3378-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

The Power Behind The Throne

MAY 22, 2016

“And the banks–hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created–are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) 2009

Could anyone actually miss that the United States is in a presidential election cycle? I don’t think so. As November draws closer, the election of a new president consumes more of the news and more our conscious awareness. People protest, and are concerned about how the next president, his/her ideas and power, will affect the course of history.

Yet, all the while, the true monopolistic power thrives behind the throne, unnoticed and unprotested. The banking industry acts as if it is but a humble service industry (financial services industry), while actually the master system of all American systems, political, educational, environmental, agricultural, health, and legal. It hopes you never peek behind the curtain to discover who really pulls the strings.

In 2009, I wrote about the Use-Cash Movement in the United States founded by small-business owner Chaz Valenza. However now, with “swiping” to pay for most everything, using cash shifts increasingly to an “old school” approach. What’s more, as we speak, banks are exploring ways to end cash use altogether. A May 2, 2016 Bloomberg article, “Inside the Secret Meeting Where Wall Street Tested Digital Cash,” reveals a new development in moving towards a cashless society. So why all the secrecy?

On a recent Monday in April, more than 100 executives from some of the world’s largest financial institutions gathered for a private meeting at the Times Square office of Nasdaq Inc. They weren’t there to just talk about blockchain, the new technology some predict will transform finance, but to build and experiment with the software.

The event, put on by a San Francisco company, Chain, is one of many start-up software companies determined to digitally transform the monetary system. Their spin? Cash transactions take precious time to process while digital transactions are instant. And in a world where credit access has conditioned the consumer mind to expect instant gratification, a digital monetary system appears to be a likely next step.

But…but….but… What about choice? What about the personal privacy cash provides? Fugetabout it! Just more old-school silliness, right?

I like to share the Barnum and Bailey Circus analogy: If you want popcorn while under the “big top” and it costs $15.00, you have no choice but to pay the price. The banking industry, also, has become the only game in town; those who own the gold make the rules and so rule the world, in my opinion, including the President of the United States.

However, the same voluminous intensity of emotions, protests and assertions over potential presidents is nowhere to be found. For some reason most people simply go along, are not paying attention, are too incredulous to do their own research, or only mention the sacrilege of a ruling monetary system in hushed tones. This may never change but just in case; here are some of personal benefits of keeping cash alive.

Transaction privacy
Personal choice
No bank interest charges (overdraft, credit cards, loans, lines of credit, etc.)
Possible 5% vendor discount upon request
Fiscal responsibility that credit use has destroyed
Ending the instant gratification mindset credit use has encouraged
More time when you don’t have to work faster/longer to keep up with debt

Though using cash is just one small response to a behemoth debt-based and often predatory banking industry, the personal benefits alone, including greater peace of mind, make it well worth the effort. Imagine: We no longer made purchases we don’t need, with money we do not have to impress people who do not really care about us. If more people were willing to make a habit of using cash despite the convenience of digital transactions, we not only could strengthen our own money-management skills towards building real wealth, but also send a message to those who own the gold.

Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, (so) that mistakes – excusable or not – can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic – this is the key political argument against an independent central bank… To paraphrase Clemenceau: money is much too serious a matter to be left to the Central Bankers.Milton Friedman, American Nobel-Prize-winning economist, 1912-2006

(activistpost.com)

The storming of the Temple

…by Uri Avnery, with Gush Shalom

Uri had political enemies all his life

[ Editor’s note: Well, finally Uri is getting yet another taste of the Zionist bitter fruit. But he still does not get it. While Liberal Israelis have always fought for power with the conservatives, Uri has always felt that the Holocaust bound them together.

And the answer to that is both yes and no. While both sides are firm believers in the religion of Jewish victim supremacy, Uri does not feel that gives him the right to inflict Nazi treatment on others. He has always fought for Palestinian rights and done so at great risk.

But Netanyahu on the other hand is a member of an inner tribe of Judaism where the holocaust is used as a cover to “do unto others before they do it unto you”, and makes no apologies.

