full of self-centered and rude people (whites won't ever understand this believe me).

Non-violence can never be a prescription for all the diseases in the world today, just like Tylenol can't be the medicine for all the diseases in the human body. Sometimes a targeted surgery is needed to toss out a tumor. This is why India has the Nuclear bomb (for its own survival) and that is the same reason why Israel has it too.

Does Mr. Gandhi know how a suspect from Pakistan is treated in Indian jails? probably worse that a palestinian is treated in an Israeli jail.

As a very well traveled person that has made the USA my home for most of my life, I can personally all readers that ISRAEL and its people are BY FAR way more civilized and sensible than the Indian society. Mr. Gandhi's Grandpa studied in Britain, not all of India's 1Billion plus population gets that opportunity even today and believe me I know what difference it can make. India is still in the dark ages and he should probably take his foundation to India if he truly wants to make a difference in the world.
But oh wait his last name is already hijacked by some the originally Muslim son-in-law of Jawahar Lal Nehru!

The nerve!

Gandhi writes of the "burden that the Jews have not been able to shed".

Just like the Muslim burden that the Hindus have not been able to shed.

Mr. Gandhi forgets that Israel tried to make peace with the Arabs in 1947 and instead was invaded by the combined armies of its neighbors, a number of whom to this day talk about throwing the Jews back into the sea. Eight years ago, Ehud Barak offered a comprehensive peace deal to Yassir Arafat, and he rejected it because he didn't get everything he wanted. To this day, Hamas and Islamic Jihad refuse to acknowedge Israels' right to exist and want nothing less than the total annihilation of the Jewish state; does he really believe there is any possible accomadation with such fanatics? Mr. Gandhi needs to stop putting the cart before the horse and remember whose avowed goal is the detruction of its neighbor and all its people.

This blog was anti-Semitic.
Saying jews and israel are the biggest players in the culture of violence is totally false. Israel is just trying to defend herself against hostile enemies, a first in a long time in jewish history and a very good thing. Look at how the dalai lama is doing, his country has been destroyed.

The jewish people are some of the biggest 'players' in peaceful enterprise, whether it be medicine, education, or so many other areas. This post is wrong and the writer should apologize.

jojo

Dear Arun,

Look at a map and read a history book. Who thretens who? Israel is not surrounded by couintries, people and governments who "befriends" Israel.

I think you thoughts are demented and you need to go back to school.

as your friend coleman mc carthy who used to write for the washington post and now heads the center for teaching peace in washington dc keep up the fight - i'm convinced humanity will not be destroyed even though the current chaos is putting it at risk

laurent colombant
lcolombant@hotmail.com

Are you koking? This guy is nuts. As a Jew I am offended. If this is not antisemitic, I am not sure what it is.

Are Jews going around blowing themselves up and try to destroy the civilization. When defending ourselves became a crime?

This guy owes Jewish people an apology big time.

Shame on you Washington Post to publish this nonsense.

More of the same. Thinly-veiled Antisemitism along with a weak, incorrect argument couched as reason. Not. Jewish identity existed for 5700 years before the Holocaust so to say that it is rooted in the Holocaust simply ignores five thousand years of history to enable the author's baseless argument. His grandfather would be ashamed of him at reading this, both because it's factually incorrect and because it preaches disdain of others. I suggest Mr. Gandhi return to India and work on bettering relationships between Indians and Pakastani' - now there's a problem he can sink his teeth into and might know something about. He's trading on his grandfather's reputation and is clearly not what Mohatma Gandhi would have hoped for in a grandson.

Funny thing about American jews' rabid support of Israel is these same American jews aren't even welcome in Israel. Yes, Israelis do not particularly like American jews who they say should just stay in New York or LA and don't bother coming to Israel. There are articles on this subject all time in the Israeli press.

With all due respect to Mr. Ghandi, it seems he like many others, has no clue what he is talking about when it comes to issues outside his scope of experience or expertise. So he came here furt years ago talked with a few politicans (who are most likely no longer in office) and purports to know all about our society and our sentiments regarding peace with our neighbors? Humbug.
First of all, we have a strong and friendly relationship with the Germans. We do not sit around dwelling on the past trying to make them feel guilty for the mistakes of the millions, not the one evil individual Mr. Ghandi believes was responsible for World War II and the destruction of the lives of millions. He must be assuming that Hitler had no assistence whatsoever in his evil deeds which is clearly delusional thinking on his part.
Secondly, to say that the future of our people and religion is "bleak" is insulting and historically inaccurate. We have managed to stick around for six thousand years, some thousands of years longer than Indian Hindus have and we will be around for several thousand more, despite his wishes to the contrary.
Thirdly, I suppose Mr. Ghandi feels we should share our technological and advanced weaponry systems with the Palestinians. It is probably a coincidence that guns sold by the US to the "moderate" Palestinian security services are now killing Israeli citizens, but Mr. Ghandi wants us to give away our security, regardless. He seems not to be aware of the fact that we have signed longstanding peace accords with our neighbors, Egypt and Jordan. Perhaps Mr. Ghandi wants us also to believe that India has assumed the mantle of peace with its neighbor, Pakistan.

Ah, how ease to judge. The snake pit of atomic weapons created by India and Pakistan are much more likely to bite their owners and damage the world than the balance of power between Israel and its neighbors. Objectively, Mombay sits in much greater mortal danger than Jerusalem, although apparently in a state of much greater denial. Opponents motivated by the same religious affiliations may be noted in both cases. Perhaps that is what the One True God and all those other gods really want. Or maybe it too is human foolishness inventing snake pits in their own heads.

Not every muslim Hate Jews.I visit Pakistan 2 times a year and the People are More curious than any thing else and I tell them that in my experiances I have met wonderful Jewish people who are helpful and far better than many Muslims I know and they take that very elequently.Ofcourse they have not had any Postive or Negative contacts with the Jewish state and that is so true about majority of Muslims who are Non Arabs.

Violence begins where kindness ends. First the slur, then the slaughter. Evil thoughts are the seeds of evil deeds. No nation or people have a monopoly on virtue, and all are complicit in conflict.

I'm very disappointed in Arun Gandhi. I thought he was a bigger man than his small-minded comments suggest. Apparently the fruit sometimes falls far from the tree.

One less commentator to bother reading.

Jewishness is FAR more than a religion!!

"The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger."

this is a fair criticism


we only suffer for ourselves-
we can have empathy-
but it doesnt equal personal experience

no one people suffer more deeply, or feel pain more sensitively than any other group-

the jewish people suffered 60 years ago-
no more and no less than the millions of ethiopians, roma,jehovahs witnesses, homosexuals- etc. etc. etc.

that debt has been repaid and overpaid.

it does not excuse their oppression of another people today- who had nothing whatsoever to do with their suffering.

that is also a fair critique.

when jewish americans call for fair distribution of water (palestinians receive 1/2 of what is necessary to sustain health according to the world health services, while their israeli counterparts receive 2 x the amount they need)

if israelis gave up 1/4 of their allotment. theyd still have 1 1/2 times the water necessary to sustain health, and the palestinians could start actually attain a degree of comparable health.

when jewish americans call for the right of return for palestinians to their homeland-

when jewish americans call for a 2 state system, and demand the apartheid practices of israel cease-

then we will disassociate jewish americans and jewish people from israel.

but they must do that first- otherwise,
since they comsider the israeli issues on and the same as jewish issues-
they cannot complain when people hold them to account for it-
to point this out is not anti-semitism.

just common humanity

Who lobbied for the Iraq invasion of Iraq, for the Project of the New American Century (i.e. remaking the entire Mid East to Israeli's liking), AND who is advocating for a New war in the region against IRAN???

Is it the Hindu lobby? The Catholic lobby? The Muslim lobby?

Or the Jewish Lobby, AIPAC...............................................

As they say about living by the sword...

(Written prior to reading 180 posted responses). I am a secular, American Jew, who when push comes to shove, could fairly be described as an atheist. O.K. a soft, atheist. Reading the profound and deeply stupid (this is the kind of willful historical stupidity which underlies anti-Semitism, but is not necessarily classically anti-Semitic) of Mr. A. Gandhi surely brings the Jew in my identity to the fore.
Almost every sentence this (pimp for peace?) Mr. Gandhi writes is when not factually false, filled with the sort of prejudiced bile which if directed at a fashionable American minority might well cause a public and political uproar.
In the end, there is that regrettable charge from Mr. Gandhi that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in creating a "Culture of Violence" which gives the game away and puts Mr. Gandhi squarely in the category of the political anti-Semite. This is a serious charge and not one made lightly, but is appropriate and historically accurate (for modern or post late 19th C. racially tinged Jew hatred) to use when the accused blames Jews or Jews and Israel for problems which are rightly the problems of all nations, all peoples in varying degrees at different times. (It would be uncouth of me to point out that for all of Israel's transgressions against the Palestinians--some real, some false and for no transgressions against anyone else or any other country, that dear old India is responsible for the death of many more Muslims than tiny (if powerful) Israel. The lovely irony is that India is home to more Muslims than Pakistan.....Might the University of Rochester consider being host to the The Institute for Irony?

An intolerant rant from a man blind from the ways of the world. His grandfather's legacy has not passed downwards to him. Instead of goodwill and friendship, Arun offers ignorance alongside contempt.

Mr. Ghandi's article makes me feel terrible about being personally responsible for most of the violence of the world. However, I do wonder how things are going for Muslims in Gujarat these days. Congratulations on the election of Narendra Modi Arun. Thank goodness the BJP is there to remind all us Jews how we should embrace our fellow man.

This article was without a doubt anti-semitic and well below the standards of the Washington Post. Beyond its 8th grade evaluation of a complicated political situation, it showed an astounding lack of knowledge about Judaism and its history, American or otherwise.

In a simplistic manner (for Mr Ghandi's sake) this Holocaust argument is a little like Hannukah. Many non-Jews think its the highlight of the Jewish calendar because that's the only Jewish holiday they know. Similarly, people often seem to view the Holocaust as the seminal event of Judaism since that's all they know about it's history. It is a huge event however, it hardly defines Judaism. The fact that Mr. Ghandi thinks it does mainly points an inability to use the internet in a responsible manner.

What I think we all probably deserve is an apology from the Post for publishing the column. They should find its arguments so ridiculous and offensive as to be ashamed to have it on the site. Good thing we own the media we'll be able to take it down.

This statement by Gandhi may mean well, but has several errors.

Jewish identity extends far beyond the Holocaust. A primary reason why the Holocaust is remembered so strongly is that it may serve as a reminder of what can happen when intolerance rules, and nations refuse to act. The Holocaust was much more than the "result of" one individual.

Where might Islamic extremists rank, if "Jews are the biggest players" in the culture of violence? Are Jews taught in schools to hate all who are different, the way many extremists are? How many Jews have been suicide/homicide bombers? How many Jews have hijacked airplanes? Are Jews responsible for the violence between Pakistan and India in Kashmir? Are Jews rioting in the streets of Somalia to kill a schoolteacher for naming a class teddy bear? I think the evidence points to Jews NOT leading the culture of violence. I urge you to refute these points.

What countries of the world do not allow freedom of the press, freedom of religion, equality for women, and due process of law? What do many of them have in common?

Maybe you should show us how your approach will work by befriending the extremists from Pakistan who repeatedly attach your own country, India. If you cannot solve that problem, how could you solve another nation's problem when you understand it far less?

I hope you take the time to read this and respond.

Let me ask some questions to all of you. Do you think War; killing of innocent civilian is a solution to any problem? Did atomic bombs of Ex-Soviet Union save it? Did you think by using force you can create a love? Did any religion in history of human being allow killing of women, kids and old aged civilian? No sir, no. One can not make one right with two mistakes. Violence can not control by Violence. Hate can not bring love.

We must understand that all of us are citizens of the global irrespective of our skin color, religion, language, cast or region we are living. “Justice to all” is a basis principle of PEACE. One can find this principle in all religions. We all must learn to live together with tolerance, forbearance & patience; otherwise we will make this World hell to live. We must learn to solve our disputes on table with sincere & open negotiations.

Mr. Arun Gandhi wrote “We have created a culture of violence…. Israel and Jews are the biggest players… and that culture of violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.” I have only one objection to this statement on the word “JEWS”.

We have a right to say anything against the policies of Israel but no one can blame followers of any particular religion. If some one is against the policy of President Bush, it doesn’t means he/she is against every American.

The in larger interest of humanity, I will & have to suggest Israel to stop using unnecessary force on the innocent people of Palestine & America to stop helping Israel blindly. This policy will create more hate & more sense of revenge, which will take all of us far away from PEACE. No doubt culture of violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.

Naveed Sadiq Khan
Lahore-Pakistan

Thank God for such an article. If Israel is not to be DESPISED by the entire world, they are going to have to do more than taking over American politics and getting more money from America for bombs.
Jewishness is such a grand culture. Don't generate SO much bad karma that you destroy the entire world as well as yourselves.
Thank you so much for this article.

