German bishops attacked for Israeli-Nazi gibe
JERUSALEM -- German bishops were criticised for comparing the plight of Palestinians to that of Jews during the Second World War. The bishops accused Israel of racism and said that the occupied West Bank had similarities to the Warsaw ghetto. “It is infuriating,” Gregor Maria Hanke, the Bishop of Eichstätt, said during a visit to the region.
Avner Shalev, the director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, said that the comments showed a “woeful ignorance of history”. “These unwarranted and offensive comparisons serve to diminish the memory of victims of the Holocaust and mollify the consciences of those who seek to lessen European responsibility for Nazi crimes,” Mr Shalev said in a letter to Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who led the visit. The bishops’ statements were also criticised by the Israeli Ambassador in Berlin and the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
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Avner Shalev, the director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, said that the comments showed a “woeful ignorance of history”. “These unwarranted and offensive comparisons serve to diminish the memory of victims of the Holocaust and mollify the consciences of those who seek to lessen European responsibility for Nazi crimes,” Mr Shalev said in a letter to Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who led the visit. The bishops’ statements were also criticised by the Israeli Ambassador in Berlin and the Central Council of Jews in Germany.