Standing Up For The Jewish People & The State of Israel

Standing Up For The Jewish People & The State of Israel April 10, 2014

To Jews, there is no more important word than memory – a concept deeply imbedded in Jewish tradition. That’s what we do every year at the Passover Seder. We remember the past in order to apply its lessons to today. We retell the story of the Exodus, 3,500 years later, to relive the events that led to the Jews' exodus out of Egypt because it is a forerunner of what we will encounter again and again in our future; a warning as to how unpredictable history can be and how alert and prepared we Jews must be. In a few months, world leaders will gather at Normandy to commemorate the 70thanniversary of D-Day, when the world was liberated from Nazism. It will surely be one of the last commemorations where some of the heroes who freed Europe will still be with us. But sadly, once again anti-Semitism is prevalent. According to the book,Demonizing Israel and the Jews, as many as 150 million Europeans still hold anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views.   2014: “Jews, out of France…Jew, France is not your country,” was shouted in the streets of Paris during an anti-government rally where protestors gave the Nazi-like “quenelle” salute. 2013: “ADOLF HITLER WAS RIGHT” along with a swastika on display at a Madrid bullring, led the SWC to call on Spain’s Prime Minister to ban the use of the swastika. You can be assured that whatever threats emerge anywhere in the world, the Simon Wiesenthal Center will be there to stand up for our people and for the State of Israel. Wishing you and your family Chag Sameach, Rabbi Marvin Hier Simon Wiesenthal Center, Founder and Dean Support the Work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

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Japan's Aso refuses to resign over Nazi comment

Aug 2, 8:03 AM EDT Japan's Aso refuses to resign over Nazi comment By MARI YAMAGUCHI and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press

AP Photo/Koji Sasahara World Video Multimedia Archery on horseback still draws crowd Ainu Rebels reclaim cultural pride Japanese defend whaling tradition Japan deals with 'Minimata Disease' Latest News Japan's Aso refuses to resign over Nazi comment Whistleblower: Olympus ignores Japan court order TEPCO says was reluctant to worry public over leak Japan govt paper calls for strengthened military Japan welcomes Kennedy as ambassador nominee Audio Slideshow Jewish boy survived as 'mascot' of Nazi brigade Related Stories Japan's Aso refuses to resign over Nazi comment Ukraine divided over WWII legacy AP IMPACT: US limbo for Nazi suspects ordered out Buy AP Photo Reprints TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso refused Friday to resign or apologize over remarks suggesting Japan should follow the Nazi example of how to change the country's constitution stealthily and without public debate. Following protests by neighboring countries and human rights activists, he "retracted" the comments on Thursday but refused to go further. "I have no intention to step down" as Cabinet minister or lawmaker, Aso, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters. The government also said it is not seeking Aso's resignation, which some opposition members have demanded. Aso, who is known for intemperate remarks, drew outrage for saying Japan should learn from how the Nazi party stealthily changed Germany's pre-World War II constitution before anyone realized it. He also suggested that Japanese politicians should make visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine quietly to avoid controversy. Such visits currently take place amid wide publicity and are a sore point for other Asian nations that suffered under Japanese occupation during World War II. Aso said Thursday he was misunderstood and only meant to say that loud debate over whether Japan should change its postwar constitution, and other issues is not helpful. In retracting his comments, he said it was "very unfortunate and regrettable" that his comments were misinterpreted. On Friday, Aso said he stands by all his other remarks in the speech made earlier this week in Tokyo to an ultra-conservative audience. Critics of the ruling Liberal Democrats are uneasy over the party's proposals for revising the U.S.-inspired postwar constitution, in part to allow a higher profile for Japan's military. Japan and Nazi Germany were allies in World War II, when Japan occupied much of Asia and Germany much of Europe, where the racial supremacist Nazis oversaw the killings of an estimated 6 million Jews before the war ended in 1945 with their defeat. Japan's history of military aggression, which included colonizing the Korean Peninsula before the war, is the reason its current constitution limits the role of the military. According to a transcript of the speech published by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Aso decried the lack of support for revising Japan's pacifist constitution among older Japanese, saying the Liberal Democrats had held quiet, extensive discussions about its proposals. "I don't want to see this done in the midst of an uproar," Aso said, according to the transcript. Since revisions of the constitution may raise protests, "doing it quietly, just as in one day the Weimar constitution changed to the Nazi constitution, without anyone realizing it, why don't we learn from that sort of tactic?" Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said that postwar Japan has consistently supported peace and human rights. "Cabinet ministers should fully understand their role and make sure to avoid misleading remarks," Suga said Friday. He said Aso has already retracted the Nazi comment and doesn't have to resign. Aso often speaks in a meandering style that has gotten him in trouble for off-the-cuff remarks in the past. He has apologized previously for accusing the elderly of being a burden on society, joking about people with Alzheimer's disease, saying the ideal country would be one that attracts "the richest Jewish people," and comparing the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to the Nazis. On Thursday, Aso insisted that he was referring to the Nazis "as a bad example of a constitutional revision that was made without national understanding or discussion ... I just don't want (the revision) to be decided amid a ruckus." The Nazis' rise to power in the early 1930s amid the economic crisis brought on by the Great Depression was facilitated by emergency decrees that circumvented the Weimar constitution. So was Adolph Hitler's seizure of absolute power after he was made chancellor in 1933. It was not a matter of revising but of abusing the constitution. Opposition leaders condemned Aso's remarks, saying they showed a lack of understanding of history and hurt Japan's national interest. Some demanded Aso resign. Aso's comments "sounded like praise for Nazi actions and are totally incomprehensible," said Akihiro Ohata, secretary general of the Democratic Party. "Minister Aso's ignorance about historical facts is so obvious," said Seiji Mataichi, secretary general of the Social Democratic Party. "I also want to remind him that praising the Nazis is considered a crime in EU nations." The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a group dedicated to keeping alive the history of the Holocaust, urged Aso to "immediately clarify" his remarks. "What `techniques' from the Nazis' governance are worth learning? How to stealthily cripple democracy?" Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement. In South Korea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said Aso's remark "will obviously hurt many people." In China, which also suffered invasion and occupation by Japanese imperial troops before and during the war, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the comments showed that "Japan's neighbors in Asia, and the international community, have to heighten their vigilance over the direction of Japan's development." Hong also objected to Aso's comments on visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's 2.3 million war dead, including 14 wartime leaders convicted of war crimes. Aso urged lawmakers in his speech to visit the shrine at times other than the closely watched anniversary of the end of the war on Aug. 15 to avoid diplomatic flare-ups.     KawamotoDragon.com