Mr. Ghandi does his namesake profound disservice by stating that 'Jewish identity has been locked into the Holocaust experience.' As Jewish history includes thousands of years and ALL of them in persecution, one wonders why he should see fit to isolate the past 70 years as the basis in support of his proposition and to suggest - outright, that the most recent Holocaust 'was the result of the warped mind of an individual.' Such an assertion is appalling to any objective student of history. 'An individual' was not capable of promulgating the crimes against humanity seen in Europe and elsewhere during the 1930's and 1940's. Rather, it took the collective and proactive participation of many - many, peoples and institutions to impose such focus and collective violence upon the relatively few, defenseless and select group{s} targeted for slaughter.
Indeed, from ancient Pharohs and throughout the Inquisitions hatred has been spewed forth from the pulpits in France, Spain, England, Russia, Poland and elsewhere toward the Jewish peoples. This hatred {Jewish peoples first suffering as slaves and then as convenient scapegoats to all failings of church and state} continues to this day. Mr. Gandhi goes on to say that Israel is a 'snake pit.' Modern Jewish peoples in the State of Israel are deteremined that such {as the Holocasut} shall be 'never again.' Jewish people - within and outside of Israel, survived over the ages because of their beliefs and their tight community {the latter being imposed upon them in all instances}. 'Ghetto' is an Italian word, as an aside.
Mr. Gandhi accuses the State of Israel and contemporary Jewish Peoples who would stand up to current attempts to extinguish them [facing as they do the contemporary hatred spewed against them in the Madras, in the face of children sent into their urban cafes loaded with explosives, the endless rocket attacks from the territories housing those whom the surrounding Arab/Muslim states would not and will not accommodate, etc] as somehow being unable to justify that 'the military build-up was necessary to protect the nation and the people.' What would Mr. Gandhi suggest, that the people of the Jewish State go to the Dead Sea to make salt as their ever so peaceful neighbors slaughter them? How many times have those surrounding the tiny State of Israel tried to destroy both the state and its peoples since the British Mandate ended in 1948: 1948, 1967, 1973, etc, etc, etc. Notwithstanding that Israel is the ONLY nation in the entire region approaching a democracy, for Mr. Gandhi's sake it appears necessesary to contrast this to the tyranical states around them [Iraq, Iran, Syria, to name but a few] and/or those laid waste / destroyed [Lebanon] by those whom Mr. Gandhi suggests that it's possible to 'befriend.' To answer Mr. Gandhi, with friends like those he proposes, who needs enemies? If the handful of Arab/Muslim states surrounding Israel didn't sit upon vast oilfields, how long would the global community of man tolerate their sociopathic behaviour? The leadership of the State of Israel aren't fools. This time they're prepared to make it too costly to attempt to attack and destroy them.
Mr. Gandhi, this reader would suggest that you return to the sea to make salt and consider your failings. You certainly are not of the cloth {homespun} of your grandfather.

The Israelis do not want peace - they just rejected a cease-fire in Gaza - because they want land.

The Palestinians are inhuman to them and it is reflected in the system of roads and walls - a prison like existence.

We need to reject Israeli and Jewish idea of pre-emptive war and the idea the the ends justify the means (using cluster bombs on civilians in Lebanon).

No to the Neo Cons, no to Israel, and NO TO UNENDING WAR in the name of "terror"

Mr. Gandhi,

Jews have never been in an offensive war in history. Not even in Palestine. They need a military because they live in a snake pit of a fascist ideology. Please review history carefully otherwise you are playing into the hands of some very vicious people.

I am worried by the lack of historical knowledge and insight shown by Mr. Arun Gandhi. He is apparently unaware of the following:
1) The Jews had a strong identity for thousands of years before the Holacaust

2) Anti-semitism and violence against Jews was rampant in Europe for hundreds of years before Hitler came to power.

3) BOTH Israelis AND Palestinians must be committed to peace for it to last. Its difficult for Israel to make peace with people who are bombing them.

A poster above recommends the reading of another one of those books.

Hopefully it's not one of the fairy tales ones.
So much garbage that is parroted back to us as fact. The Jews would be much better off if they accepted the truth about Israel and how it's poisoning the world and the future of their 'jewish identity'.

Meantime, America has enough trouble, a good deal of it related to the very subject at hand...Israel, the war in Iraq, our former allies in the world detesting us because of it. And our danger.

Like, if the subject of "jewish identity" doesn't make most people puke, it's surprising. The nasty posts above notwithstanding.

By making the statement "Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence", he is actually saying that he believes that Jewish identity, or Jews, or Israelis, believe they have to be violent to exist, which is a rather breathtaking example of stereotyping and prejudice.

Israel (which he conflates with Jewishness, which is not always the case) does not depend on violence, as Ghandi claims, but does need a strong army to protect itself against the avowed intentions of Arab countries around it, and Moslems in places as far away as Malaysia, to destroy it - which actually means the murder, again, of 6 million Jews. Israel has no designs on those countries, and has managed to find a way to realtively peaceful coexistence with at least two - Egypt and Jordan.

It's pretty rich to see someone from India, even wrapped in the mantel of being a descendant of Mahatma Ghandi, criticize "Jewish identity" on the basis of violence he perceives.

India has a terrible record of inter-communal violence. At partition, certainly thousands, probably tens of thousands, and maybe hundreds of thousands of Moslems were murdered as they tried to leave for Pakistan. The violence continues to this day, with the recent election in Gujurat being won by a Hindu building on anti-Moslem sentiment in the state.

Do I even need to discuss the festering sore that is Kashmir, which has been going on for at least as long as Israel has been in existence?

His comments about "living by the bomb" are almost funny - after all, India has atomic weapons, and if there is one area in the wolrd where atomic weapons are likely to be used, it's between India and Pakistan, specially if the latter falls into the hands of Taliban-style regime.

Isn't it curious that when Israel builds the army and technology it needs to defend itself against Arab armies, suicide bombers, rockets, etc., Ghandi can write "Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead and, especially a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs" - and not realise he is actually describing India's approach to dealing with Pakistan and China?

People talk of the holocaust everytime the policies of the Israelites come up...it is their government policies that people dissagree with, not the Jews or their religion.

There were more then Jews in those camps...
The Romani, the physically and mentally handicapped,gays,Jehovah's witnesses,Freemasons,Soviet POW's,and those Germans who fought the Nazis, plus people from other nations. Over 12 million.

Are these people not as dead and brutalized as the Jews? The Romani died...2 million were killed, where is their homeland?...Gay men and women were killed...where are their rights? Does the Johoval Witnesses get billions from us a year? Does the Freemasons get weapons from us?

I take nothing away from the Jews and their Shoah...but we should not forget the others who also faced the same thing...the Romani (Gypsies) call it the Porajmos,literally Devouring. The nazis did their best to kill all the Romani in Europe.

Like we in America are doing...we are making a change in our leadership...we are tired of wars and hate. I know there has to be Jews that are ready for something different besides fear and death.
terra

Do you really believe that one man's warped mind caused
the holocaust? If you do then perhaps a study of German history
including the crusades where entire Jewish villages were destroyed should be tried.
Perhaps Mr. Gandhi should read a review of the Passionspiels of Bavaria, which portrayed the Jewish people as Christ killers. Hitler played upon historical hatred and jealousy of
the Jewish people. It is a canard to pretend it was only one man.

Does Mr. Gandhi really believe that Israel and the Jews are bigger players of violence than Iran or Iraq (under Hussein)?

Israel has shared technology with its neighbors, most
famously with Arab leaders choosing to be treated at Hadassah
Hospital.

The Jewish people are in constant danger, most recently from
Iran's threat to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons.

If you are serious about contributing to this dialogue why
do you single out one side in a conflict for blame.

Mahatma Ghandi drank his own urine. but if that is all you knew about him, you wouldn't think very highly of him. I know this but I admire him anyway.

It appears that this later generation Ghandi, his grandson, is not well informed about Israel. I suggest that he read, "History Upside Down" by David Meir-Levi. It is subtitled "The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression." If he does, I think he will form quite a different impression of Israel and Zionism and the Arabs who live in Palestine.
Another good source for him is Karsh, "What Occupation" where he will learn how much Palestinian Arab education, health, and economics advanced during the period, prior to Oslo, when the Israelis were in full control of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
You can read it for yourself at:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/what_occupation.html

BTW... I'm definitely wanting some explication where Mr. Gandhi's perspective is coming from, here, ...this isn't the first issue he's seemed woefully underinformed about.

To be charitable. I will presume ignorance before malice this one more time, but...

In the words of my people, 'Dude, WTF?'

I've never read a more superficial or uninformed view of the relationship of the memory of Shoah and the geopolitical interests of the state of Israel to global Jewish identity.

Even Israel's Arab neighboring states have a more nuanced view than this. Disgusting.

Well, J. Rhinehart:

"I think the problem of Israel's mushrooming up after WWII ended came from the Holocaust, of course. Everyone needs a safe place to live, that's a basic. I don't fault Jews wanting to live there, where else could they go since no one wanted them?"

Here, how bout? How bout anywhere?

I know there was a certain symmetry about taking from the former Turkish provinces to give to the aggreived Jews their scriptural homeland, but...

'Safe?; 'Oh, this looks safe,'

Like many national borders drawn up by colonial powers in post-colonial areas, 'safe' wasn't really something moves like that turned out to have much of a track record about.

Seemed like a decent idea at the time?

This is one place where the Religious Right ought to back off. Israel's policies are not a referendum on Judaism. They aren't even *consistent,* never mind being about the religion.

The way this gets nasty, I kind of want to reiterate.. Israel does some nasty things when things swing that way. A lot of the right wing support for Israel in America has nothing to do with caring for the welfare of Jewish people... it's all a means to the end of what they think is necessary for the 'Second Coming' at which point the Jews will incinerate.

It's just some people living in a place. As far as I'm concerned, people who are and should always have been utterly welcome, here, ...but this doesn't mean Israel can wave Zionism and get blanket approval, any more than I think Bush's Bible-waving adventurism represents *us* in America, *either.*

Also doesn't mean anti-Semitic right wing guys in America have anything like a clue, either. The anti-Semites to worry about in America *want* Israel, but they want that Israel to be *at war so that and until Jesus comes back.*

Personally, I only care about the people.

The rest of this really offers only death.

Arun G. speaks his mind and the defenders of the killers of Shabra and Shatila are foaming at the mouth.

Amazing how we speak about freedom of speech but then when someone speaks his mind we try and muzzle him.

Hypocrites!

It seems prejudice against Jews ("anti-semitism") has been significantly exaggerated and used for political purposes. If Jews were so marginalized in Europe for so long- then WHY did they make up such a large percentage of the intellectual and mercantile elite - not only in Germany but also in France, UK, Poland, Romania, Austria-Hungary, and even Russia? Aside from the Nazi interlude- one could easily conclude that they actually enjoyed a privileged position- prejudice or no prejudice. If they had been so marginalized in Germany (before Hitler)- then why did they make up such a large percentage of the editors, lawyers, doctors, journalists, bankers, accountants, etc. Can anyone clear up this apparent inconsistency?

The Israelis and the Palestinians hold the same narrative, that of victim.

Please put aside all the creation mythology of poor little Israel and all the big bad Arabs. Israel was never in danger of military defeat. It had, and has always had, more firepower than that of all the Arab armies combined. Easy enough to look up if you're serious and honest.

While you're at it, check out the Stern Gang and the Irgrun. Both terrorist organizations responsible for massacres of their own. Begin was a wanted and hunted terrorist, but magically becomes respectable as a prime minister.

Now, having been horribly oppressed, they horribly oppress others. Who will be shocked or surprised when the oppressed rise up?

Israel in it's current form, by ballot or by bullet, will be no more. She must re-invent herself.

An excellent article. His logic makes so much sense.

I feel aghast at the sweeping generalizations Mr.Gandhi has been making. I have known many a Jew who is a social activist and endowed with lot of compassion even as they take up the cause of Israel. Many of the Jews that I know clearly look present and forward, not necessarily hang on to a tragic past. When their present is in consistent danger, who has even time to look at past with anger! I have not seen any solution in this article other than finger pointing and name calling. I am an Indian liberal who espoused Palestinian cause for many years, even I am thoroughly offended by this one sided article.

The FACT is the whole world agrees with
Gandhi. In spades.

So What is this, false fuss?

On reading these comments, it struck me that there are so many true comments here, from different points of view. All is not exactly as Arun Ghandi says, yet he has an important point to make, the "culture of violence" is very real, only it is not just Israel's fault. It's a product of post-WWII Cold War mentality.

I think the problem of Israel's mushrooming up after WWII ended came from the Holocaust, of course. Everyone needs a safe place to live, that's a basic. I don't fault Jews wanting to live there, where else could they go since no one wanted them? However, I do fault the US for sending Israel such huge amounts of money, & not putting any restrictions on how they used it. We all need oversight, boundaries, limits. That's another basic of humanity.

