Czech PM: Arafat's PA and Hitler's Third Reich are similar

Haaretz ^ | 2/17/2002 | Haaretz

[l33t]

Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman said Sunday during his visit to Israel there was a similarity between Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority and Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. He also warned against adopting a policy of appeasement and stressed that there should be no negotiations with terrorists.

Zeman made the comments during a television interview on Channel Two.

"I am here to express some gesture of solidarity of one small nation toward another small nation which faces the dangers in the fight against worldwide terrorism," he said.

He said that the Czech people "have some historical experience in the fight against terrorism because Adolf Hitler has been the main terrorist all over the world."

The prime minister said that "appeasement is not a good policy and the fight against terrorism doesn't mean negotiating with the terrorists."

When asked by the interviewer if he was implying that there was a similiarity between Hitler's Third Reich and Arafat's PA, he replied, "Of course there is."

Zeman defined terrorism was a "political movement" which uses civilian victims - "children, youngsters...innocent people" - as a tool to make political gains.

"From my point of view anyone who supports terrorism, anyone who recognizes terrorism as a legitimate political tool, is a terrorist," he added

[monkeyshine]

There goes the Czech's chanced of joining the EU!

But, he's right of course. Czechoslovakia has always been good to Israel, helping to supply the Israelis in their war to maintain their independence from Arab invasion in 1948.

[monkeyshine]

Agreed on all counts. And remember what Sharon said a few months ago (to much dismay by the west) "Israel will not be another Czechoslovakia".

[okie01]

"But it's easy to see where the Czechs are coming from, here."

The Czechs' memory is long. And accurate. Zeman should be taken seriously.

Your analogy is apt. Good post.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Czechs also had no problem collabrating with both the Nazis and Soviets. The Skoda works and Semtex plants ran full out under both regimes. Czechs executed 11 Jews in the 1950's for being agents of Zionism. I doubt the PM's comments have much support among the citizenry. The Czech Republic is not a place of tolerance for any minority. 11 posted on 2/17/02 12:06 PM Pacific by LarryLied

I enjoy some of your posts, LL. Be advised: I'm just engaging in a little "historical comparison" here, 1938 Czechoslovakia vis-a-vis Modern Israel.

Naturally, As a Calvinist, I am exempt from the attempt to claim any People of Man as being some kind of "perfect angels". The first Point of Calvinism is total depravity -- good works in the sight of Man, are filthy rags by comparison to the holiness of God.

In other words, Nobody's perfect. The Czechs and Israelis included. I will be the first to affirm that -- yes, including the Israelis, who are mortal men as are we all. The Israelis have been guilty of certain War Crimes, I don't care what any of my Zionist brethren say.

The point is, everyone concerned -- everyone -- would have been better off if Chamberlain would've told the Jew-hating Nazis to take a long walk off a short pier, than to try to accomodate the Nazis by carving off the Sudetenland from little Czechoslovakia. God Willing, we could've at least attempted to reform the Czechs in their treatment of Sudeten Germans, rather than sacrificing their territory to the Murderers of the Earth, the Hitlerite Nazis.

IMHO, the same applies today. I would gladly see Israel part with the Gaza Strip; for it includes 1.3 million Arab Palestinians and less than 6,000 Jews. Israeli occupation of Gaza does nobody any good whatsoever... let them be Independent; let Philistia be Philistia.

But as concerns Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), let us not carve off this territory and give it to the murderers of the earth -- the PLO, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and all their assorted blood-suckers. They are reprobates and should be killed, not feted at State dinners.

Give Gaza its own Statehood. The Pallies want "Independence"; Let them try it there, no other solution makes sense!! As concerns Judea and Samaria though, some 200,000 Jews already live there, and I am not in the mood for another Holocaust. Let Israel keep her "West Bank", and reform Israel, or at least make the attempt.

We have already once tried the path of sacrificing the Sudetenland to the murderers of the earth; it did not work so well last time.

[LarryLied]

I'm all for Israel doing whatever it takes to ensure her security. I wasn't clear that my comments on the Czechs were not meant to draw any parallels, just that no one should think they are great friends of Jews or anyone else for that matter. Czechs despise people I never heard of (Chods for instance) until I lived in the Republic.

[ChicagoRepublican]

You're an idiot. Zeman was a communist in name only. He was expelled from the party after the "Prague Spring." I won't even touch your other comments, I'll let other posters have the honors.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

To: OrthodoxPresbyterian I'm all for Israel doing whatever it takes to ensure her security. I wasn't clear that my comments on the Czechs were not meant to draw any parallels, just that no one should think they are great friends of Jews or anyone else for that matter. Czechs despise people I never heard of (Chods for instance) until I lived in the Republic. 27 posted on 2/17/02 5:55 PM Pacific by LarryLied

Gotcha. Filed away for my own personal reference.

Thanks for the review, I always appreciate personal anecdotes from fellow-travellers.
(It's one of the ways I learn about places to which I have not travelled myself).

Best,
OP