But here comes this serving Israeli general to walk the career plank at a major event talk, where he compared the things that happened to bring the Nazis to power to what has happened in Israel, and the firestorm was instantaneous.

Uri comes to the general’s defense, actually as a witness to what happened in the Reichstag when he was a young boy, and he has had a front row seat for what the Palestinians got from the “chosen ones”.

Please notice that as always, US media never touched this story when it happened, as they self censor all major internal criticism battles in Israel because they do not want goyim to get the crazy idea that if Jews can criticize Jews, that mere goyim can also criticize them.

The Jewish Lobby here is always waiting in the wings to teach people what the penalties for that kind of thinking are. So they have a little streak of totalitarian Nazism running through them also, in that they appoint to themselves the right to destroy people who disagree with them, and they have done so many times.

Uri can tell you the rest, as Israeli internal politics is his specialty… Jim W. Dean ]

_________

I Was There

– First published … May 21, 2016 –

Israeli General Ya’ir Golan – now this is a mensch

“PLEASE DON’T write about Ya’ir Golan!” a friend begged me, “Anything a leftist like you writes will only harm him!” So I abstained for some weeks. But I can’t keep quiet any longer.

General Ya’ir Golan, the deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, made a speech on Holocaust Memorial Day. Wearing his uniform, he read a prepared, well-considered text that triggered an uproar which has not yet died down.

Dozens of articles have been published in its wake, some condemning him, some lauding him. Seems that nobody could stay indifferent.

The main sentence was:

“If there is something that frightens me about the memories of the Holocaust, it is the knowledge of the awful processes which happened in Europe in general, and in Germany in particular, 70, 80, 90 years ago, and finding traces of them here in our midst, today, in 2016.”

All hell broke loose. What!!! Traces of Nazism in Israel? A resemblance between what the Nazis did to us with what we are doing to the Palestinians?

Ninety years ago was 1926, one of the last years of the German republic. Eighty years ago was 1936, three years after the Nazis came to power. 70 years ago was 1946, on the morrow of Hitler’s suicide and the end of the Nazi Reich.

I feel compelled to write about the general’s speech after all, because I was there.

_________

ZioNazi Medal? Zionist Star with Swastika on Opposite side

Tyranny can happen anywhere. Notes about the Zionist Star with Swastika on Opposite side: “Baron Leopold von Mildenstein of the SS wrote a pro-Zionist piece for the Nazi press after he visited Palestine, and he wrote favorably about what he saw in the Zionist colonies in Palestine; he also persuaded Joseph Goebbels to run his report as a massive 12-part series in Der Angriff (The Assault), the leading Nazi propaganda organ (9/26-10/9/34)… To commemorate the Baron’s expedition, Goebbels had a medal struck: on one side the swastika, on the other the Zionist star.”

As a child, I was an eye-witness to the last years of the Weimar Republic (so called because its constitution was shaped in Weimar, the town of Goethe and Schiller). As a politically alert boy, I witnessed the Nazi Machtergreifung (“taking power”) and the first half a year of Nazi rule.

I know what Golan was speaking about. Though we belong to two different generations, we share the same background. Both our families come from small towns in Western Germany. His father and I must have had a lot in common.

There is a strict moral commandment in Israel: nothing can be compared to the Holocaust. The Holocaust is unique. It happened to us, the Jews, because we are unique. (Religious Jews would add: “Because God has chosen us”.)

I have broken this commandment. Just before Golan was born, I published (in Hebrew) a book called “The Swastika”, in which I recounted my childhood memories and tried to draw conclusions from them. It was on the eve of the Eichmann trial, and I was shocked by the lack of knowledge about the Nazi era among young Israelis then.

My book did not deal with the Holocaust, which took place when I was already living in Palestine, but with a question which troubled me throughout the years, and even today: how could it happen that Germany, perhaps the most cultured nation on earth at the time, the homeland of Goethe, Beethoven and Kant, could democratically elect a raving psychopath like Adolf Hitler as its leader?

The last chapter of the book was entitled “It Can Happen Here!” The title was drawn from a book by the American novelist Sinclair Lewis, called ironically “It Can’t Happen Here”, in which he described a Nazi take-over of the United States.