When I was growing up, there was a Christian bias toward the Jews in Israel. Every time there was discussion of the state of Israel, Christians around here assumed it was preordained Jews would return to the Holy Land in preparation for the events in Revelation. That's why the US allowed the Jews carte blanch to do some very unhealthy things. Our current President seems to have the same bias, unfortunately, at least during his 1st term.

The "culture of violence", in case anyone young enough not to remember, is what the Cold War was all about. The "mutually assured destruction" of thousands of nuclear-tipped warheads in silos around the world, the U-plane flights over each other's territory, the Berlin Wall, spy satellites, all these came from the same "culture of violence".

The problem now is that the Middle East is in a perpetual tribal civil war that used to be small-potatoes, as far as the rest of the world was concerned. It's one thing for poor Arab sheiks to fight each other in a no-man's-land desert no one else wanted, but now it's oil-rich sheiks waging what could well turn into WWIII. Israel is only a small part of that, just another one of the tribes now. The US's problem is in giving them a religious favoritism.

Personally, I'd like to see the city of Jerusalem turned into an internationally-controlled city, not under any one group's control. It's the only way I can think of to eliminate all sectarian claims. Too many people want it for it ever to be at peace.

By the way, everyone is talking about Israel, while the question was about US Jews. Maybe that's because no one really knows what US Jews are doing?

All the screaming above.
Do Jews not see themselves as others do?

Did they not read of cluster bombs in lebanon, oncivilians?

Do they edny, as some writers seem to post above, that there isn't genocide and target practice in Palestine?

Etc? Better to see accuratey. Screaming insults won't get it. Anywhere.

This is why I'd rather read blogs. This preaches non-violence while singling out a single small group of people as being most responsible?

That is absurd. It's the kind of thing that used to start pogroms. This guy should be kicked out of whatever institution houses him. He is a finger-pointing menace.

This is intellectual violance... which always leads to real violence in the end.

Grandpa would be proud . . . NOT!

This is a wildly anti-semitic article. Israel and the Jews are the biggest players of world violence? Is Gandhi mad? Does he think the Israeli's more violent than the Chinese, North Koreans, or the Egyptians for that matter? How about India, home to child prostitution, soul shattering social injustice. What about Russia and the US, or even Malaysia the Philippines? The list goes on. The violent Jews will destroy humanity? We've heard it all before. This is such a disappointing article. Gandhi ignores every other genocide on earth, from Tibet, Darfur, and the indigenous peoples of central and South America. Instead of discussing both sides of the Israeli Palestinian tragedy, and the complex and terrible puzzle of the middle east, and looking for a humane solution for everyone, Gandhi does what his grandfather never did: he takes a side and does so through bigotry. Not everything is inherited.

For a guy who promotes non-violence, he seems like an idiot. What about Africa? Iraq? Pakistan?

Nope, Israel is the biggest criminal. And the Jews the most guilty. This despite the fact that by the numbers, violence there is minimal compared to other world hot-spots.

When you ignore facts to press an agenda that blames the Jews for the world's ills . . . you are a bigot.

This is racist anti-Semitic garbage. Yes, anti-semitic, b/c the writer says the FUTURE OF JEWS IS BLEAK and blames them as the BIGGEST PLAYER in a CULTURE OF VIOLENCE. It has nothing to do with Israel. That is a direct attack on Jews.

But no surprise it comes from the Religious pages of the Washington Post. There are some old-school Jew-haters in that organization. Ironic, as it was founded by a man named Meyers, yep, a Jew.

Providence:

"Pagan: You ask, "...what would be the right thing to do *then?*". By whom? * * - not sure what that indicates. Please help. Thank you."

That was the help. It's called a question. :)

Let us not forget all of the times that the Israeli government tried pacifism with the Palestinians and their other Arab neighbors - "land for peace," it's been called. Israel continues to cede more and more of its land but to no avail; its neighbors will not be happy until the State of Israel and a welcome home for Jews is annhiliated.

Also, do not forget that "Palestine" was the previous name of the land of Israel when it was ruled by the British, and "Palestinians" are simply Jordanians who stayed in the area after the world chose to allow the Jews to return there in peace. Those who wanted to leave were NOT ALLOWED to, by their own people, by threat of death. Despite the funds that have rolled into the Palestinian areas, their money has gone into weapons, propaganda, and hate-filled education for their children. In free elections, these people voted for Hamas.

If the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world didn't wish to annihilate the Jews, Israel would have no need to be constantly on the defensive. The War of Independence? The Six-Day War? The Yom Kippur War? Remembering such things is important, and it is also the world's responsibility to remember the Holocaust, no matter how embarassing it is to imagine that our "civilized" world could be so cruel. Keep in mind that if there had been a state of Israel in 1935, the Holocaust couldn't have happened.

Anyone who doubts which group of people cares most about the land need only look at the state of the country before and after the Jews were allowed to govern the land. Even the desert is blooming!

What a repulsive and shallow comment. I am embarrassed for Mr. Gandhi and his (far more) distinguished forebears. He confuses Jewish and Israeli identity, even though he knows better. He characterizes the whole Israeli nation as violent, even though he knows better. He call Jews and Israel the biggest players in a culture of violence, even though anyone with an education and ounce of intelligence knows better. In a world with the repressive regimes of North Korea, Myanmar, Iran, Syria, Al Qaeda, Vladimir Putin, Hezbollah, Musharraf and so many other bad actors, how silly is it to lay the blame for violence and discord on a small country and a people so minute in number?

Is there a possible explanation other than shameful and deep-seated anti-semitism for such a comment Mr. Arun? Are you ignorant or are you prejudiced? Regardless of the answer, I pity you.

How anyone who is aware of the affect of people who have happened to be Jewish on the world at large can say that the future of Jews is bleak is beyond me.

To wit, many well known physicians, economists, professors, and enterprenuers happened to have been Jewish and have contributed greatly to society. Hence, I posit that the future for Jews along with other Christian and non-Christian faiths is bright and is also based on an growing return to practice, tradition, and concern for others.

Also, in an age of growing anti-Semitism, encouraging anyone to let go of the Holocaust is mis-guided, especially when it continues to be denied by professors and former professors at DePaul and Northwestern.
The recent article from the two 'experts' at Harvard's Kennedy School was not complimentary, either.

As far as befriending those who hate us, 'peace treaties' have been violated or weakened before the proverbial ink was dry. It is hard to make peace when the adversary's leaders are not seen as leaders by sub-groups of said population, when funds provided by a variety of nations are invested in a New York City bowling alley instead of infrastructure for their people (who is the oppressor?), and when said adversaries provide BENEFITS for suicide bombers.

Maybe next time, the Post will have someone who is knowledgable and not biased on the subject, write a column.

"We have created a culture of violence -- Israel and the Jews are the biggest players -- and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

So a country roughly the size of New Jersey is the biggest threat to destroy humanity eh... yea right.

This sounds more like a post one of us common, paranoid bloggers would make, not the thoughts of someone related to Mahatma Gandhi.

Astounding! "The Jews" are the biggest players in the culture of violence? Whoa. What a comment. I don't know about his grandpappy (regardless of how the world lionizes him), but this grandson is one benighted and stupid fellow.

Michael: When you write:

"Israel may or may not continue to exist...certainly not in it's current incarnation. It will go the way of South Africa's appartheid.

With no equality in the country between it's inhabitants, there is much need for change. I don't believe Israel the courage, or indeed the strength, to return what has been taken and live in peace as equals amongst the Arabs."

You are exactly correct. Thank you.

Terra Gazelle: You are correct. Further, the Hebrews took land via TERRORISM (Rabin was a terrorist before he was awarded the NP); and, in particular, stole land from Palestinians who held "title". There are those who think the bible is an instrument of title. They are not correct.

Pagan: You ask, "...what would be the right thing to do *then?*". By whom? * * - not sure what that indicates. Please help. Thank you.

Steve: You are exactly correct. (there are many, many more facts that support your thoughts regarding the way Palestine was taken from its rightful owners.) Your friend "To Steve" is more than disingenuous. Not stupid, likely not ignorant. Perhaps TS chooses to remain "blind" (best case). Perhaps TS is just another liar.

What do you think, Steve, of bringing all the Hebrews to the US (save those who would be willing to remain in Palestine) and returning Palestine to the rightful owners and the heirs of the rightful owners. The Germans have provided a model for returning possessions stolen from its citizens during WWII.

Balfour Agreement: You are completely incorrect. Palestine was not a British Territory to do with as She pleased. In any case, the problem of Zionism precedes the Balfour Declaration (Balfour was not an agreement. note also that the Declaration itself refers to Palestine and it refers to "homeland" for the Jews and not a state for the Jews). See also: The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement and other post WWI treaties, agreements and such. Familiarize yourself with Edwin Montagu. Note that at the beginning of the 20th century, Uganda had been proposed as a homeland for the Hebrews as was Argentina some 14 years later. Note how the missteps and deceit by the Brit. Empire, France, and the US laid the foundation for the Hebrew Terrorists between the WW's and also after WWII - terrorism that continues to this very hour.

Thank you Mike for remembering all the victims of WWII.

Dave: You are disingenuous at best.

AC Reader: No where is the article Anti-Semitic.
Apologists for the theft of Palestine always play the "Anti-Semite" card - understandable - there being no defense of what was perpetrated upon the Palestinians and Palestine.

Clare, lovinliberty:, You also are wrong.

Exasperted: Me too.

Providence

I'm not sure what he is arguing for. Should Israelis all put down their guns and armaments and kneel?

Should India give up its guns and nuclear weapons and beg Pakistani fundamentalist Muslims for friendship and peace?

Personally, I blame the Brits. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, they ran all over the place with their "world domination" mentality and interjected themselves into cultures they didn't understand and never learned. Then, when things got tough, they moved out. They drew a line in the sand (literally in this case) along the Jordan River, said "East of the Jordan in for Muslims, West is for Jews... we're outta here!"

In fact, they did the same thing when they left the Pakistan / India region. Israel and Palestine battle over the West Bank, Pakistan and India battle over Kashmir, and I think Great Britain's mismanagement is largely to blame.

My 2¢.

I find this comment obscenely obtuse and unfeeling. It ignores the reality of cultural trauma post World War II. Jews today live with the knowledge that not so long ago, every single one of them was a target for slaughter. Overcoming such a trauma is far from easy, and it's not made any easier by blaming, shaming, and mischaracterizing the severity of the psychic wound. These remarks also paint all Jews with the same broad, stereotypic brush, and ignores the differences among Jews or the fact the Israelis are not the same as Jews in other cultures. That it comes from a descendant of Gandhi is particularly sad because it seems an emanation of the kind of hatred that flourished between India and Pakistan as they became separate nations. Does Mr. Gandhi think Armenians, Cambodians, Kurds, Palestinians, Rwandans should forget about the disasters their people have endured--or is it only the Jews he finds disgusting? Strange choice of words on his part that reveals more than I expect he wanted to.

As a progressive, social justice-minded Jew, I have always considered Mahatma Gandhi to be one of my role models. I regret to see that his grandson does not live up to his ideals. As has been pointed out in other comments, this posting is, indeed, anti-semitic. There is certainly much to criticize in Israel's policies. However, Mr. Gandhi's post veers into antisemitism in three ways:

First, he refers to "the Jews" as a monolith, perhaps encompassing all Jewish Israelis, perhaps encompassing all Jewish people everywhere. The nuance that many Jews in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora actively debate Israeli policy seems lost on Mr. Gandhi.

Second, Mr. Gandhi implies - without evidence - that Jews have some kind of ridiculous Holocaust obsession and should just get over it. When a third of any population group was slaughtered in living memory, that catastrophe will inevitably have a heavy effect on the community's outlook. Nevertheless, when Jews talk about the Holocaust today, it is not to make other people feel guilty. In fact, Israel and the worldwide Jewish community both have very strong relationships with Germany. The reason Jews continue to talk about fear of the Holocaust is that virulent antisemitism remains an active force throughout much of the world, particularly in the Muslim world and in much of Europe. After many centuries of anti-Jewish pogroms, many Jews continue - rightfully - to be wary of a future Holocaust, even while recognizing that our position in the world is far better than it was throughout most of Jewish history.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Mr. Gandhi calls the Jews the biggest players in a culture of violence, as if all Jews are warmongers, and all other peoples of the world are peace-loving. In the U.S., Jews are one of the most solidly progressive voting blocs, and many of us are actively involved in pro-peace activities. I wonder if Mr. Gandhi will accept other submissions for his MVP (Most Valuable Pillager) Award: how about the government of Sudan? Maybe Al Qaeda and its sympathizers? I might even suggest the Neo-Cons and the Coalition of the Willing. Are the 12 million Jews in the world - many of whom are involved in civic or community service far out of proportion to our numbers in the population - really "eventually going to destroy humanity?"

