Is everything relative or are there absolute truths? It’s a good
question for our presidential pre-season, when we measure how short
each candidate falls from our absolute ideal. Relativity kicks in
during next year’s primaries, when we begin deciding Candidate A is
relatively better than Candidate B.
Absoluteness met relativity with a resounding crash Tuesday evening at
the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, when the Anti-Defamation League presented
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with its Distinguished
Statesman Award. The Anti-Defamation League was formed to combat
bigotry and anti-Semitism, an absolute mandate.
Two weeks ago, a journalist asked Mr. Berlusconi to compare Benito
Mussolini and Saddam Hussein. Who was worse, relatively speaking? Mr.
Berlusconi said Saddam was a worse dictator, relative to Benito. Then
Mr. Berlusconi said Mussolini was a “mild dictator” who “did not murder
anyone.” That is absolutely untrue. Mussolini’s regime was anything
but “mild” and Benito Mussolini was responsible for the murder of tens
of thousands of Italians, including 7,000 Jews who died in death camps.
Why would the Anti-Defamation League give a distinguished statesman
award to someone who is, in effect, a Holocaust denier? Abraham
Foxman, national director of the ADL said Mr. Berlusconi is being
recognized for his vocal support of Israel at a time when the Sharon
government has few fans among European heads of state and for standing
by George W. Bush during his invasion and occupation of Iraq. So it’s
a relative thing. Mr. Berlusconi thinks Mussolini was a relatively
mild dictator, compared to Saddam and Mr. Foxman thinks Mr. Berlusconi
is a relatively strong Israel supporter, compared to Jacques Chirac or
Gerhard Schroeder.
Of course, there is the matter of those 7,000 Italian Jews Mr.
Berlusconi thinks Mussolini did not kill. The New York Times quotes
Mr. Foxman as saying Mr. Berlusconi is a “solid friend, but he’s a
flawed friend.” Mr. Foxman seems to have a relatively flexible
definition of friendship. Mr. Foxman said Mr. Berlusconi’s comments on
Mussolini were “uninformed.” Is it just me, or is there an absolute
sense that right-wing politicians are “uninformed” about history?
Silvio Berlusconi had bad information about Mussolini and the
Holocaust; Trent Lott did not seem to know Strom Thurmond ran for
president as a segregationist in 1948; 20 years ago Ronald Reagan said
members of the SS were victims of Hitler.
A few months ago, Mr. Berlusconi taunted a German member of the
European parliament, comparing him to a guard in a Holocaust death
camp. I suppose it’s easy – relatively easy – to make jokes about
death camps if one thinks – even mistakenly – that one’s country played
no role in the Holocaust, but I have to wonder why the Anti-Defamation
League then sees fit to decorate such a person with the
title “statesman.” (The confusion abated when it was revealed that
Henry Kissinger is on the committee for the awards dinner.)
Tullia Zevi, former head of Italy’s Union of Jewish Communities and a
respected elder of Italian Jewry, asked the ADL to rescind the award,
but to no avail. Italian Jews are defamed and the Anti-Defamation
League takes a pass. If the term “statesman” is to be uncoupled from
its meaning, why not take “anti-defamation” down with it?
I’m sure Abraham Foxman and the ADL would prefer not to give
distinguished statesman awards to revisionist historians like Mr.
Berlusconi, but it’s true – Israel has few friends in Europe. That’s
not Europe’s fault, it’s Israel’s.
The heart of this matter is Israel, not Saddam Hussein or Benito
Mussolini. Ariel Sharon, George Bush and Silvio Berlusconi are members
of a small society of world leaders who don’t give a good goddamn about
anything except getting what they want. (Tony Blair was almost a
member of this club, but it now looks as if his government will be
dismantled and sold for scrap.)
As long as Israel keeps building settlements and barriers, as long as
it continues to maintain a brutal occupation and a policy of political
assassination, the Anti-Defamation League will have a hard time finding
anyone but thugs to name “Distinguished Statesman.”