In this chapter, I discussed the possibility of a Jewish Nazi-like party coming to power in Israel. My conclusion was that a Nazi party can come to power in any country on earth, if the conditions are right. Yes, in Israel, too.

The book was largely ignored by the Israeli public, which at the time was overwhelmed by the storm of emotions evoked by the terrible disclosures of the Eichmann trial.

Now comes General Golan, an esteemed professional soldier, and says the same thing. And not as an improvised remark, but on an official occasion, wearing his general’s uniform, reading from a prepared, well thought-out text.

The storm broke out, and has not passed yet.

Israelis have a self-protective habit: when confronted with inconvenient truths, they evade its essence and deal with a secondary, unimportant aspect. Of all the dozens and dozens of reactions in the written press, on TV and on political platforms, almost none confronted the general’s painful contention.

No, the furious debate that broke out concerns the questions: Is a high-ranking army officer allowed to voice an opinion about matters that concern the civilian establishment? And do so in army uniform? On an official occasion?

Should an army officer keep quiet about his political convictions? Or voice them only in closed sessions – “in relevant forums”, as a furious Binyamin Netanyahu phrased it?

General Golan enjoys a very high degree of respect in the army. As Deputy Chief of Staff he was until now almost certainly a candidate for Chief of Staff, when the incumbent leaves the office after the customary four years.

The fulfillment of this dream shared by every General Staff officer is now very remote. In practice, Golan has sacrificed his further advancement in order to utter his warning and giving it the widest possible resonance.

Nazi march

One can only respect such courage. I have never met General Golan, I believe, and I don’t know his political views. But I admire his act.

Somehow I recall an article published by the British magazine Punch before World War I, when a group of junior army officers issued a statement opposing the government’s policy in Ireland.

The magazine said that while disapproving the opinion expressed by the mutinous officers, it took pride in the fact that such youthful officers were ready to sacrifice their careers for their convictions.

The Nazi march to power started in 1929, when a terrible world-wide economic crisis hit Germany. A tiny, ridiculous far-right party suddenly became a political force to be reckoned with. From there it took them four years to become the largest party in the country and to take over power (though it still needed a coalition).

I was there when it happened, a boy in a family in which politics became the main topic at the dinner table. I saw how the republic broke down, gradually, slowly, step by step. I saw our family friends hoisting the swastika flag. I saw my high-school teacher raising his arm when entering the class and saying “Heil Hitler” for the first time (and then reassuring me in private that nothing had changed.)

I was the only Jew in the entire gymnasium (high school.) When the hundreds of boys – all taller than I – raised their arms to sing the Nazi anthem, and I did not, they threatened to break my bones if it happened again. A few days later we left Germany for good.

General Golan was accused of comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. Nothing of the sort. A careful reading of his text shows that he compared developments in Israel to the events that led to the disintegration of the Weimar Republic. And that is a valid comparison.

Things happening in Israel, especially since the last election, bear a frightening similarity to those events. True, the process is quite different. German fascism arose from the humiliation of surrender in World War I, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium from 1923-25, the terrible economic crisis of 1929, the misery of millions of unemployed. Israel is victorious in its frequent military actions, we live comfortable lives. The dangers threatening us are of a quite different nature. They stem from our victories, not from our defeats.

Indeed, the differences between Israel today and Germany then are far greater than the similarities. But those similarities do exist, and the general was right to point them out.

The discrimination against the Palestinians in practically all spheres of life can be compared to the treatment of the Jews in the first phase of Nazi Germany. (The oppression of the Palestinians in the occupied territories resembles more the treatment of the Czechs in the “protectorate” after the Munich betrayal.)

The rain of racist bills in the Knesset, those already adopted and those in the works, strongly resembles the laws adopted by the Reichstag in the early days of the Nazi regime.

Some rabbis call for a boycott of Arab shops. Like then. The call “Death to the Arabs” (“Judah verrecke”?) is regularly heard at soccer matches. A member of parliament has called for the separation between Jewish and Arab newborns in hospital.