I hope Mr. Gandhi will reconsider the vitriol of his rhetoric, if he truly wants to wear the mantle of his grandfather's peace-building.

Mr. Gandhi makes the mistake of confusing Judaism and Israel. His ignorance of the difference is disturbing. It feeds that often used antisemitic notion that somehow people of Jewish faith and identity are part of some worldwide conspiracy. Israel has a government, elected and accountable to its citizens. It does not respond to or even have a way to know what the opinion is of Jews around the world. I am sure Mr Gandhi would be outraged if the violence action of India's government was acting on behalf of all Hindus or the former Taliban government or Iran reflected the attitude of all Muslms or the attitude of Italians was the attitude of all Christians.

David Chavis

This man should be ashamed of himself. He thinks Jews should allow themselves to be murdered to satisfy his notion of political correctness. Death is never politically correct.

A Concerned Reader:

I agree with you completely, except for one point. I do not see Mr. Gandhi as "hate-filled". His "analysis" comes across to me as incredibly naive and shallow. I would strongly suggest that the Post shut down this blog. Right now, Mr. Gandhi has all of us barking up the wrong tree. After a while, all of us also look stupid, no?

BGone:

You have an appropriate name. Truly, BGone. Jews have lived in the area now called Israel for centuries before Muslims. Read Joseph T. Miller's post on this blog for instance. Read up history books and get some knowledge.

Mr. Gandhi is blaming Jews as belonging to this "culture of violence". He has forgotten about the hundreds of thousands killed in India by Islamic terrorists in the name of Kashmir, and the world-wide acts of terror carried out by Islamic extremists. For an example of a culture of violence, look at Pakistan--the world's most dangerous place. Mr. Gandhi's views are ridiculous.

I am appalled that the Washington Post would allow such an anti-semetic piece of garbage on their website. It is one thing to criticize Israel's policies in a rational manner, but quite another to call a people, the Jewish people, the most violent on earth (what about Rwanda, Kenya, Darfur, Iran/Afghanistan/Iraq--all places where there have been the worst atrocities in the last 20 years?). Israel is the only democratic country in the middle east. It has a right to protect itself from terrorists. We may not agree with some of the methods, but to call Jews the most violent is so wrong. This is pure hate and has no place on a reputable site. And just as disgusting are the anti-semetic hatefilled posts. Shameful.

Why do we have to pretend, I always wIsrael doesn't want peace with Palstine; Israel wants Palestine.

Have and have said so since the early stern gang days. Always said so. What's the gag?

And still we're ask to pretend. It's insulting. But the reward will come when the savage ursurpers are first, off the American teat, and onder?

ISRAEL DOESN'T WANT PEACE WITH PALESTINE;

ISRAEL WANTS PALESTINE.second, gone., however. The world will cheer.

I agree with some of the bloggers above that even if Mahatma Gandhi had the same views about Israel and Jews, he would never ever speak in such harsh and crude language.

Arun Gandhi, you have not only shown disrespect towards your grandfather but towards all the educated Indians as well, by expressing such baseless and ignorant views in such a uncivilized manner.

it is hard to bow to non-violence when there's a killer's knife at your neck...this Jew begs for peace as so many of us did in the 1930's...and still do in Israel...our words end again at the knife's edge...this time of Hamas, Hezbellah etc etc

What can you expect from orthodox jews if their chief, Rabbi Amar, made racists comments about America?

As a person of Indian origin, I strongly disagree with Mr. Arun Gandhi's theories. Any country, Israel or India, that are surrounded by hostile neighbours ae left with no choice but to have a strong defence system. Both India and Israel have suffered immensely at the hands of Islamic terrorsim, yet you dont see hindus or jews blowing themselves up in crowded malls in Islamabad or Palestinian areas. To say Jews have cultivated a culture of violence is absurd to say the least. What about the millions massacared by Pakistanis in East Pakistan(now Bangaladesh)? Most of the genocide around the world, be it Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Iraq, Rwanda etc dont have Jewish fingerprints.

Steve Siegal

What do they teach you? Did you know that Israel occupies Palestine? chased the palestinians out of their homes, put many in jail and refuse to let them return. Then started taking their land.
Now own, settlements up to 46% with the latest taking of some 23 square miles.

Now why would the Palestinians want to fight back? Why would the world hate Israel?

And why would anti-semitism be rife all over, including this post. Didn't need to happen again, Ameria has been very hospitable. Israel ruined it all for you.

Palestine never belonged to the "Palestinians" anyway. It was a British territory. You can steal from someone something that was never theirs in the first place.

Mahatma Gandhi would also never have supported suicide bombers, so you can lay off his name as well.

Jews weren't airdropped onto Israel. And Israelis don't all hail from Europe (many were born in Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Yemen...would they have done better staying in those countries?). Don't make it so Euro-centric.

The Zionist movement started with Jews buying land.

No peace with neighbors? Jordan and Israel have a productive relationship. Egypt's is a little colder, but it's still a peace. There is a strong economic and security relationship between them.

Can a modern, relatively new state survive that defines itself as Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc? I don't know. It's a good question, and it deserves honest debate and good faith solutions. We should give both sides the respect of having the high expectation that they will be rational.

I don't think anyone who is being honest and human, including most Israelis, rejoice in the treatment of the Palestinians. If you've been to Israel, you'll learn that the attitude is mostly one of "What can you do? We don't want it to be this way." You'll also notice that Israelis (Jewish, Christian, or Muslim) do not rejoice in the streets when a Palestinian is killed. When we speak of a culture of violence, perhaps we should look in the direction of those celebrating death.

Last thing...remember that Lebanon (or Syria or anywhere else) is not so simple. There's more at play than it's proximity to Israel.

Mr.Gandhi-you are blaming the victim for defending himself. It is the Palestinian leadership that creates the snakepit. Problem is: they LOVE "enduring" their self-inflicted bites. You are dangerously naive.

Mahatma Gandhi NEVER NEVER NEVER supported establishing the state of israel and was always against it. So you zionists can layoff his name.

After reading Arun Gandhi's uninformed and narrow minded comments, I can only think of one word:

MORON

to Peace,

All those people saying that Mahatma Gandhi would be ashamed of his grandson for writing this article, I want to remind you idiots that Mahatma Gandhi was one of the first people to recognize the folly of Israel, and was a vocal proponent of settling the holocaust jews in Europe rather than the middle east. Just because a few of you jews marched with blacks in the civil war movement, or protested the vietnam war in the 60s doesn't mean Gandhi would have been on your side. It just tells us that Mahatma was a smart person to know that the founding of Israel was a bad idea, a visionary person whose nightmare came true.

I suspect that if he could, Gandhi would rise from his grave to advise his grandson against using such inflammatory statements as "We have created a culture of violence -- Israel and the Jews are the biggest players -- and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."
Such ignorant and offensive generalizations about one people, or group, or race, INSPIRE violence and have historically generated cycles of racism and hatred that are impossibly hard to break. This is exactly opposite to the life's work of the author's grandfather, whose coat tails the author is so happy to ride on.
Another memorable quote from the author: "Jews today want Germans to feel guilty."
Who are you to speak of the FEELINGS of millions of individuals the world over?
Perhaps the person who needs to get over the past - his past - is the author - because he doesn't speak for his beloved and inspiring grandfather and he should stop pretending that he does.

Sorry, but your "I'm talking only of Israel" excuses do not hold. One has every right to compare alleged neutral hysteria over Israel to how the same person looks at other countries. You fail this test.

Let me correct some of your many errors.

First, Israel was not formed by "air-dropping tens of thousand of European Jews onto Palestinian land, by force, and without compensation". The fact you seem to believe this tells much about where you get your information. Are you aware that thousands upons thousands of Muslim Palestinians Israel upon its creation in 1947 based on promises from Arab leaders that the Jews would be driven to the sea and the muslims could then return? Are you aware of the fact that roughly the same number of Jews (as muslims who left Israel) were forced out of Arab countries with no compensation?

Second, you talk about certain building permits! Is that all you have? There are Muslims in the Israeli Knesset for crying out loud. Again, you ignore the fact that Muslims have more rights in Israel than they do anywhere in the Arab world. (And just try being a Jew or Christian in any Arab country and see what rights you have).

Third, you write: " Israel was formed thru violence, and without compensation, and then thru raping the US treasury, builds up a vicious military that kills its foes by many magnitudes, because it can". This statement would take the cake, but we need more cake left for your fourth statement (which we will get to). I guess if you blame Israel for being attacked and defending itself, your statements would be true. Your "without comepensation" statement is truly precious. Were the countries of Jordan and most of what is now Israel/the West Bank/Gaza not enough land for the Muslim Palestinians? Or do you mean all of present day Israel in which Jewish Palestinians were forced as well?

Fourth, I truly love your solution for the current woes. Israel is attacked over and over again, yet you believe it has no right to any of the land it conquered in defensive wars. Can you tell me even one other time and place in history where a country that took land in a defensive war has been deemed to have stolen that land? And by the way, if Israel did everything you suggest, the Arabs would only step up their terror and determination to destroy Israel. With all due respect sir, you are incredibly naive.

As a practical matter, it is obvious that there will never be any peace in the world until and if there is peace in Palestine! There is no way to have peace in Palestine until there is some degree of justice in Palestine.

It was one thing to provide some "safety" for the remaining Jews that survived the horrors of WWII by allowing them to immigrate to Palestine and join the many Jews that still lived there; it was quite something else to create a Jewish state using protectorate lands that were not Jewish! What was the first thing the Jewish "survivors" did? Why, they created terrorist gangs to fight the British protective services and scare the non Jews into abandoning their homes and lands. Since day one, the Zionist Jews have fought wars, seized lands, and broken every international law on the books to grow their "space" to include all of Palestine East of the Jordan, claiming some God given right to these lands. They have failed to honor international laws while whining about their rights to exist, they have stolen most of their land, illegally used occupied lands, subjugated the occupied peoples, invaded their neighbors illegally and immorally; and on and on!

At this point, the only viable solution is a single state solution that is secular where everyone is allowed to practice their religion; all existing land claims need to be honored and the marauding Jewish settlers sent back to Queens, Iran, Russia, and everywhere else they have been imported from to use the occupied lands; or have the Jews withdraw to the 1948 lands they were granted by the UN. The current situation needs to be repudiated!

World peace is far more important than this misguided attempt to compensate the Jews for the atrocities of the Nazis; adding Jewish atrocities is not a solution!

My replies to yours:

You: To Steve:

I won't call you anti-semitic, only naive. Let's take your list of why you believe Israel "is a horrible little country":

Me:1) The way it was formed

You:I assume you don't like the fact that Israel was recognized by UN mandate based on a vote. I assume you have a bigger problem with the way Jordan was formed - British/UN mandate without a vote. And an even bigger problem with the way mondern-day Iraq and Poland were formed, unilateral decisions of world powers. I'm assuming, however, that the only one of these that you ever talk about is Israel.

Me: This argument isn't about other countries- my comments were about Israel. And Israel was formed by air-dropping tens of thousand of European Jews onto Palestinian land, by force, and without compensation. I stand by my position about not liking the way Israel was formed.

Me:2) The way it is structured, as a religious state, where others have less rights

You: Again, your naivete shows. Israel is not structured as a religious state where others have less rights. In fact, Muslims have more rights in Israel than they do anywhere in the Arab world. Do you have a problem with the Vatican being a religious state? Are you on the web crying about Saudi Arabia and Iran being religious states? Once again, I doubt it.

Once again, I stand by Israel's horrible position as a religious state(I am anti-religion, period- and we are talking about Israel, not others).By the way, I delpore the fanatical Muslim states and American Christian conservatives who arguably are not much better than their Muslim counterparts. But who is naive here, with you saying that Palestinians have the same rights within Israel as Jews do? By honest and open yours eyes and try and get a building permit (as an Arab)- good luck!

Me:3) The way it dominates the region, which is purely because of intense lobbying, pressure and persuasion on US politicians.

You:Exactly how does Israel "dominate the region"? Because its neighbors want to destroy it? Compare the sizes and populations of Israel with its Muslim neighbors and then tell me who dominates the region.

Me: What came first the chicken or the egg? Sure there is historical animosity between jews and muslims, but when Israel was formed thru violence, and without compensation, and then thru raping the US treasury, builds up a vicious military that kills its foes by many magnitudes, because it can, I say it dominates the region. And let me say, as an American who is non-jewish, and non-evangelical christian, I gain nothing from my countries support of Israel. I say keep our billions and our weapons to ourselves and without our military, Isael will be forced to play more fair on the region.

Me:4) The way it treats the Palestinians, which is very similar to the way Jews have been treated throughout time.

You:Please tell me your solution for dealing with a people who have been trying to destroy you through war and terror since your creation. I don't seem to see Jews raping and killing Palestinians randomly or Jews sending Palestinians to the gas chambers.