Relative Absolution
Is everything relative or are there absolute truths? It’s a good
question for our presidential pre-season, when we measure how short
each candidate falls from our absolute ideal. Relativity kicks in
during next year’s primaries, when we begin deciding Candidate A is
relatively better than Candidate B.
Absoluteness met relativity with a resounding crash Tuesday evening at
the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, when the Anti-Defamation League presented
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with its Distinguished
Statesman Award. The Anti-Defamation League was formed to combat
bigotry and anti-Semitism, an absolute mandate.
Two weeks ago, a journalist asked Mr. Berlusconi to compare Benito
Mussolini and Saddam Hussein. Who was worse, relatively speaking? Mr.
Berlusconi said Saddam was a worse dictator, relative to Benito. Then
Mr. Berlusconi said Mussolini was a “mild dictator” who “did not murder
anyone.” That is absolutely untrue. Mussolini’s regime was anything
but “mild” and Benito Mussolini was responsible for the murder of tens
of thousands of Italians, including 7,000 Jews who died in death camps.
Why would the Anti-Defamation League give a distinguished statesman
award to someone who is, in effect, a Holocaust denier? Abraham
Foxman, national director of the ADL said Mr. Berlusconi is being
recognized for his vocal support of Israel at a time when the Sharon
government has few fans among European heads of state and for standing
by George W. Bush during his invasion and occupation of Iraq. So it’s
a relative thing. Mr. Berlusconi thinks Mussolini was a relatively
mild dictator, compared to Saddam and Mr. Foxman thinks Mr. Berlusconi
is a relatively strong Israel supporter, compared to Jacques Chirac or
Gerhard Schroeder.
Of course, there is the matter of those 7,000 Italian Jews Mr.
Berlusconi thinks Mussolini did not kill. The New York Times quotes
Mr. Foxman as saying Mr. Berlusconi is a “solid friend, but he’s a
flawed friend.” Mr. Foxman seems to have a relatively flexible
definition of friendship. Mr. Foxman said Mr. Berlusconi’s comments on
Mussolini were “uninformed.” Is it just me, or is there an absolute
sense that right-wing politicians are “uninformed” about history?
Silvio Berlusconi had bad information about Mussolini and the
Holocaust; Trent Lott did not seem to know Strom Thurmond ran for
president as a segregationist in 1948; 20 years ago Ronald Reagan said
members of the SS were victims of Hitler.
A few months ago, Mr. Berlusconi taunted a German member of the
European parliament, comparing him to a guard in a Holocaust death
camp. I suppose it’s easy – relatively easy – to make jokes about
death camps if one thinks – even mistakenly – that one’s country played
no role in the Holocaust, but I have to wonder why the Anti-Defamation
League then sees fit to decorate such a person with the
title “statesman.” (The confusion abated when it was revealed that
Henry Kissinger is on the committee for the awards dinner.)
Tullia Zevi, former head of Italy’s Union of Jewish Communities and a
respected elder of Italian Jewry, asked the ADL to rescind the award,
but to no avail. Italian Jews are defamed and the Anti-Defamation
League takes a pass. If the term “statesman” is to be uncoupled from
its meaning, why not take “anti-defamation” down with it?
I’m sure Abraham Foxman and the ADL would prefer not to give
distinguished statesman awards to revisionist historians like Mr.
Berlusconi, but it’s true – Israel has few friends in Europe. That’s
not Europe’s fault, it’s Israel’s.
The heart of this matter is Israel, not Saddam Hussein or Benito
Mussolini. Ariel Sharon, George Bush and Silvio Berlusconi are members
of a small society of world leaders who don’t give a good goddamn about
anything except getting what they want. (Tony Blair was almost a
member of this club, but it now looks as if his government will be
dismantled and sold for scrap.)
As long as Israel keeps building settlements and barriers, as long as
it continues to maintain a brutal occupation and a policy of political
assassination, the Anti-Defamation League will have a hard time finding
anyone but thugs to name “Distinguished Statesman.”