Europa & Palestine News « Europa & Middle East News

The Holocaust and Iran's Nuclear Negotiations In Vienna

Israel Cries holocaust in Vienna While Still Denying the Palestinian Nakba –The zionist state of israel, which criminalizes commemoration of the Nakba and denies the Palestinian Arab minority’s right to free speech and equality with regard to the historical memory of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe in 1948, is still crying the holocaust in Vienna.

On March 22 2011, israeli knesset or “parliament” passed the so-called “Al-Nakba Law” which calls on the government to deny funding to any organization, institution or university, educational institution, municipality in israel that commemorates the ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine during and before the establishment of the so-called “state of israel” in 1947-48.

The Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) is a term used to describe the suffering of Palestinians and the ethnic cleansing which was perpetrated against hundreds of thousands, who were expelled from their homes by the jewish invaders in 1948.

The “Nakba Law” infringes on the Palestinian Arab minority’s right to free speech and equality with regard to its historical memory. This zionist law also suppresses the memory of the Palestinian people and punishes their feelings.

This past weekend Shimon Peres, the head of the israeli occupation, the so-called “state of israel”, arrived in Vienna where the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear facilities are taking place since two months. Here he cried holocaust at the Judenplatz (jews’ square) in the city in order to dictate the terms of israel regarding the Iranian nuclear facilities on the IAEA and the security organizations in Austria while obstructing of the efforts of ongoing negotiations between Iran and the six countries.

Peres Prays in Vienna Under Watch of his Bodyguards

Peres arrived at the jews’ square or “Judenplatz” in the city centre under tight security measures in which Austrian police helicopters flew at a low altitude, special forces of the police occupied a number of surrounding buildings balconies, windows and rooftops, and some coffee houses were forced to close their doors for clients.

The old man, who looked weak and unhealthy, was forced to lean on his bodyguard instead of a stick, was wearing a small black hat (“Kippa”) and surrounded by dozens of security people when he arrived at the “Judenplatz” where Austrian President Dr. Heinz Fischer and the ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as a few dozens members of the jewish community in Vienna were present, among them chief Rabbi Paul Chaim Eisenberg and the current and former presidents of the jewish community awaited for Peres to participate in a ceremony of “Shoah” for the Austrian victims of the holocaust.

During the ceremony President Fischer and his guest President Peres laid a wreath for the country’s holocaust victims, delivered speeches and held a joint prayer.

President Fischer said that the jews’ space reflects a particularly tragic part of Austrian history and that the Judenplatz witnessed a dark chapter in Austria’s history. He added: “we must confess that the way Austria dealt with the Nazi period was followed by a harsh silence for a long time. In the past twenty five years, Austria underwent a deep process in historic awareness of the holocaust. He criticized Austria’s dealing with National Socialism and acknowledged that Austria today accepts common responsibility for Nazi crimes.

For his part, Mr. old man Peres, cried in his speech for the victims of the Holocaust in front of the audience so as to charge the feelings of those present and so guarantee the kindness of others.

I was moved by the speech of the old President Peres and I felt the size of the horrific pain left by the Europeans to the jews.

I thanked God that the Palestinians were not together with the Europeans perpetrators of the Holocaust, despite my painful feeling as a Palestinian for our tragic history, for all the massacres and the ethnic cleansing which were perpetrated against us by gangs of European jews like Palmach, Irgun and Hagana in Palestine, before and after 1948.

I felt proud to the Republic of Austria after I listened to the speech of President Fischer, who spoke boldly about the tragedy of the Holocaust that took place in Austria and apologized for this to the Jews.

I wondered why Mr. Peres, the president of israel and his “state” do not recognize the Palestinian Nakba and all the wrongs that he and the other the jewish terrorist invaders visited upon us Palestinians, the people of that time who were murdered, subject to ethnic cleansing and expelled from our homeland as well as upon later generations, who are to this day victims of a process of slow genocide by the israel of which Peres is a President??

Certainly, there is a vast difference between Austrian President, who spoke freely about the the Austrian responsibility for its history, and the head of jewish “state of Israel”, who together with his country does not recognize the Palestinian Nakba and suffering which since decades he and his “state” inflict upon us, while his “state” went so far to pass in March of 2011 the so-called “Nakba law” which criminalizes Palestinians who want to express their feeling and sorrows and commemorate the Nakba and their history, all so that Peres and many other jews can avoid being confronted with their own crimes and their historic guilt.

Adalah: Nakba Law Violates Rights of Arab Minority to Preserve its History and Culture

The Knesset enacted the Nakba Law (PDF) on 22 March 2011. The law authorizes the Minister of Finance to reduce funding or support provided by the state to an institution if it holds an activity that contradicts the definition of the State of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state, or that commemorates “Israel’s Independence Day or the day on which the state was established as a day of mourning.” In Adalah’s view, the Nakba Law is another link in a chain of racist laws that target Arab citizens of Israel, violate their rights, and restrict their freedom to express their opinion. The law will also cause substantial harm to cultural and educational institutions and further entrench discrimination against Arab citizens.

Adalah previously sent an urgent letter (Letter as PDF) to the Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK David Rotem, requesting that the Committee reject the legislation. In the letter, Adalah Attorneys Orna Kohn and Sawsan Zaher argued that the law threatened to cut funding to many institutions, including educational and cultural organizations, thereby compromising their ability to provide important services to the public. These funding cuts are tantamount to the collective punishment of the public that receives these services, despite the fact that such persons are unable to intervene in the decisions of these institutions over whether to conduct a certain activity or not.

Adalah stressed in the letter that the law stood to cause major harm to the principle of equality and to the rights of Arab citizens to preserve their history and culture. The law deprives Arab citizens of their right to commemorate the Nabka, which is an integral part of their history. It also grossly violates the right to freedom of expression, a fundamental constitutional right. It may be applied to an institution simply because it held a seminar or study day on a political issue that addresses the definition of the state, or that discusses the future vision of Arab citizens, for example, or a cultural organization that screened a film or held a play that discusses the Nakba. According to the law, such activities are viewed as a threat to the existence of the State of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state.

Adalah further emphasized in the letter Israel is a signatory to all international human rights conventions, according to which the state should undertake, inter alia, to preserve and protect the unique culture and history of the Arab national minority. This legislation does just the opposite: the purpose of the law is to prevent members of the Arab minority in Israel from exercising their democratic right to commemorate a seminal event in their history.