Me: Here are some suggestions, since you asked:
1) Give the Palestinians back their land to 1967 borders, including all the illegal settlements in Jerusalem and eslewhere
2) Give them their own water and air rights
3) Tear down the wall
4)Let them re-build their economies, schools, and hospitals, instead of blocking them
5) accept that violence will continue for a while while this is all going on
6) Let some of them return to their land
7) compensate those who lost land with money- the jews are still seeking compensation from the Germans, right?

Eventually the hard line, hold-out Palestinians will succumb to peace, prosperity, and a chance at a decent future.

Otherwise, by simply blaming them first, as an excuse to continue the domination and humiliation, one day Israelis may wish they had.

Mr Gandhi,

Based on your logic, you are obviously in favour of India 'shedding' Kashmir and giving it over to Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir: in 1947, 1965, and 1999.

And let's not forget that India is a proud member of the nuclear weapons club. Would India hesitate to use such a weapon if 6 million of it's citizens faced annihilation?

You, sir, are a hypocrite... and an ignorant one at that.

Holocaust was NOT a result of "the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful" as the author states. Anti-semitism and violence against Jews has been used as an effective tool for gaining, retaining and solidifying power in most (if not all) western civilization societies throughout the history of humankind. Germany in 1930s is just the most recent of the most brutal manifestations of that history. It would behoove the European countries in particular to do some soul searching as to why anti-semitism has been and still remains so effective.
I agree that building a fence around the country is not the solution to Israel's problems. But the advice to befriend those who hate you is naive at best and lethal at worst.

Gandhiji;

Please show me some sources which say Jews are still blaming Germans. They have moved on and are a very prosperous, intelligent, hard working, self reliant community whereever they live.

They certainly have not killed or blown up any Germans unlike their Muslim neighbors who do not miss an opportunity to blow up Jews in cafes, school buses, Olympic Games, planes, office buildings....

You are just spewing hatred and ignorance against Jews and being a fellow Indian I am very ashamed of your thinking. But unfortunately I believe this view point is held by most Indians even though we are regularly blown up by Muslims.

Israel has a 30 percent Muslim population. There are 50 Islamic nations with about 1 or 2 percent minorities. Try opening up a Hindu Temple in Saudi Arabia.

I won't call you anti-semitic, only naive. Let's take your list of why you believe Israel "is a horrible little country":

1) The way it was formed

I assume you don't like the fact that Israel was recognized by UN mandate based on a vote. I assume you have a bigger problem with the way Jordan was formed - British/UN mandate without a vote. And an even bigger problem with the way mondern-day Iraq and Poland were formed, unilateral decisions of world powers. I'm assuming, however, that the only one of these that you ever talk about is Israel.

2) The way it is structured, as a religious state, where others have less rights

Again, your naivete shows. Israel is not structured as a religious state where others have less rights. In fact, Muslims have more rights in Israel than they do anywhere in the Arab world. Do you have a problem with the Vatican being a religious state? Are you on the web crying about Saudi Arabia and Iran being religious states? Once again, I doubt it.

3) The way it dominates the region, which is purely because of intense lobbying, pressure and persuasion on US politicians.

Exactly how does Israel "dominate the region"? Because its neighbors want to destroy it? Compare the sizes and populations of Israel with its Muslim neighbors and then tell me who dominates the region.

4) The way it treats the Palestinians, which is very similar to the way Jews have been treated throughout time.

Please tell me your solution for dealing with a people who have been trying to destroy you through war and terror since your creation. I don't seem to see Jews raping and killing Palestinians randomly or Jews sending Palestinians to the gas chambers.

Are "American Jews" AMERICAN or Jews? Was not the "state" of Israel created to accommodate all of the world's Jewry?

The encouraging note in these posts is that no one is quoting some scripture to prove a particular sect to be the chosen...and thus entitled. It's a political struggle; not as much an ideological struggle as a battle for survival and dominance.

The discouraging note in this discussion is that the conflict-tone points to perhaps that Yahweh intended Canaan to be an eternal battle ground, at least until He grows tired with His experiment and allows us to annihilate ourselves.

What a ridiculous article! How could the post allow something like this to be seen on their site?

This is not in any way an intellectual examination of Jewish identity. This article merely chastises Jews for not getting over an attempted genocide that occured within living memory and then blames the decisions of the STATE of Israel on any and all Jewish people.

If anything, the only thing this article shows is that Mr. Gandhi obviously has a few anti-semetic issues of his own to deal with.

Well isn't this a special perspective from Newsweak.

I can't stand it when someone who challenges Israel is automatically labelled an anti-Semite. That said, a guy who says that "Israel and the Jews are the biggest players" in the "culture of violence" is either an idiot or an anti-Semite. Or both.

Only someone suffering a serious cranial bleed could look at Israel, surrounding by implacable foes dedicated to its destruction from Day 1, and claim Israel is the "biggest player" in a culture that will ultimately destroy humanity. This sort of reverse-logic is commonplace in Islam where rape victims get punished, family members kill one another to preserve their "honor", and women have to cover their hair and body 'lest they simply force otherwise holy Muslims to flip out and attack them, but I've never quite seen it applied to Israel in such a hilarious fashion.

Here's a thought: if other nations hadn't destroyed Israel in the first place, chased the Jews around the globe over and over, blamed them for every wrong real or perceived in their own societies, and subjected them to Russian pogroms and German industrial ovens, they wouldn't feel such a need for a Jewish nation that would actually protect them. As it stands, Israel is one of the few nations on Earth that not only recognizes the true Culture of Violence that is created and sustained by repressive Islamists, but actually stands up to them. And no, I'm not Jewish - although in comparison to the surrender monkeys I'm starting to wish I were.

Can we acknowledge that most of Europe suffered along with the Jews during WWII? I mean, 50 million people dies, 10% of whom were Jewish. What happened to the memories of the other 90% (who gave their lives for the rest of us, Jews included)

As an American, non-jew, I don't hate Jews at all. To the contrary, I admire their dedication to family, education, community, achievement, etc...
I also believe that Israel is a horrible little country, because of so many reasons:
1) The way it was formed
2) The way it is structured, as a religious state, where others have less rights
3) The way it dominates the region, which is purely because of intense lobbying, pressure and persuasion on US politicians
4) The way it treats the Palestinians, which is very similar to the way Jews have been treated throughout time

Unfortunately, I will now be called anti-semitic, or a Jew hater. And not by right wing zionists, with a "we're number one !" mentality, but rather by a very large percentage of otherwise rational, sensible Jewish people.

There is this blind commitment to the State of Israel by Jews in general, who believe that it can do no wrong. And they brush aside this most serious of situations by saying things like "Sure you can criticize the Israeli government for some things", but surely they know better than anyone that the Israeli government IS the jews of Israel and the USA- no one kicks out ruler faster than the Israelis when they don't like their leadership.

So please, my jewish friends, be accepting of criticism of Israel and don't flaunt the 'anti-semitic' card so quickly(that only makes things worse), and demand that your Israeli leadership stop the domination and and make peace with the Palestinians. It would go a long way towards Israel's future.

Regards

Your statements are a reflection on Israeli Jews. The majority of Jews do not live in Israel and do not necessarily think the same way as the Israelis' either.

first, I am shocked that the Post is even publishing such hateful and distorted views. Anyone who has studied the middle east conflict understands that the state of Israel was created and approved by a United Nations partition plan in 1947. The plan was intended to create a jewish state and a palestinian state. The outcome has been a refusal by virtually every arab country to accept the partition and this has resulted in six decades of terrorism, economic boycotts and military aggression against Israel. For those who may not remember,Menachem Begin made peace with Egypt and returned the Sinai. Yitzhak Rabin gave his life for negotiating with Arafat and Ehud Barak offered a solution at Camp David but it was turned down by Arafat in favor of the terrorist option. Currently, Israel has withdrawn from Gaza and now they are under palestinian rocket attacks from that area. The Israelis also withdrew from Southern lebanon and then were attacked from there by Hezbollah. The current Palestinian covenant and Hamas call for the destruction of Israel. But according to Mr. G the Israelis should be making friends with these enemies. Not only does Mr G seem to hate Israel but he really seems to hate the jews too; by conflating his hate politics with religion, he maligns an entire people. Mr G should know about partition though, since his home country was also partitioned to create pakistan, a political event that unleashed bloodletting by hindus against muslims and vice versa that made the Israel war for independence look tame in comparison. The Kashmir area of India and Pakistan remains one of the world's worst political flash points. Currently, India is allied with the US, has nuclear capabilities and is a buffer against extremists in Pakistan and Iran...not entirely unlike Israel. Meanwhile, Mr G spouts his vitriol from behind the respectable facade of american academia.

Aw shucks, the holocaust is blown out of proportion. Half the population of a people destroyed in a half decade, the result of two thousand years of the anti-semitic screeds of the Catholic Church and Luther. Just get over it? Tell that to the survivors who are still reliving the horror. Mr Ghandi it was not the work of only one deranged lunatic with good PR. We, including American jews who were too afraid to speak out, the US, UK, especially the French collaborators are responsible. If half the hindu population were wiped out 500 million we'd hear a different tune.
As for Jews--and he said Jews, not Israelis-- being "big players" in violence, this is absurd and almost laughable. On a basic level, can he produce any numbers concerning the incidence of violent crimes committed by Jews in any country. My guess based on the teachings of the Jewish religion--which has couple of commandments enjoining such violence, i.e. murder, assault, stealing and the fact that most Jews are fairly well educated---my guess is that the number of Jews in prisons throughout the world for violent crimes is miniscule.
Ghandi is no better than Pius, Luther or Brother Farrakhan in smearing Jews for no better reason than to try to get them to shut up. It ain't happening in America.

Sderot is clearly built on arab land, and if a jew dies there, he very well deserved it. No country will tolerate a naked agreesion on their land. Why should the palestinians?

The jews were never God's chosen people.
Someone is pulling their leg.
Satan, perhaps?

You say: "The Holocaust cannot be forgotten, Jews use it not to gain international support, but to remind the world what can happen when the world stays silent."

same difference dude...you do not want to let the world forget it happened. you still want to keep the world in its guilt and reap benefits!

He could not be more wrong on this subject. Clearly he has not spent any time in Sderot, or at a coffee shop in Jerusalem during the intifada! Israel has stretched its hand for peace every chance it has had, only two countries finally (and only after losing badly in wars as a result of Israeli military buildup) reached back--Egypt and Jordan. The Holocaust cannot be forgotten, Jews use it not to gain international support, but to remind the world what can happen when the world stays silent. The Holocaust must always remain as a reminder, to not forget, to fight genocide, aka Darfur! Israel and the Jews want to live in peace in the land of Israel, extremists live by the bomb, the Jews can only respond. Before Israel, the world was a culture of violence, and the Jews faced most of it with the culmination of the Holocaust. It sad to see a Ghandi use this name and make such ignorant statements.

The only thing more astounding than the intellectually and bigotted accusation of "anti-semite!" on Mr. Ghandi are the few actual anti-semitic comments here.

The real question for the state of Israel, as well as the US, and India/Pakistan is: HAS MILITARIZATION BROUGHT YOU PEACE?

In Iraq and Israel the answere is clearly no.

Israel has nuclear weapons, ergo there is no existential threat to Israel, yet every action by impoverished extremists driven to terrorism is treated as though it was 40 divisions of panzers. See last years' failed invasion of Lebanon.

It is an insult to the 20 million victims of fascism to casually sling Goebbels accusations at a man calling for peace and understanding.

talk more. give more. bomb less.

FUNNY HOW SOME POSTERS REVEAL THEIR INHERENT INSECURITIES. IF SOMEONE (MR GANDHI IN THIS CASE) POSTS SOMETHING THEY DO NOT LIKE OR AGREE WITH, IT IS CONSIDERED THAT THE POSTER HAS SHALLOW KNOWLEDGE, IS BIASED, ANTI-SEMITIC, IGNORANT.....BLAH BLAH BLAH!

CAN YOU NOT TAKE THE TRUTH FOR ONCE???????

HUH??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

NO, REALLY??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Judaism has been around for 5000 years - to say that it is based on the holocaust is extremely insulting and also incredibly uneducated.

Judaism is based on observance of the laws which the Lord gave to Moses, the Torah.

I am really amazed at the ignorance and venom directed at Jews and Israel by both Gandhi and many posters. The root of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the same as it was in 1948- Arab refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. Even "moderate" Abbas and Fayad refuse to concede on this. That is why "land for peace" doesn't work because it fails to address this core issue.

Arabs invaded Israel, and they also invaded and ruled over Spain for 700 years until the Spanish reconquered their ancestral land. Spain did not divide Madrid or create a parallel land for their Arabic occupiers. Why should Israel? Good for the Jews for returning to their land and transforming it into a middle east oasis. Build your land- the ignorant will always see Arabs killing Arabs and blame the jews.

Israel has been locked in a conflict with Moslems that is not that different from the one that Indians have with their Moslems. Who has voluntarily relinquished conquests and who hasn't? Who allows settlement and citizenship to minorities, and who doesn't?