That giant sucking sound you hear might be Israel’s Far Right falling into the pantheon of all-time haters. Pictured: Miri Regev; Ayalet “Palestinians-Are-Little-Snakes” Shaked; Netanyahu; Lieberman; the late Meir Kahane; and, of course, the standard bearer of ethnic-based assassinations, Joe Stalin

A Chief Rabbi has declared that Goyim (non-Jews) were created by God to serve the Jews. Our Ministers of Education and Culture are busy subduing the schools, theater and arts to the extreme rightist line, something known in German as Gleichschaltung. The Supreme Court, the pride of Israel, is being relentlessly attacked by the Minister of Justice. The Gaza Strip is a huge ghetto.

Of course, no one in their right mind would even remotely compare Netanyahu to the Fuehrer, but there are political parties here which do emit a strong fascist smell. The political riffraff peopling the present Netanyahu government could easily have found their place in the first Nazi government.

One of the main slogans of our present government is to replace the “old elite”, considered too liberal, with a new one. One of the main Nazi slogans was to replace “das System”.

By the way, when the Nazis came to power, almost all high-ranking officers of the German army were staunch anti-Nazis. They were even considering a putsch against Hitler . Their political leader was summarily executed a year later, when Hitler liquidated his opponents in his own party.

We are told that General Golan is now protected by a personal bodyguard, something that has never happened to a general in the annals of Israel.

Israelis pulled up their chairs and watched the Gaza slaughter in 2014

The general did not mention the occupation and the settlements, which are under army rule.

But he did mention the episode which occurred shortly before he gave this speech, and which is still shaking Israel now: in occupied Hebron, under army rule, a soldier saw a seriously wounded Palestinian lying helplessly on the ground, approached him and killed him with a shot to the head.

The victim had tried to attack some soldiers with a knife, but did not constitute a threat to anyone any more.

This was a clear contravention of army standing orders, and the soldier has been hauled before a court martial.

A cry went up around the country: the soldier is a hero! He should be decorated! Netanyahu called his father to assure him of his support. Avigdor Lieberman entered the crowded courtroom in order to express his solidarity with the soldier. A few days later Netanyahu appointed Lieberman as Minister of Defense, the second most important office in Israel.

Before that, General Golan received robust support both from the Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, and the Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot. Probably this was the immediate reason for the kicking out of Ya’alon and the appointment of Lieberman in his place. It resembled a putsch.

It seems that Golan is not only a courageous officer, but a prophet, too. The inclusion of Lieberman’s party in the government coalition confirms Golan’s blackest fears. This is another fatal blow to the Israeli democracy.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/24/2016 12:10:49 AM
	Welcome David, and thanks for your kind contribution. Luis Miguel Goitizolo
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+2

