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Elliott A. Green

History Shows that the Peacemongers Are Warmongers

Peace Now Movement Flyer 1944
Peace Now Movement Flyer 1944

The so-called “Peace Camp” in Israel displays a distressingly low level of historical knowledge and common sense when it comes to Israel making peace with the Arabs. The asinine but sinister arguments for “peace” made by “peace campers” like Tsipi Livni or Gershon Baskin or Amos Oz are terrifying since, if an Israeli government actually carried out the policies advocated by these persons, we would face war and massacre. This is not a partisan or purely theoretical conclusion. It is demonstrated not only by the history of Arab-Israeli relations since the 1917 liberation from Ottoman rule but also by the general history of the 20th century.

Take World War 2. Do Amos Oz and Tsipi Livni know that there was a “Peace Now Movement” then too? Just like now. In 1944 when Nazi Germany was obviously losing the war, Peace Now wanted “fair and reasonable peace terms which will appeal to plain people in the Axis nations just as they appeal to us.”

[having trouble with uploading the full image of the flyer but will try to get a better image up].

Peace Now Movement Flyer 1944
Peace Now Movement Flyer 1944

[This flyer was published in John Roy Carlson, The Plotters (New York: Dutton 1946), p 179]

So the original Peace Now wanted “fair and reasonable peace terms” for Nazi Germany. And they wanted “negotiations among equals.” In other words, at the peace table, Nazi Germany would be equal to the freedom and peace-loving countries.

Maybe Israel’s peacemongers are unaware of the existence of the original Peace Now that had some important things in common with the Peace Now of today. Yet the name is the same and isn’t the name, in fact a slogan, a psychological warfare weapon –in both cases? Doesn’t today’s Peace Now, not to mention a dozen or two dozen or three dozen other organizations, NGOs campaigning for “peace” and “human rights” and “civil rights”, not ask that the terrorists of the PLO/PA be treated equally, if not as superiors, at the peace table and that the PLO/PA’s  leadership be taken at their word when they say they want peace? Don’t Peace Now and all the others want “fair and reasonable peace terms” to be offered to the PLO/PA?

Well, some will say that PLO/PA (PA = Palestinian Authority) are not Nazis. Menahem Begin did call the PLO Nazis but he is long gone. So whether or not PLO/PA is Nazi can be a question left for further study. But the Nazis believed in murdering Jews. Hamas does too. Read their charter, especially Article 7. So Hamas has something major in common with the Nazis. And Hamas is partners with PLO/PA/Fatah in a “unity government.”

Of course, none of these groups is Nazi, not exactly. But they  don’t object to murdering Jews, do they? If that is enough to put them in the same class as the Nazis is still an open question for many people. But essentially the similarity of peace groups then and now is what is important. They work on undermining the position of one side but not the other.

The original Peace Now obviously served the interest of the Nazi German war effort by influencing American public opinion to take a softer view of Nazi Germany. What about the “peace movements” operating today in Israel?

I wrote on the similarities between today’s peace movements and those of the World War 2 period more fully at this link [here]

About the Author
Elliott A. Green is a writer, researcher, and translator living in Jerusalem. He has published in Nativ, Midstream, the Jerusalem Post, and other publications.