Australian MP angers Jewish community by suggesting Islamic State worse than Nazis
Australia’s prime minister angered some Jewish leaders by suggesting that the Islamic State movement was worse than Nazis during World War II.
It is the third time this year that gaffe-prone Prime Minister Tony Abbott has riled Jewish Australians with Nazi analogies.
Mr Abbott used an interview with Sydney Radio 2GB to “credit” Nazis with a sense of shame for atrocities they committed.
“The Nazis did terrible evil, but they had a sufficient sense of shame to try to hide it,” he said.
“These people boast about their evil, this is the extraordinary thing,” Mr Abbot added of Islamic State fighters.
“They act in the way that medieval barbarians acted, only they broadcast it to the world with an effrontery which is hard to credit.”
However, Executive Council of Australian Jewry President Robert Goot said there was a “fundamental difference between organised acts of terrorism and a genocide systematically implemented by a state as essential policy”.
He said while there is no question that Islamic State is “profoundly evil”, Mr Aboott’s comments suggesting that it is in some respects worse than the Nazis were “injudicious and unfortunate”.
Those responsible for state-sponsored genocide were high government officials who operated in secret “not out of any sense of shame, but to avoid being held criminally responsible,” Mr Goot added.
Mr Abbott later said he wasn’t in the business of ranking evil, but stood by his comments.
“I do make this point, that unlike previous evil-doers, whether we’re talking about Stalin, Hitler or whoever, that tried to cover up their evil, this wretched death cult boasts about it,” he told reporters.
Mr Abbott’s Cabinet is expected to agree next week to a US request to extend air strikes against Islamic State targets beyond Iraq into Syria.
Mr Abbott apologised in March for comparing the opposition Labour Party leader Bill Shorten to German World War II-era propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. He had described Mr Shorten in Parliament as “the Dr Goebbels of economic policy”.
In February, Mr Abbott apologised to Parliament for describing a 10% reduction in defence industry jobs under a former Labour government as a “holocaust of jobs”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