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/24/2016 1:14:45 AM
	The Power Behind The Throne MAY 22, 2016 By Susan Boskey “And the banks–hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created–are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) 2009 Could anyone actually miss that the United States is in a presidential election cycle? I don’t think so. As November draws closer, the election of a new president consumes more of the news and more our conscious awareness. People protest, and are concerned about how the next president, his/her ideas and power, will affect the course of history. Yet, all the while, the true monopolistic power thrives behind the throne, unnoticed and unprotested. The banking industry acts as if it is but a humble service industry (financial services industry), while actually the master system of all American systems, political, educational, environmental, agricultural, health, and legal. It hopes you never peek behind the curtain to discover who really pulls the strings. In 2009, I wrote about the Use-Cash Movement in the United States founded by small-business owner Chaz Valenza. However now, with “swiping” to pay for most everything, using cash shifts increasingly to an “old school” approach. What’s more, as we speak, banks are exploring ways to end cash use altogether. A May 2, 2016 Bloomberg article, “Inside the Secret Meeting Where Wall Street Tested Digital Cash,” reveals a new development in moving towards a cashless society. So why all the secrecy? On a recent Monday in April, more than 100 executives from some of the world’s largest financial institutions gathered for a private meeting at the Times Square office of Nasdaq Inc. They weren’t there to just talk about blockchain, the new technology some predict will transform finance, but to build and experiment with the software. The event, put on by a San Francisco company, Chain, is one of many start-up software companies determined to digitally transform the monetary system. Their spin? Cash transactions take precious time to process while digital transactions are instant. And in a world where credit access has conditioned the consumer mind to expect instant gratification, a digital monetary system appears to be a likely next step. But…but….but… What about choice? What about the personal privacy cash provides? Fugetabout it! Just more old-school silliness, right? I like to share the Barnum and Bailey Circus analogy: If you want popcorn while under the “big top” and it costs $15.00, you have no choice but to pay the price. The banking industry, also, has become the only game in town; those who own the gold make the rules and so rule the world, in my opinion, including the President of the United States. However, the same voluminous intensity of emotions, protests and assertions over potential presidents is nowhere to be found. For some reason most people simply go along, are not paying attention, are too incredulous to do their own research, or only mention the sacrilege of a ruling monetary system in hushed tones. This may never change but just in case; here are some of personal benefits of keeping cash alive. Transaction privacy Personal choice No bank interest charges (overdraft, credit cards, loans, lines of credit, etc.) Possible 5% vendor discount upon request Fiscal responsibility that credit use has destroyed Ending the instant gratification mindset credit use has encouraged More time when you don’t have to work faster/longer to keep up with debt Though using cash is just one small response to a behemoth debt-based and often predatory banking industry, the personal benefits alone, including greater peace of mind, make it well worth the effort. Imagine: We no longer made purchases we don’t need, with money we do not have to impress people who do not really care about us. If more people were willing to make a habit of using cash despite the convenience of digital transactions, we not only could strengthen our own money-management skills towards building real wealth, but also send a message to those who own the gold. Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, (so) that mistakes – excusable or not – can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic – this is the key political argument against an independent central bank… To paraphrase Clemenceau: money is much too serious a matter to be left to the Central Bankers.Milton Friedman, American Nobel-Prize-winning economist, 1912-2006 (activistpost.com)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+2

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/24/2016 11:04:49 AM
	Outgoing Defense Minister Ya'alon: Extremists Have Taken Over Israel 'I recently found myself in strong disagreement with the prime minister on moral and professional issues,' Ya'alon says of his resignation from politics. Jonathan Lis \| May 20, 2016 Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon explains his resignation at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday, May 20, 2016.Tomer Appelbaum · Citing 'lack of faith' in Netanyahu, Ya'alon quits Knesset and political life · Netanyahu: No crisis of confidence with Ya'alon, he should have stayed on as FM · The knife imbedded in Ya'alon’s back can be traced to Netanyahu’s troubled childhood Extremist elements have taken over the country, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned on Friday morning as he explained his resignation from political life. "This morning I told the prime minister that I'm resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking a break from political life," Ya'alon said at the IDF's military quarters in Tel Aviv. "I have no intention of leaving the public and political life, and in the future will return to compete for the national leadership of Israel." "I saw before me the safety of Israel and its citizens in all of my acts and decisions, and the good of the country above all other considerations. This was so in security and professionals matters and in matters of values and rule of the law." Earlier on Friday, Ya'alon wrote on Facebook that "I notified the prime minister this morning that following his conduct in the latest developments and in view of the lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking time out from political life." Noting that he worked harmoniously with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a long time, Ya'alon said in his speech that "unfortunately, I recently found myself in strong disagreement on moral and professional issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and several MKs." "I fought with all my might against manifestations of extremism, violence and racism in Israeli society, which are threatening its sturdiness and also trickling into the IDF, hurting it already," he said. "I fought with all my might against attempts to harm the Supreme Court and Israel's justices, trends whose outcomes greatly harm the rule of law and could be disastrous for our country." The latest confrontation between Netanyahu and Ya'alon, which took place at the beginning of the week, was over the public backing Ya'alon gave senior IDF officials to express their opinions. His remarks followed Netanyahu's criticism of comments made by IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The rift between Ya'alon and significant parts of the Likud central committee and party voters widened over the past year over the obstacles the defense minister placed in front of efforts regarding construction in the settlements. "The rupture between Netanyahu and Ya'alon is real and serious, not political spin. Netanyahu owes a lot to right-wing voters who marked Ya'alon as a red flag," a Likud source said. "In general, Israeli society is a healthy society, and the majority of it is sane and aims for a Jewish, democratic and liberal country," Ya'alon said. "But to my great sorrow, extremist and dangerous elements have taken over Israel and the Likud Party and are shaking the foundations and threatening to hurt its residents." "Sadly, senior politicians in the country have chosen the way of incitement and segregation of parts of Israeli society instead of unifying it and bringing it together. It is unbearable to me that we will be divided among us out of cynicism and lust for control, and I expressed my opinion on the matter more than once out of honest concern for the future of society in Israel and the future of the next generations." Jonathan Lis Haaretz Correspondent read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.720653
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+2

