Women in Green co-chairperson Nadia Matar wrote to Yonatan Bassi yesterday that the letter he plans to send to the residents of Gush Katif and northern Shomron is comparable to the expulsion documents sent by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] to Berlin's Jews in 1942. Matar, who included a copy of the letter sent to the Jews of Berlin, noted many similarities between it and Bassi's letter.
MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz/Yahad) was quick to demand that Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz order a criminal investigation of Matar on suspicion of incitement.
"I read that you have not yet formulated the final wording of your letter," Matar wrote to Bassi, "and therefore I am volunteering to 'help' you formulate it. I am enclosing a document that is chillingly similar to the one you plan to send - and all you have to do is to change the date (from 1942 to 2004) and the place (from Berlin to Gush Katif), and behold, your letter will be ready."
"The [Judenrat] letter concludes," Matar writes, "with a moving call to the Jewish leaders in Berlin to behave calmly and to thus make the expulsion easier." She then quotes from it: "We strongly request that you follow the instructions and carry out all of the preparations for the transport in a calm manner. Our community members must be aware that they can contribute greatly to the implementation of part of the transport by their personal behavior and organized adherence to all the instructions. It goes without saying that we will do everything we can, to the extent permitted us, to stand by our community members and aid them in any way possible."
Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum Director Avner Shalev was critical of the use of the Holocaust in the current disengagement debate. "The use of the memory of the Holocaust in order to advance political positions is irresponsible, cheapens the memory of the Holocaust and distorts the historical facts," said Shalev today.
Matar, who has attempted in the past to convince Bassi to resign his position, continued her efforts in her latest missive:
"How similar is [the above] to that which you have said repeatedly regarding your great 'identification with the residents' pain,' and regarding how important it is that you, of all people [a member of a religious agricultural kibbutz - ed.], should be involved in the process in order to make it easier. But all these declarations will not help you, Yonatan. The truth is that you are a modern version of the Judenrat - but actually much worse. For in the Holocaust, the Nazis forced those Jews to [be members of the Jewish Council], and it's very hard for us to judge them today. But today, no one is standing with a gun at your head and forcing you to cooperate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron...
"Yes, there is a difference: The Nazi monster, which destroyed most of my family, wished to physically liquidate the entire Jewish nation. But let's not be naive: The purpose of the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Shomron is to liquidate the entire Jewish settlement enterprise in all of Judea and Samaria, as an interim step towards a spiritual holocaust: the liquidation of the State as a Jewish state, and turning it into a secular state with no Jewish character at all. Not to mention, of course, the price in blood we will have to pay for this retreat...
"... Be aware, Yonatan, that there is no escape from this simple truth: Whoever lends a hand to the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Shomron is taking part in an anti-Semitic act, and will be remembered in disgrace forever. It is still possible for you to resign from your contemptible position and to stand on Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment, clean and pure in conscience, without being a part of the modern Judenrat - the Expulsion Administration."
MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz/Yahad) was quick to demand that Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz order a criminal investigation of Matar on suspicion of incitement.
"I read that you have not yet formulated the final wording of your letter," Matar wrote to Bassi, "and therefore I am volunteering to 'help' you formulate it. I am enclosing a document that is chillingly similar to the one you plan to send - and all you have to do is to change the date (from 1942 to 2004) and the place (from Berlin to Gush Katif), and behold, your letter will be ready."
"The [Judenrat] letter concludes," Matar writes, "with a moving call to the Jewish leaders in Berlin to behave calmly and to thus make the expulsion easier." She then quotes from it: "We strongly request that you follow the instructions and carry out all of the preparations for the transport in a calm manner. Our community members must be aware that they can contribute greatly to the implementation of part of the transport by their personal behavior and organized adherence to all the instructions. It goes without saying that we will do everything we can, to the extent permitted us, to stand by our community members and aid them in any way possible."
Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum Director Avner Shalev was critical of the use of the Holocaust in the current disengagement debate. "The use of the memory of the Holocaust in order to advance political positions is irresponsible, cheapens the memory of the Holocaust and distorts the historical facts," said Shalev today.
Matar, who has attempted in the past to convince Bassi to resign his position, continued her efforts in her latest missive:
"How similar is [the above] to that which you have said repeatedly regarding your great 'identification with the residents' pain,' and regarding how important it is that you, of all people [a member of a religious agricultural kibbutz - ed.], should be involved in the process in order to make it easier. But all these declarations will not help you, Yonatan. The truth is that you are a modern version of the Judenrat - but actually much worse. For in the Holocaust, the Nazis forced those Jews to [be members of the Jewish Council], and it's very hard for us to judge them today. But today, no one is standing with a gun at your head and forcing you to cooperate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron...
"Yes, there is a difference: The Nazi monster, which destroyed most of my family, wished to physically liquidate the entire Jewish nation. But let's not be naive: The purpose of the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Shomron is to liquidate the entire Jewish settlement enterprise in all of Judea and Samaria, as an interim step towards a spiritual holocaust: the liquidation of the State as a Jewish state, and turning it into a secular state with no Jewish character at all. Not to mention, of course, the price in blood we will have to pay for this retreat...
"... Be aware, Yonatan, that there is no escape from this simple truth: Whoever lends a hand to the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and northern Shomron is taking part in an anti-Semitic act, and will be remembered in disgrace forever. It is still possible for you to resign from your contemptible position and to stand on Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment, clean and pure in conscience, without being a part of the modern Judenrat - the Expulsion Administration."