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Let's Talk About a "Proportionate Response"I am an Israeli citizen. I am an American citizen. I am also completing a Master's inHolocaust studies and a resident of Gush Etzion, a bloc of settlements in the West Bankin Israel. Now that I've laid all my cards out on the table, I am going to rail against the

following phenomenon that has developed over the past few years: comparing Israelisto Nazis. The comparison is insulting and blatantly, historically inaccurate.

Let's begin with the facts. Nazi Germany was a murderous totalitarian dictatorship intenton taking over Europe and cleansing their conquered territories. Driven by the economicdepression in their country, Hitler and the Nazi party created a hierarchy based onSocial Darwinism, eugenics, and antisemitic ideology. The Israeli Knesset isdemocratically elected, comprised of many parties of various viewpoints, and even MK'swho call for the destruction of the very government they represent. Israel isthe only democratic country in the Middle East, "guilty" of equal rights for women,homosexuals and Israeli Arabs.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in order to fight a sweepingideological war against Communism. Under this guise, they began rounding updefenseless Jews and shooting them (they began with men, but after a few weeks, alsoincluded women and children). By 1942, the Nazi government had erected variousdeath camps to enact the "Final Solution:" the total extermination of the Jewish peoplethroughout Europe, and eventually, the entire world.

This systematic, cold-blooded murder is in no way reminiscent of the Israeli response inGaza. Fact: in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, handing it over to thePalestinians. Instead of using the beautiful infrastructure that existed, the homes andgreenhouses, to build their own communities, the Palestinian leadership burned anddestroyed anything and everything that the Israelis left. Fact: Hamas has been baitingIsrael by shooting rockets into Israel and, one month ago, by kidnapping three innocentboys on their way home from school for the weekend. Fact: since the beginning of theground invasion of Gaza, the IDF has uncovered several tunnels dug from Gaza intoIsrael whose purpose is to enable terrorists to smuggle their way into Israel to murderinnocent Israelis. Have there been civilian casualties in Gaza since the operationbegan? Yes. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Is it equally unfortunate that three innocent boys, an

Arab teenager, and to date, over 40 Israeli soldiers have been murdered? Yes. HasIsrael extended generosity in the form of temporary ceasefires, blood donation andmedical services to Gaza civilians (and that is without mentioning the warnings theygive to civilians to evacuate buildings that house weapons before destroying saidbuildings)? Yes. Are any of Israel's actions in the slightest way similar to that the ofNazis' during World War II? Absolutely, unequivocally no.

I stand firmly behind Israels actions from a political and moral stance, and, though itpains me, I understand that there are those throughout the world who disagree with mypoint of view. However, as a student of the history of the Holocaust, as a thinkingindividual, and, most of all, as a Jew, I can no longer sit silently while comparisons are

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drawn between Israelis and Nazis, and while uniquely Holocaust references are thrownat Israel. Comparing Israelis, Jews, to the destructive Nazi regime whose very goal wasto eliminate us three-quarters of a century ago, is at best ignorant, and at worst,horrifying and repugnant. Nazi Germany was one of the most oppressive, evil and far-reaching regimes in history. Yehuda Bauer, academic adviser to Yad Vashem, asserts

that one aspect that differentiates the Holocaust from all other genocides was that allJews, not just German Jews or European Jews, but worldwide Jewry, was targeted forextermination. I am saddened that today, in a time that humankind has the opportunityfor exposure, for education and enlightenment, there exists such a misunderstanding ofhistory and truth.

And just to prove my point even further: what of the worlds blind and deaf acceptanceof the antisemitic riots and violence throughout Europeis that not more redolent ofWorld War II? Perhaps the Western world has not learned as much as they claim, andthat is the most frightening of all.