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 5/24/2016 11:12:02 AM
	Uri Avnery – Traces of Nazism in Israel Confirmed? By Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor on May 22, 2016 The storming of the Temple …by Uri Avnery, with Gush Shalom Uri had political enemies all his life [ Editor’s note: Well, finally Uri is getting yet another taste of the Zionist bitter fruit. But he still does not get it. While Liberal Israelis have always fought for power with the conservatives, Uri has always felt that the Holocaust bound them together. And the answer to that is both yes and no. While both sides are firm believers in the religion of Jewish victim supremacy, Uri does not feel that gives him the right to inflict Nazi treatment on others. He has always fought for Palestinian rights and done so at great risk. But Netanyahu on the other hand is a member of an inner tribe of Judaism where the holocaust is used as a cover to “do unto others before they do it unto you”, and makes no apologies. But here comes this serving Israeli general to walk the career plank at a major event talk, where he compared the things that happened to bring the Nazis to power to what has happened in Israel, and the firestorm was instantaneous. Uri comes to the general’s defense, actually as a witness to what happened in the Reichstag when he was a young boy, and he has had a front row seat for what the Palestinians got from the “chosen ones”. Please notice that as always, US media never touched this story when it happened, as they self censor all major internal criticism battles in Israel because they do not want goyim to get the crazy idea that if Jews can criticize Jews, that mere goyim can also criticize them. The Jewish Lobby here is always waiting in the wings to teach people what the penalties for that kind of thinking are. So they have a little streak of totalitarian Nazism running through them also, in that they appoint to themselves the right to destroy people who disagree with them, and they have done so many times. Uri can tell you the rest, as Israeli internal politics is his specialty… Jim W. Dean ] _________ I Was There – First published … May 21, 2016 – Israeli General Ya’ir Golan – now this is a mensch “PLEASE DON’T write about Ya’ir Golan!” a friend begged me, “Anything a leftist like you writes will only harm him!” So I abstained for some weeks. But I can’t keep quiet any longer. General Ya’ir Golan, the deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, made a speech on Holocaust Memorial Day. Wearing his uniform, he read a prepared, well-considered text that triggered an uproar which has not yet died down. Dozens of articles have been published in its wake, some condemning him, some lauding him. Seems that nobody could stay indifferent. The main sentence was: “If there is something that frightens me about the memories of the Holocaust, it is the knowledge of the awful processes which happened in Europe in general, and in Germany in particular, 70, 80, 90 years ago, and finding traces of them here in our midst, today, in 2016.” All hell broke loose. What!!! Traces of Nazism in Israel? A resemblance between what the Nazis did to us with what we are doing to the Palestinians? Ninety years ago was 1926, one of the last years of the German republic. Eighty years ago was 1936, three years after the Nazis came to power. 70 years ago was 1946, on the morrow of Hitler’s suicide and the end of the Nazi Reich. I feel compelled to write about the general’s speech after all, because I was there. _________ Tyranny can happen anywhere. Notes about the Zionist Star with Swastika on Opposite side: “Baron Leopold von Mildenstein of the SS wrote a pro-Zionist piece for the Nazi press after he visited Palestine, and he wrote favorably about what he saw in the Zionist colonies in Palestine; he also persuaded Joseph Goebbels to run his report as a massive 12-part series in Der Angriff (The Assault), the leading Nazi propaganda organ (9/26-10/9/34)… To commemorate the Baron’s expedition, Goebbels had a medal struck: on one side the swastika, on the other the Zionist star.” As a child, I was an eye-witness to the last years of the Weimar Republic (so called because its constitution was shaped in Weimar, the town of Goethe and Schiller). As a politically alert boy, I witnessed the Nazi Machtergreifung (“taking power”) and the first half a year of Nazi rule. I know what Golan was speaking about. Though we belong to two different generations, we share the same background. Both our families come from small towns in Western Germany. His father and I must have had a lot in common. There is a strict moral commandment in Israel: nothing can be compared to the Holocaust. The Holocaust is