Focusing on Jews without saying a word to their Moslem brothers is asking people to lay down their lives for non-violence. Have Jews threatened to exterminate their neighbors? Have Moslems in Palestinian areas stopped teaching that Jews and Christians are "pigs and monkeys?" Do you know what they teach in their school books about Hindus?

Are you kidding?

Gandhi's view of the situation is largely accurate I believe.

After the holocaust everyone felt guilty and formed Israel. Israel felt a sense of entitlement and that it was on the moral high ground because of the holocaust - it could do nothing wrong. This attitude continues today as Gandhi points out.

Note the small similarity between the events of 9/11 and the subsequent US invasion into the middle east. The US is hit on 9/11 and thousands of civilians die in an attack without any real meaning. The whole world feels sorry for us. We invade Afganistan, rightfully so to deal with those who attacked us. This little bit is justified and we topple the Taliban backed government. However, after Afganistan we continue onwards towards Iraq and now Iran, feeling that what we are doing is just only because of that attack more than 6 years ago.

With the US, it's not an eye for an eye. It's a fingernail for your entire head - and the heads of all your neighbors as well.

Israel may or may not continue to exist...certainly not in it's current incarnation. It will go the way of South Africa's appartheid.

With no equality in the country between it's inhabitants, there is much need for change. I don't believe Israel the courage, or indeed the strength, to return what has been taken and live in peace as equals amongst the Arabs.

Nowhere in Jewish culture/literature or in Israeli public discourse/culture/literature is there the death cult that exists surrounding Israel in it's Muslim Arab neighbors. Israel did not create this snake pit, it has always been there. Israel does not strive to destroy her Arab neighbors nor does she tacitly permit or encourage her citizenry to commit suicide bombings against her neighbors. Israel's powerful military is the result of decades of neighbors with a desire to wipe Israel off the map.

To C: even though I, unlike you, am not Jewish, I completely agree with you. That post was biased, simplistic and filled with cliches. You do wonder: since he talks so much about Jews and the Holocaust, does that reflect that Jews can't seperate anything from the Holocaust, or that he can't seperate Jews from the Holocaust? I have Jewish friends and my academic mentor is Jewish: trust me, we sure don't sit around fretting about Nazi crimes. Reading he accuse Jews of being caught in the past, it's ironic to think about how many Jews have helped develop the technology that is making tomorrow tomorrow. I don't think he knows many Jews.

The grandfather could be forgiven for believing that Hitler could be mollified by peaceful gestures. That was before the Holocaust. For the antisemitism of the grandson, there is no excuse. This Arun guy is so ignorant and so out of touch with reality there is no point even trying to explain it to him.

A dreadfully bad, historically inaccurate, grossly overgeneralized and callous post by Mr. Gandhi. Even as a non-Jew I think that the Jewish people have done an incredible job of "moving on" from the holocaust. And as for a "refusal to forgive," aside from not understanding what Mr. Gandhi is talking about, I don't see it. In fact, there is so much wrong with the opening paragraph of Mr. Gandhi's post that I could barely go on. Having done so, I realize I should not have, as he proposition of an Israel unwilling to befriend or forgive but only bent on domination is meritless.

I am suprized to read that this author fails to mention that before "the bomb" was acquired by Israel, all of the Arab nations (bar none) vowed to "drive Israel into the sea". Many brave wars fought by Israel defending itself, and finally acquiring "the bomb", was the detterant to the Arab nations to stop attacking Israel. Now, only terrorist organizations with underground help from these very same nations are raining rockets into Israel. What does the author want Israel to do? Give in to Terrorists? Does anyone round the world give in to terrorists? Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland, USA?

When you go back into history there were NO Hebrews in Canaan...they had to fight and kill to get that land.

When after ww2 and the Jews needed a home no place wanted them. They were given that land and they have taken more ever since...the people whose land it was has had to suck it up and accept the thievery. Thanks to us those disenfrangized people whose land it was has been put in a second class status...being walled off from family, farm lands and jobs, having to kotow to their enemies...having their homes bulldozed down and their ancient orchards destroyed.

It is insupportable. I am not against the people of Israel...but, like we have to do with our government, they need to make a change so that their children and the children of the Palestinians will have a secure future. If not this can not but bring more war and more death throught the world.

What religions that call the same place a Holy Land, yet bring nothing but war and death to it.

terra

I wish everybody could give advise to everybody, a well intentioned advice. Who can refuse it? The intention makes it good and may be even wise. Right? I think this it so so wrong. Thinking of Holocaust as an event that has passed and has roots only in the mind of a sick German leader who swallowed poison is very much unenlightened. The "event" was highlight of centuries of persecution and hate, Jews who befrended those hated them paid the price, and others who were in the position to stop Hitler allowed for it to happen. Now, why are Jews blamed for trying to be self dependent, self assured?

And for not sharing technology with Arab neighbors? What a novel idea. They keep trying, but Arabs either boikot it, or destroy it. Recall the green houses and just the houses left in Gaza strip. What is their fate?

I only hope that those with well intentioned advice are open to well intentioned learning. We want to have good people as our friends. Knowledge is something can be shared and squared, Mr. Ghandi. Nativity or lack of applicable experience can be excused, but hatred is not to be overlooked, it is to be confronted.

For 1900 years Jews were the victims in both Chistian and Muslim civilization. The best we could hope for was toleration. We don't want to be victims anymore.

All I can really add here when people seem to treat Israeli policy and reactions to it as a litmus test on Jews and Judaism (not that that isn't a factor among many of the players)

...is: What if it's not an abstraction? What if it's a real country with real people?

What would be the right thing to do *then?*

Gaby: Thank you. You are correct when you write:

Sadly, Mr. Ghandi is right. Isreal was one of the biggest political blunders ever made.

That has nothing to do with being anti-Semitic, it's just a statement which I believe to be true. If Isreal is to survive they must do so by peaceful negotiations, not by ruling with the fist.

Is it too late to take the proper and just action in Palestine and dissolve Israel, return the land to the Palestinians and bring the Jew to America?

Thank you,
Providence

First: Mr. Ghandi displays a fairly shallow knowledge of post-diaspora Jewish history. The Holocaust, while being the latest and greatest of the persecutions of the Jewish people, was certainly not the first attempt to exterminate the Jews.
Second: The snake pit analogy is defective in that the wall is an attempt to keep the snakes out. Whether the wall will work as intended or not is a different question. Data indicates sucide bombings going down as the wall goes up. However, on the down side, rocket attacks are up.

Arun Gandhi:

Let me preface this by saying I am not Jewish or religious in any way, shape or form. Whatever your attitude about Jews are, the recognition of Israel by ALL states should've been done years ago. Some posters have talked about the establishment of a religious state like Israel, saying no state should be founded on religion, but no other people have been persecuted, hounded and killed like the Jews have been, no matter what country they are in. Ever since they were forced out of their ancestor's Kingdom of Israel, as a people the Jews have maintainted their cultural identity even as they were dispersed across the globe. Every where they went, they were eventually driven out by progroms and ethnic cleansing by Russians, Germans, Arabs, English, etc. After the re-establishment of their ancestrial homeland, it is the only place on Earth Jews can stand-up and say that this is where they draw the line and won't be chased from ever again. Especially with the establshment of a Palistinian state (a geographical area, but never a country or kingdom at any time!), Jews shouldn't have to continually look over their shoulder at Muslims and Arabs who are jealous of their success and modern culture. Islamic fundamentalists and extremists (and their apologizers) would hate the Jews and what they stand for even if every nation on Earth stood with the Jew and said "enough is enough!"

If their could be a more offensive, anti-Jewish statement, I'd hard pressed to find it

Mr. Gandhi is not arguing that Israel should not exist, but that its militarization has created a trap. He's not wrong.

Lots of posters osmosing what "most Jews" or "all Jews" think.

I think Jews just want to not get frigging killed again.

I'm sure it's easy to be a Hindu in a country of a billion Hindus, or a Christian in a nation of 250 million Christians.

Judaism is a religion like traditional African religions -- tied to the land.

The Jewish people were forced off the land by the Romans, and have been suppressed and oppressed just about everywhere else, ever since.

The Israelis are fighting in their minds for the survival of their family. There is nothing more human.

Gandhi is right that the state of Israel has too-strong roots in the Holocaust. But don't forget its other roots are planted in the pogroms, in the Inquisition, and in the Roman expulsion.

Not to mention the Sunday School classroom where you were taught that "the Jews killed Jesus."

what this gentleman forgets is that holocaust could never have without the complicity of most European populations..incl. germany, france, poland, to name a few..The seeds of the Holacaust were deeply rooted in church tradition of the past 18 centuries..It would be disservice to the dead if did not fight against modern hatred of he jews..in it's new forms..Mr Ghandi obviously is ignorant of world history as it relates to Jews. His commentary scares because it shows such ignorance and arrogance..

I can't imagine any comment on this opinion piece being more naive and offensive than the opinion peace itself. "We have created a culture of violence -- Israel and the Jews are the biggest players -- and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity"? Mr. Gandhi, you must be kidding.

what about the cossacks? The germans werent the only ones by any means

"Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed."

Let's just look at Poland. Before 1938, there were 3 million Jews living in Poland - today there are less than 5,000. We WISH we could shed this abhorrent episode, but considering that it was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews, it would be irresponsible to those who perished to 'shed' it.

"It is a very good example of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends."

This is beyond comment.

"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews."

No. No. No. Stop spreading this rubbish. The Jewish people do not want the Germans to feel guilt - we want the entire world to remember what happened so that it doesn't happen again. Sadly, it has, it is and it will again not just to the Jews but to the entire world. The world must not 'regret' - it must not FORGET and neither should you.

"The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger."

Who exactly should we forgive? Hitler? The wholesale massacre of anyone should not be forgiven - it should be used to educate our children and the rest of the world when ignorance and hate are allowed to spread.

Arun - The University of Rochester is a respectable institution so you are clearly an intelligent person, but what you have written shows incredible ignorance to what happened in WW2 and what the Holocaust really means to the Jewish people.

"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual". I am afraid this is misleading and poor history. If you are going to write an article please get some of the facts right. One individual could never have created the holocaust.
Unless of cause he had alot of help. Like a whole nation.

"it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews."

the post tends to print a lot of this absurdity. I mean this piece wouldn't get a passing grade in any 9th grade English class. It's actually kind of funny.

Sadly, Mr. Gandhi makes two critical errors.

1. He speaks of "Jews" as if all Jews agreed on putting Holocaust guilt on the world.

2. He equates "Jews" with the State of Israel. Israel is an independent state. Jews who live outside of Israel are not Israeli citizens and do not vote in Israel. Though most Jews are supportive of Israel, Jews and Israel are not the same.

Regretfully, Mr. Gandhi fails to recognize each Jew as an indivdual, with individual views of the Holocaust and Israel.

Arun Gandhi obviously has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to Jews. I can't speak to his motivations for saying the things he said ("We have created a culture of violence -- Israel and the Jews are the biggest players -- and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.") but they are preposterously ignorant. Any intelligent, fair-minded person who reads a statement like that should have a red flag go off when they see such a negative, oversimplified stereotype. As for the others on this bulletin board who get excited by his pronouncements, I suggest looking at facts as opposed to just riding the surf of superficial rhetoric.

Mr. Ghandi's post is a baffling amalgam of wisdom (on the creation of snake pits) and willful ignorance. It is not the Israelis alone who create and maintain the snake pit, nor are Jews worldwide (not the Israeli government, which has excellent relations with the German one) who press the Germans when skinheads and other neonazis arise there --- it is the Germans themselves, now two generations removed from the horror of WW II and the Holocaust, who feel obligated never to allow a recurrence of either unilateral aggression or violent racism. If Jews are hypersensitive to ethnic cleansing and religious persecution, who can blame them?

If Mr. Ghandi knew more about Judasim in this country, he would know that it, too, is a generation beyond the time when the Holocaust and Israel dominated Jewish thought, despite the excesses of a few, highly influential, Jewish neocons. Judaism has not survived for three millennia, most of it in spite of widespread persecution and diaspora, because of negatives, but because of the positive values it brought to its own adherents --- and through them to two other major world religions. It is no accident that Jews thrived in the fertile soil of American civil liberties: the values of the founding fathers followed closely those of the Jewish prophets.

This is the most unbelieveable turnspeak I have every heard. Joseph Goebbels would be very proud of you Mr. Ghandi.

On what does the author base his opinion that "it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews."

Post readers deserve better than this biggoted and stereotyped "analysis."

It's nice to think that kindness will always win the day. But this is incredibly naive. If a country told us that they wanted to establish strict Islamic law in America and take over the country, would we attempt to win them over with kindess and share nuclear technology with them? Would we be creating a "snake pit" by having a strong military?

