By DAVID WEINBERG

The Jerusalem Post

[…]

On the political extremes, the use of Nazi or Holocaust imagery to delegitimize the opposition is not new, even to Israel only 50 years after the Shoah…

[…]

Even worse, in our context, is the delegitimizing, demonizing use of World War II epithets. Don’t like your political opponent and really want to bury him? Call him a Nazi or say that he is causing a Holocaust.

It’s easy.

There is no need to see the other side of a political argument, especially if the opponent’s views are diametrically opposed to yours. Just brand him a Nazi and be done with him.

This is a distressing sign of a democracy that is beginning to fray; where legitimate ideological debate is stifled by character assassination with genocidal overtones.

[…] Name-calling that attributes Nazi behavior to a political or theological opponent is obscene…

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Sunday, January 31, 1999     14 Shevat 5759   Updated Sun., Jan. 31 09:08