unique. It happened to us, the Jews, because we are unique. (Religious Jews would add: “Because God has chosen us”.) I have broken this commandment. Just before Golan was born, I published (in Hebrew) a book called “The Swastika”, in which I recounted my childhood memories and tried to draw conclusions from them. It was on the eve of the Eichmann trial, and I was shocked by the lack of knowledge about the Nazi era among young Israelis then. My book did not deal with the Holocaust, which took place when I was already living in Palestine, but with a question which troubled me throughout the years, and even today: how could it happen that Germany, perhaps the most cultured nation on earth at the time, the homeland of Goethe, Beethoven and Kant, could democratically elect a raving psychopath like Adolf Hitler as its leader? The last chapter of the book was entitled “It Can Happen Here!” The title was drawn from a book by the American novelist Sinclair Lewis, called ironically “It Can’t Happen Here”, in which he described a Nazi take-over of the United States. In this chapter, I discussed the possibility of a Jewish Nazi-like party coming to power in Israel. My conclusion was that a Nazi party can come to power in any country on earth, if the conditions are right. Yes, in Israel, too. The book was largely ignored by the Israeli public, which at the time was overwhelmed by the storm of emotions evoked by the terrible disclosures of the Eichmann trial. Now comes General Golan, an esteemed professional soldier, and says the same thing. And not as an improvised remark, but on an official occasion, wearing his general’s uniform, reading from a prepared, well thought-out text. The storm broke out, and has not passed yet. Israelis have a self-protective habit: when confronted with inconvenient truths, they evade its essence and deal with a secondary, unimportant aspect. Of all the dozens and dozens of reactions in the written press, on TV and on political platforms, almost none confronted the general’s painful contention. No, the furious debate that broke out concerns the questions: Is a high-ranking army officer allowed to voice an opinion about matters that concern the civilian establishment? And do so in army uniform? On an official occasion? Should an army officer keep quiet about his political convictions? Or voice them only in closed sessions – “in relevant forums”, as a furious Binyamin Netanyahu phrased it? General Golan enjoys a very high degree of respect in the army. As Deputy Chief of Staff he was until now almost certainly a candidate for Chief of Staff, when the incumbent leaves the office after the customary four years. The fulfillment of this dream shared by every General Staff officer is now very remote. In practice, Golan has sacrificed his further advancement in order to utter his warning and giving it the widest possible resonance. Nazi march One can only respect such courage. I have never met General Golan, I believe, and I don’t know his political views. But I admire his act. Somehow I recall an article published by the British magazine Punch before World War I, when a group of junior army officers issued a statement opposing the government’s policy in Ireland. The magazine said that while disapproving the opinion expressed by the mutinous officers, it took pride in the fact that such youthful officers were ready to sacrifice their careers for their convictions. The Nazi march to power started in 1929, when a terrible world-wide economic crisis hit Germany. A tiny, ridiculous far-right party suddenly became a political force to be reckoned with. From there it took them four years to become the largest party in the country and to take over power (though it still needed a coalition). I was there when it happened, a boy in a family in which politics became the main topic at the dinner table. I saw how the republic broke down, gradually, slowly, step by step. I saw our family friends hoisting the swastika flag. I saw my high-school teacher raising his arm when entering the class and saying “Heil Hitler” for the first time (and then reassuring me in private that nothing had changed.) I was the only Jew in the entire gymnasium (high school.) When the hundreds of boys – all taller than I – raised their arms to sing the Nazi anthem, and I did not, they threatened to break my bones if it happened again. A few days later we left Germany for good. General Golan was accused of comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. Nothing of the sort. A careful reading of his text shows that he compared developments in Israel to the events that led to the disintegration of the Weimar Republic. And that is a valid comparison. Things happening in Israel, especially since the