Such shot-from-the-hip conjecture about and oversimplification of such a notoriously slippery term as "jewish identity" is foolish. Such externally imposed essentialist stereotyping helps no one.

There are plenty of scholars who have deveted their careers to addressing the questions of Jewish identity. Why not seek their input?

Oh, Gods.

Speaking as among those in the world with no interest in more bloodshed over that particular piece of real estate, this is really a case where a lot of factors got poured into some kind of religious flashpoint. Three major cultures believe they *just have to have that place exclusively,* now, and that just messes things up.

Way too much about the formation of Israel has to do with people not facing reality... and even historical shame about it.

(After European history, it's hard to not notice that there was a whole lot of anti-Semitism even among the 'good guys' going on, and if that wasn't convenient to those who wanted to 'get rid' of Jews, especially after the Holocaust, well, what isn't.)

It's complicated. Certainly, it's not exactly rocket science for a non-Abrahamic to identify that place as the source of great and ongoing woe, and that it'd probably do a world of good if book-religion people could get over themselves enough to share, (with understanding that that's easier said than done,)

But one thing is simple. In *my* country, and *my* house, Jews are welcome, and no one ought to use the Middle East as some kind of reason to say differently.

Some Jews have treated me unkindly. Some have been, really, *my second family.* This is life. And, as callous as I think Mr. Gandhi may be coming across here, well, he's in some life, too.

Certainly, if I were in India, I'd be some combination of scared and impatient at all these 'holy wars' going on all around me, ...with none of the participants thinking much of Hindu people... ...Israel's just the focus, and it always has been, whoever held it at the time. It's a conflict with a life of its own, and rarely has it been managed exactly well for long.

I believe that war and hatred will destroy the world one day. The survival of the jewish culture is that of showing anyone who tries to destroy it will not succeed. They are determine to survive any culture who has tried to destroy theirs.

With his comment:

"But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews."

Mr. Gandhi implies Jews use the Holocaust solely as a means of instilling guilt within others. Mr. Gandhi clearly ignores the many organizations and leaders (many from the Jewish community) who have pushed for human rights and battled genocide throughout the world precicely because of the Holocaust. Along these lines, he may want to ask himself why the Jewish community has been among the most active voices against genocide in Darfur - is it because Jews want to make the Germans feel guilty?

THE ARTICLE MR. GANDHI SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN

If the Muslim Palestinians had followed the dictates of non-violence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, they would have had their own state years ago. If the Muslim Palestinians started practiving non-violence today, they would have their state quite quickly. Israel would have little reason for its weapons. Through co-existence, the region would thrive and no one would be questioning Israel's right to exist.

How ironic that by taking the the exact opposite track than that preached and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, the Arabs have lead Gandhi's own grandson to blame those who the Arabs decided to attack.

Mr. Arun Gandhi,
Where is your brain? Mahatma did not understand Islam either: he let Muslims stay in India and the result today is frequent terror attacks aimed at unarmed men, women, children-mostly Hindus. Mahatma was most likely shot dead (by a Hindu) because he was about to go to Pakistan and hand them Kashmir to attain peace. Today, all Hindus have been massacred out of Kashmir.

Same with Israel. Their enemy has sworn to wipe them off the map. Their defenses are totally justified.

Btw, if millions and millions of your community are gassed (Holocaust) then it is not something you should ever ever forget.

I would suggest you to go back to India and use your remaining brains to tackle caste system, dowry/bride burning, female infanticide in your homeland.

to believe that israel would exist in this world without its weapons and bombs is the height of naivity-when surrounded on all sides with hostile countries that refuse to acknowledge its existance-who still wish to eliminate Israel- there is no choice but fight or die as a country.
Better to live in a snake pit than cease to exist.

I always love the comments claiming Jews have no rights to Israeli land. Jews have lived in present day Israel from the earliest times to the present. Were there always great numbers of Jews? No. But there were not always great numbers of Muslim Arabs either. The original Palestinian terroritory within the British protectorate included both modern day Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan. Half of the territory was deemed a Palestinian state (called Jordan) before Israel was even created. Jews were not allowed to settle there. A small portion of the remaining state was set aside for Jews by the UN and the rest was set aside for a second Arab state, which the Muslim Palestians (as opposed to the Jewish Palestinians) rejected. After being attacked upon creation, the State of Israel grew in size. When Nasser threatened to drive all Jews in Israel to the sea, shut off Israel sea access (a declaration of war), and amassed troops to invade Israel in 1968, Jordan and Syria decided to join in. In the ensuing defensive war, Israel gained the Gaza strip from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. Yet, for the only time in world history, people claim the winner of a defensive war has no rights to land it conquered. Double standard? You bet.

Scott....I'm sure the palis say the same thing about palestine.

Arun Gandhi can't be as naive as he is just obviously hostile to Israel. Every country has the right of self-defense, and for Israel it is a matter of pure survival. I think it is a mistake for Israel to give up a square meter of land, and the comments certainly reinforce my opinion.

I'm a Jew, and not only have I reconciled myself to the fact that Jews are welcome just about nowhere, I have also concluded that we need to dump Israel and disperse - quickly.

If the Arabs think that a Jew-free Palestine will solve all their problems, I say let's put that theory to the test. We'll see just how well they handle themselves once they don't have us to kick around anymore. Of course, the next, logical step is to completely wean ourselves off oil, and then watch what happens next.

I think the common thread here is organized religion itself. It took me a long time to admit I'm an atheist, but now that I am free of the oppression of God and knee-jerk, hocus-pocus, Judeo-Christian superstition, I lead a happy, healthy life. The religions of the world are okay, I guess, for developing personal philosophies and for providing amusing reading, but have no sensible solutions for modern living.

If the Faith-o-fascists are so intent on achieving apocalypse, let them do it without involving the rest of us.

Is there no way to block the muddled doublespeak posted by Jacob JOZEVZ? I am SO tired of having to scroll past his meandering, mental patient posts. "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"

Obviously, gentiles are indifferent to the cultural future of Jews. Let Jews determine that.

Zionism does concern us since it plays such an important part in US Middle East foreign policy. Western guilt, Zionist lobbies, and even Christian Evangelicalism seem to stop timid US politicians from creating a level playing field.

Having listened to my CT Senator Joe Lieberman consistently support all things Israel, I've concluded that "He is the best senator Israel never needed to elect." His insistence that the US military stay in the Middle East is clearly a concern for Israel's security, not necessarily in the best interest of the US.

Like it or not, the US seems destined to be unable to deal objectively with the Palestinian conflict until the old guard dies off, and with them the past fears and hatreds.

Arun Gandhi displays a remarkable ignorance of the holocaust. I was not the product of "the warped mind of an individual" but rather the product of centuries of bigotry and widely held antisemitism. Unfortunately the holocaust is not unique. Rwanda, Cambodia, Darfour and, sadly, many other places testify to what man is capable of. And the number of holocaust victims is twelve million, not just the six million Jews who perished, many from my own family. Gypsies, socialists, Slavs, and other "undesireables" were also its victims. But to suggest that Jews have "overplayed" the holocaust "to the point that it begins to repulse friends" is itself repulsive. The world needs reminders. The current misfortunes of Israel/Palestine are the product of extremist elements on both sides. It has nothing to do with "Jewish Identity".

I take many issues with your post, but let me focus on one: the notion that Israel and the world's Jews speak with one voice or share a single vision of Jewish identity.

Israel is envisioned as a Jewish State. This does not mean that the state of Israel, or more precisely, its polices, defines Jewish identity worldwide. Inside Israel, there are varying opinions about security, the peace process, the usefullness or futility of military agression, etc. - indeed public opinion in Israel varies on many issues and this is reflected in the vibrant civil society and political party system that exists there (this is not at all to hold up Israel as a model, but one cannot deny the presence of civil society groups that advocate for a variety of issues and positions, many of them vehemently nonviolent). Indeed, aside from its muslim neighbors, I would suggest that the people most critical of Israel's policies are Jews, both inside and outside Israel.

Moreover, outside of Israel, there are millions of Jews who feel varying degrees of allegiance to Israel. I am one of them: while I steadfastly support the "right to exist", I simultaneously steadfastly oppose Israel's military agression and occupation policies. I am hardly unique in being a Jew who feels this way. Violence - of the past and present and committed by or against Jews - contributes little-to-nothing to my Jewish identity. Violence against Jews makes me sad and angry at those who commit. Violence by Jews makes me sad and angry at those who commit it. But my reaction to violence is "human", not "Jewish". And again there are millions of Jews around the world who feel the same way. Apparently you're not talking to us or hearing us when you formulate your notions about modern Jewish identity.

All those people saying that Mahatma Gandhi would be ashamed of his grandson for writing this article, I want to remind you idiots that Mahatma Gandhi was one of the first people to recognize the folly of Israel, and was a vocal proponent of settling the holocaust jews in Europe rather than the middle east. Just because a few of you jews marched with blacks in the civil war movement, or protested the vietnam war in the 60s doesn't mean Gandhi would have been on your side. It just tells us that Mahatma was a smart person to know that the founding of Israel was a bad idea, a visionary person whose nightmare came true.

It is amazing to me how people judge Israel as an antagonist, as a nation that has not tried to befriend its neighbors. It has learned that befriending its neighbors leads its neighbors to perceive that it is weak, and susceptible to compromising at the risk of its own security. It has been paid back for its befriending of its neighbors with violence. No Jew would be welcomed or treated justly in one of the nations it has befriended. Arabs are protected by the democratic process in Israel. No amount of demagoguery and/or revisionism can change that. Any sane person, Jew or non-Jew, would safer and less susceptible to unwarranted bias or discrimination in Israel, than in one of the nations it has befriended. The adage, "No good deed goes unpunished" is an apt description of this state of affairs.

Mr. Gandhi, your statements ignore reality in favor of false assumptions. You claim that Israel created "a snake pit with many deadly snakes in it," yet ignore the fact that the deadly snakes formed their own pit before Israel even existed. How quicky you forget that Arabs vowed from the beginning to drive all Jews into the sea. You write: "We have created a culture of violence -- Israel and the Jews are the biggest players." Yet it is Arab hatred of Jews and the Arab's constant warring on Israel that has forced Israel to defend itself. If a culture of violence exists anywhere it is in the Arab world where children are taught that Jews are sub-human and deserve annihiliation.

Please explain, Mr. Gandhi, how a country makes peace with neighbors who have only and always striven for its destruction. Please explain, Mr. Gandhi, how you believe a country should respond to terror attacks against its people. Please explain, Mr. Gandhi, how you feel about the fact that Muslims in Israel have more freedoms than Muslims anywhere in the Arab world. By your logic, Chamberlain was right to capitulate to Hitler in Munich. Peace in our time.

Dave:

Jews are natives of Judah. Israel isn't their homeland. What are they doing in Israel, lost?

Was Judah mentioned by God as land the Israelites were deeded? Did the Jews just kill all the people there in the promised land, (hint - Jericho) like the Nazis tried to do to them? What goes around comes around?

Are Jews Israelites? How come they have two names? What! They got three names, Hebrews too? Don't know who they are? Makes sense to me. How could they possibly find their homeland?

No one stands to gain more from, "the Bible is a proved hoax" than the Jews. "Ball of fire God" is Egyptian, the sun. A Jew talked to the sun and got the God given right to murder all the people in the mid east? Who did Muhammad talk to again? And Muslims have the right, duty even to murder all the Jews?

Remove the lies else there can never be peace.

At the end of each comment there is a phrase that reads "REPORT OFFENSIVE COMMENTS". I would hope that applies to the initial post, that of Mr. Gandhi and his utterly astonishing and offensive comment that, among other things, Israel and the Jews are the largest players in the "culture of violence", a culture that will destroy humanity. Gandhi has turned victims of genocide into the destroyer of humanity, and assails them for reminding the world of that genocide. He simplistically confuses that needed remembrance with the policies of Israel. What a profanity and a blot on the blessed memory of millions who died at the hands of those who actually sought to destroy humanity and all that is human in this world. Gandhi's comments are an obscenity. Consider this a report.

I agree with Mr. Gandhi's view of Israel, however, his view is limited to of the country and not the religion. Judaism is much larger than Israel. In fact, more Jews live outside of the country than in Israel.

Also, telling someone to "get over it" may work in some instances, but getting over the Holocaust is another story. In addition to my own relatives who were killed in the Holocaust, it also wiped out a large percentage of Jews worldwide. This is not something easily gotten over.

Mr. Gandhi,

How many Jews do you know? I don't know any who view the Holocaust in the manner you assume they do.

