How the world sees Israel - comments and analysis by a contemporary historian.
By PETRA MARQUARDT-BIGMANpetra warped mirror 88(photo credit: )Politically (in)correct about Iran
Ever since the Iranian president issued his call "to wipe Israel off the map" in October 2005, debates have been raging about what exactly he said, what exactly he meant, and what the response should be. The arguments are endless: Iran is an ancient civilization, its people are no primitive anti-Semites, Ahmadinejad doesn't really have the power to set Iran's foreign policy, diplomacy will be sufficient to deter Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and if not, Iran will not be so crazy as to attack Israel.
You can go on and on with the debate along these lines - but there are also red lines, and if you cross those, you will be accused of (Jewish) hysteria and (neocon) war-mongering. Of course, some of the usual suspects did not hesitate to cross those red lines anyway. Prominent among them was Binyamin Netanyahu, who mesmerized his audience at last year's United Jewish Communities General Assembly with a powerful speech that focused single-mindedly on the assertion "It's 1938 again." If you make this kind of comparison, you can't expect anything but despise from the liberal left.
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