last election, bear a frightening similarity to those events. True, the process is quite different. German fascism arose from the humiliation of surrender in World War I, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium from 1923-25, the terrible economic crisis of 1929, the misery of millions of unemployed. Israel is victorious in its frequent military actions, we live comfortable lives. The dangers threatening us are of a quite different nature. They stem from our victories, not from our defeats. Indeed, the differences between Israel today and Germany then are far greater than the similarities. But those similarities do exist, and the general was right to point them out. The discrimination against the Palestinians in practically all spheres of life can be compared to the treatment of the Jews in the first phase of Nazi Germany. (The oppression of the Palestinians in the occupied territories resembles more the treatment of the Czechs in the “protectorate” after the Munich betrayal.) The rain of racist bills in the Knesset, those already adopted and those in the works, strongly resembles the laws adopted by the Reichstag in the early days of the Nazi regime. Some rabbis call for a boycott of Arab shops. Like then. The call “Death to the Arabs” (“Judah verrecke”?) is regularly heard at soccer matches. A member of parliament has called for the separation between Jewish and Arab newborns in hospital. That giant sucking sound you hear might be Israel’s Far Right falling into the pantheon of all-time haters. Pictured: Miri Regev; Ayalet “Palestinians-Are-Little-Snakes” Shaked; Netanyahu; Lieberman; the late Meir Kahane; and, of course, the standard bearer of ethnic-based assassinations, Joe Stalin A Chief Rabbi has declared that Goyim (non-Jews) were created by God to serve the Jews. Our Ministers of Education and Culture are busy subduing the schools, theater and arts to the extreme rightist line, something known in German as Gleichschaltung. The Supreme Court, the pride of Israel, is being relentlessly attacked by the Minister of Justice. The Gaza Strip is a huge ghetto. Of course, no one in their right mind would even remotely compare Netanyahu to the Fuehrer, but there are political parties here which do emit a strong fascist smell. The political riffraff peopling the present Netanyahu government could easily have found their place in the first Nazi government. One of the main slogans of our present government is to replace the “old elite”, considered too liberal, with a new one. One of the main Nazi slogans was to replace “das System”. By the way, when the Nazis came to power, almost all high-ranking officers of the German army were staunch anti-Nazis. They were even considering a putsch against Hitler . Their political leader was summarily executed a year later, when Hitler liquidated his opponents in his own party. We are told that General Golan is now protected by a personal bodyguard, something that has never happened to a general in the annals of Israel. Israelis pulled up their chairs and watched the Gaza slaughter in 2014 The general did not mention the occupation and the settlements, which are under army rule. But he did mention the episode which occurred shortly before he gave this speech, and which is still shaking Israel now: in occupied Hebron, under army rule, a soldier saw a seriously wounded Palestinian lying helplessly on the ground, approached him and killed him with a shot to the head. The victim had tried to attack some soldiers with a knife, but did not constitute a threat to anyone any more. This was a clear contravention of army standing orders, and the soldier has been hauled before a court martial. A cry went up around the country: the soldier is a hero! He should be decorated! Netanyahu called his father to assure him of his support. Avigdor Lieberman entered the crowded courtroom in order to express his solidarity with the soldier. A few days later Netanyahu appointed Lieberman as Minister of Defense, the second most important office in Israel. Before that, General Golan received robust support both from the Minister of Defense, Moshe Ya’alon, and the Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot. Probably this was the immediate reason for the kicking out of Ya’alon and the appointment of Lieberman in his place. It resembled a putsch. It seems that Golan is not only a courageous officer, but a prophet, too. The inclusion of Lieberman’s party in the government coalition confirms Golan’s blackest fears. This is another fatal blow to the Israeli democracy. Am I condemned to witness the same process for the second time in my life?
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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