I'm ashamed of the Post and the U. of Rochester to host someone like you who is so ignorant. Ignorant in both the sense of not knowing and the sense of pretending to know.

i cannot believe that this guy believes what he is saying. has he read some of the contents of speeches by the head of iran?has he seen pics of the palestinians daily hurling missles into israel.?no sir,we have survived 3000 years of the world attempting to liquidate us and no self annointed yogi is going to convince any god fearing individual that we are doomed.as my bible tells me,remember the amelikites

After the genocide of Jews in World War II, the major world powers had to find a permanent home for the Jewish people. The millions of displaced Jews had nowhere to return in security. Palestine was chosen because of the historical ties Jews have with that land. It is a fact that first there were Jews in that area, then came Christianity (Christ was a Jew), and Islam came much later after that. To banish Jews, the sons and daughters of the soil from the historical land of Israel makes no sense. If finding a permanent home for the Jews is the issue, I do not see where else Jews could have been settled but the land of Israel.

Now I agree that Israel sometimes acts aggressively (and in a disproportionately violent manner) when dealing with Palestinian violence. This policy has not worked and has made Israel less, not more, secure. But I do not see why a Muslim Palestine nation cannot live in peace with Israel. Muslim nations that call for the destruction of Israel should remember that there are many people in this world who have given up land to accomodate others in peace. Otherwise, as an Indian I suppose we should seek the destruction of Pakistan because they took our land. Yet, have you ever heard of Indian terrorists carrying out terrorism in Pakistan in the name of a undivided Hindu land? But there are Islamic terrorists from Pakistan spreading death and destruction in India because they want more land, they want Kashmir! So I do not know what Mr. Gandhi is talking about. The security of Israel is non-negotiable.

I remember reading somewhere "If you live by the sord, you will die by the sord". Is that true?

Who are you to say that "Israel and the Jews" are the "Biggest Players" in international violence? Who are you to ruminate on the meaning of Judaism?

This is anti-semitic trash and blatantly offensive. Yet more pure garbage from the Washington Post Garbage Machine!

You make a living based on who your GRANDPA was? Give me a break. You say that Israel is the "biggest player" in violence? Did you forget the slaughter in AFRICA? What about the violence all around INDIA? What of the wars in Europe and the Middle East?

You are yet another Jew-hating, Israel-slandering, left-wing, misguided hippie living off the entitlement of a famous name.

Get a life, Ghandi!

When the extreme right wing radical Israeli's, radical evangelicals christians, and american Jews accept that we as jews are doing to the the palestinians as was done to us...

(keeping people in ghettos, zero privacy or security allowed to the residents, tearing down their houses for which we denied perfectly reasonable building permits, bulldozing working orchards and farms, controlling water, regulating commerce away from palestinians, comandeering palestinian land for radical right Israeli partisans, etc)

... ONLY then will there be peace.

EMPTY THE SETTLEMENTS, RE-ROUTE THE SECURITY WALL TO THE UN DEFINED BORDERS OF ISRAEL, GIVE ALL OF THE WEST BANK, AND ALL OF EAST JERUSALEM TO PALESTINE, AND END TERRORISM!

WOW. What a powerful writing!! Is any one reading??

Well I guess you would like it to be the 1930's all over again in europe and the non violet Jews were being slaughtered. Well I am thnakful that we now stand up and survive and fight back. People like you will just have to continue to spew your hate and suffer thru it. Look at the Muslim world for the true sick hatred in the world today. How ignorant can you be.

To daweeni: No one is asking us to give up our identity. Au contraire... The only thing is, as bad as the holocaust was (and it was REAL bad), it is about time the Jews stop using it to gain mileage at every possible opportunity. The people who committed these heinous crimes are long gone. Bringing it up again and again means Jews want to keep the incident in the memory of the current generation (of course, history should not be forgotten, but a lesson learned from it). We Jews are better than that, there is more to Judaism and Jews than holocaust.

To David Sternlight, Ph.D.: This is about Jews and not about any other country or about nuclear weapons too. The author incidentally is a naturalized US citizen.

I am older than Mr. Gandhi and still remember the time when Indians ran around the world with their holier-than-thou attitude sanctimoniously preaching against nuclear weapons. Then they got their own bomb.

I see that nothing has changed.

The grandfather once said, "An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind." This was an nice homily, that reflected how little he understood Judaism. The "eye for an eye" rule is not a presrciption, it is a proscription. That is, one is not told to go out and seek retribution, but rather, one is told that compensation must be limited to the extent of the damage received. In the Middle East, where vengence was commonly exacted to the greatest degree possible, what Ghandi mocked, was actually a humanitarian step forward.

His grandson also appears to be completely out of touch with what Judaism is about. His "any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead" ignores the fact that the essense of Judaism is that of remembering the past, a tradition that began with the Babylonian Captivity. Maybe he just wants Jews to give up their identity as a tribe, forget the importance of their homeland, and just disappear. I find his statement that Jews are angering people by not forgetting and forgiving the Holocaust completely offensive. Perhaps he feels that if Jews aren't careful, they'll bring another Holocaust down upon themselves. Nothing like blaming the victim.

I suppose he wants Israel to stop defending itself, and thinks that if Israel gave up all its weapons, everyone would all just get along. Well, if his grandfather had been playing the non-violence card on a Nazi-like nation, instead of one a liberal democracy, I am pretty sure that the outcome would have been quite different. Israel's weapons and bombs aren't a result of a "belief". Beliefs are based on faith, not facts. The facts are, that the Arab world actively called for Israel's destruction, and did what they could to make it happen. If the Jews had all sat in the streets to protest their Arab neighbors marching on Tel Aviv, they would have been run over by Egyptian tanks.

Perhaps it is this passive Indian approach to things that has helped maintaine the festering squalor that passers-by at the Mumbai airport are treated to. Tul karm m'eneychah.

Mr. Gandhi is correct in every way assuming he does not believe in the idea that Jews are "G-d Chosen People" and that Palestine is "G-d Promised Land" for the Jews. But those who believes shall in complete disagreement with Mr. Gandhi.

The only justification that the West including the USA manipulate the UN and created another country on somebody else's land is that they believe that land is "G-d promised land" exclusively for the Jews, there can't be any other justification.

The very existence of Israel is in jeopardy if nobody accept these ideas. Those who do not believe may consider this is racism but the UN is no longer calling Zionism as racism, so back off.

By looking at the accomplishment of Jews in Nobel prize winner, wealth etc. does the rest of the people need more convincing that Jews are actually "G-d chosen people"?

The world is in need of more believer.

Your grandfather would be ashamed of you.

Well said. Racism does not beget racism. The relentless persecution of the Palestinians, Lebanese, etc. is very little different from the persecution of the Jews under Hitler. The players are different, and the tactics aren't quite as brutal, yet. But the underlying principles are identical; the superiority of one race justifying entitlements unknown to others.
And yes, the world has EVERY RIGHT to be madder than hell. Half a million people killed in the middle east lately, more than justifies the anger felt by many toward Israel. Anger in itself is not a problem, it is merely the motivator of change. Whether that change will be toward justice or debauchery remains to be seen.

Mr. Gandhi's piece had nothing to say about the proposed topic, and I quote:

Next week PBS will air a series on "the Jewish Americans." We know
what "Jewish identity" has meant in the past. What will it mean in the
future? How does a minority religion retain its roots and embrace
change?

Mr. Gandhi instead has made a gratuitous slam at a country whose policies he disagrees with. His piece should not have been included. Bad call, Washington Post.

The people berating Mr Ghandi and other poster here for being critical of Israel should please bear in mind that Israel was PRIMARILY created for religious reasons, that that is the holy land, that is where Jews belong. So, it was like going back to "THEIR" (really?) land! How is that justice or being reasonable? Just imagine... it is like native Americans saying that all non-natives (blacks, whites, blues, greens, Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, etx.) need to get out of here, it is originally OUR land. Sounds absurd? That is exactly what it is. Of course, the holocaust was a terrible thing to happen, one of the most despicable things. But that still does not and should not justify the wrongful seizing of land, trying to dominate the people originally living there and yet not wanting the rest of the world criticise you for that!

Beautiful Article and Congratulations on expressing honest opinion on important world affair. What is remarkable is the authers ability to precisely predict the course furture events.

Perhaps next time Arun Gandhi will tell us what he REALLY thinks!

Mans inhumanity to man through tribal conflict is the story of the history of the world. It's our common inheritance. Here in America we have the legacy of the Native Americans and the lingering results of the slave trade. It's the fault of no one still living, but there it is. The Holocaust and the forming of Israel are much more recent. The consequences of unjust tribe against tribe actions are turning the Middle East into Hell on Earth and it is dragging the rest of the world down with it. America has only accelerated this recently.

How do we fix these problems? I don't know, but tribal identity isn't going to help, unless we start to see all of humanity as the human tribe and decide to join it. A thousand years of that might do the trick.

I'm fascinated that there's only one secular Jew (now two!) on here who accepts that the country of Israel exists and is not a historical 'abomination' any more than the United States is. The level of vitriol against and even wilful misunderstanding of Israel never ceases to surprise me. Of course the government of Israel deserves heavy criticism. But this discussion tone ('abomination', 'historical mistake', 'Jews the biggest players') is ridiculous. I suppose the solution in everyone's eyes is for the Israel-born to give up their country - and it surely is their country too now after 60 years - and return to wandering, living under the rule of whatever king is kind enough to allow them to live mostly unmolested until they change their mind?

An Insensitive Post on a Most Sensitive Topic

Mr. Gandhi seems to have entered this discussion like a bull in a china shop.

The Holocaust is more than a little blip in western history: it is a tragedy of historic scale, and the result of many centuries of anti-semitism in Europe.

Israeli politics are a can of worms, for many complicated reasons. And the Israeli govt is open to many criticisms.

But Mr Gandhi's tone, and lack of nuance, is disturbing to me.

Mr. Ghandi is right. The founding of modern Isreal was a grave injustice catalyzed by an inconcievable injustice. But it's hard to second guess its founding from the vantage point of history. Nevertheless, the idea of a Jewish state is flat-out inhuman, as is a Christian state, Islamic state, etc.

The question is, what now?

I specifically didn't call Arun Gandhi anti-semitic. I think it's a term that is used too quickly, often to stifle debate. I don't have a problem with criticism of Israel. I think that saying that people of a particular religion or ethnicity--especially a relatively small one--constitute the major contributor to a humanity-destroying culture, you should be very very careful. At the very least, you should be careful to specify which members of that community with whom you are taking issue. Zionism is only one aspect of Judaism, and not necessarily an aspect that all Jews subscribe to. Given that the original forum topic is *American* Jewish identity, I think it's unfortunate that Gandhi has nothing to say about us beyond focusing on his problems with Israel.

being against the policies of Israel is not being againt the religion or the people. No more then being against Bush and his blunders is equal to being against the American people or its laws.

While Israel has WMD that we helped them get...and they use them against their enemies who have become our enemies (remember the axis of evil?).
In 1967 the USS Liberty was attacked and 294 Americans died...who did this dasterdly deed? Israel.

"this 2 hour attack, had come up with
a plan to sink our ship, blame it on Egypt and bring the U.S. into the Six Day War."

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.mystery/msg/2675110a16322dce

Every year we give to Israel Billions of dollars...and every year we fault the Palestinians more and more for their anger.

It will be good when the old guard dies out, the Zionists will dissappear, hopefully with the Christianists...and the rest of the world will find a way to live together without the chaos of world domination.
terra

C:

Sadly, Mr. Ghandi is right. Isreal was one of the biggest political blunders ever made.

That has nothing to do with being anti-Semitic, it's just a statement which I believe to be true. If Isreal is to survive they must do so by peaceful negotiations, not by ruling with the fist.

C: Your response makes it sounds like not agreeing with or criticizing Jews makes one an anti-semitic...is that so? Really?

The above post demonstrates a breathtaking degree of ignorance and such offensive generalization, that I wonder why the Washington Post thought this author could possibly contribute anything to this discussion.

The post made me feel sucker-punched--as a Jew, is this really how people see me? The Jewish community I know is about so much more than the Holocaust and Israel. And to blame Israel for the bulk of the conflict in the Middle East is remarkably simplistic when there so many parties are responsible. "The biggest players" in the culture of violence? We're too small a people to get that much credit, and there's so much more to us.

The Jewish people must come to the realization that there are some significant flaws in their religion just as there are significant flaws in all religions to include Hinduism (and India's atomic weapons). Once they accept and correct these flaws, then religious issues can be dealt with on a human scale vs. the current mythical "chosen people" scenario.

The 1.5 million Conservative Jews in the USA and their rabbis are well on their way as noted below:

From http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/ConservativeTorah.htm

"New Torah For Modern Minds

Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation.

Such startling propositions -- the product of findings by archaeologists digging in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years -- have gained wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no attempt to disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity -- until now.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, which represents the 1.5 million Conservative Jews in the United States, has just issued a new Torah and commentary, the first for Conservatives in more than 60 years. Called ''Etz Hayim'' (''Tree of Life'' in Hebrew), it offers an interpretation that incorporates the latest findings from archaeology, philology, anthropology and the study of ancient cultures. To the editors who worked on the book, it represents one of the boldest efforts ever to introduce into the religious mainstream a view of the Bible as a human rather than divine document. "