In their last attempt to humiliate the returning Israeli hostages, Hamas captors escorted each of the three men, released on Saturday, to first climb onto a stage and stand under a backdrop with the words, “Nazi Zionism will not win.”
Forced to wave to the crowd of haters in front of them, they were then escorted by two masked men who led them down the few steps, which revealed another sign in Hebrew, draping the front of the stage, with the same message, “Nazi Zionism will not win.”
It’s all Hamas has in their aspiration to win the award for best visual effects.
After 15 months of having their leadership decimated, thousands of their fighters captured, and a good portion of Gaza flattened – appearing to have the upper hand, by manhandling these returning hostages and forcing them to be subservient during the final moments they are still being held – serves as the type of twisted optics that they wish to show the world.
At best, it constitutes feigning a victory that escaped them, despite their best efforts to execute a 20-year plan in the making.
The offensive slogan, coupling the polar opposite words of “Nazi” and “Zionism,” is a sick joke that compares the swastika with the Israeli flag.
Everyone knows that being called a Nazi is the worst slur that exists in modern history. Associated with death camps, the gassing of people, the rounding up of Jews for the unforgivable crime of their ethnicity, and the dissemination of hatred into what was once considered a civilized society, there can be no greater condemnation than being labeled with the “N” word.
The parading of Jews, for propaganda purposes, is the commonality between Hitler’s foot soldiers of the 1930s and today’s Hamas terrorists who, unlike the monsters of Germany, are too cowardly to show their faces.
So, they carefully cover up the shame that they bring to themselves, similar to those who, prior to the last moments of WWII, tried to hide their dastardly acts by burning damning documents and clear evidence that would incriminate them of crimes against humanity.
The wholesale murder, mutilation, and destruction of entire families and their communities are all too reminiscent of the heinous acts that were committed by the Nazi regime, which sought to exterminate the Jews from the face of the earth, the same goal of today’s radical Islam, which actually goes further in its reach, viewing all non-Muslims as infidels.
The absurdity of Zionism, an ideal that advances the return of Jews to their biblical homeland, being lumped with Nazism, a concept that furthered the belief of Aryans being superior to all others and Jews being the despised race that had to be annihilated, has to be the brainchild of the most warped mind that ever lived.
While one promotes the continuation of life, the other preaches an evil contagion meant to spread like a cancer that destroys Jewish life in its wake. Perhaps there is no greater evidence of the delusion which has taken hold of these terrorists than to co-opt the symbol of extreme darkness, attempting to somehow juxtapose its corruption on the highest objective which was initiated to preserve life for all Jews, through the creation of a national homeland.
Fighting for Zionism
ZIONISM MEANT being dependent on host countries, for our well-being, would no longer be necessary as we fought our way to become self-sustaining individuals, with the ability to protect and defend each other.
Zionism would put an end to the despicable slogan, “the only good Jew is a dead Jew,” because the development of a Jewish state, with its own military, would be an obstacle to the repeat of another Holocaust, and that is exactly what failed on October 7.
But Zionism has worked. Despite the delays, mistakes, and miscalculations, costing many precious lives, our defense measures prevailed, along with divine intervention, which has kept us as a people in our inherited land, from which we will, never again, be uprooted.
If 20 years of careful planning, enormous financing, and the coordinated efforts of multiple terrorist groups could not take us out, then no disingenuous attempt at wordplay will be able to sully the massively successful 76-year experiment, which has turned us from being the vulnerable victims of global hatred and jealousy. Fixated on removing the Jewish people from their home, our enemies continue their efforts to appropriate it for themselves.
But, as one ancient king named Balak found out, “You cannot curse what God has blessed.” (Num. 23:8)
Zionism was that blessing, inspired by Theodor Herzl, who was credited for its creation, but it is a concept that was planned by the Almighty, as far back as 3,800 years ago when Abraham was called to make the journey to what would become his homeland.
Since then, the struggle to keep it has been ongoing but was given full recognition in 1948. Since then, no one has ever succeeded in removing us from Israel, nor will they in the future. We are here to stay.
In contrast, the enemies of the Jewish people, whether Nazis, the KKK, Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran, have been defeated in their attempts to destroy us and will continue to suffer under the curse of what happens to societies and individuals who aspire to do so.
Nazism is remembered as a blight on Germany as well as on all of the other countries, whose leaders capitulated to the idea that some races are superior to others, emphasizing the qualities, skills, intellect, and physical attributes that are believed to be missing from those held to be inferior.
Consequently, those who consider themselves superior seek to cruelly rule over such underlings, who are deemed to possess a lesser status, keeping them downtrodden, unable to rise to a better station in life, and always dependent upon those who have the power.
Nazism promised a new freedom and a flourishing economy for its citizens. It assured everyone more opportunity and a better way of life, but in the end, it did not deliver.
Instead, it caused much suffering for the duped citizens who believed that good can come from evil and that life can come from the death of others.
This sounds an awful lot like what we’ve just witnessed in Gaza over the last 15 months. So, the question is, “Who are the real Nazis?”
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is also the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, available on Amazon, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs.