Wiesel Nobel Laureate Ad Urges Iran Sanctions « Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Wiesel Nobel Laureate Ad Urges Iran Sanctions

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22 Responses to “Wiesel Nobel Laureate Ad Urges Iran Sanctions”

mary says:

February 7, 2010 at 7:06 PM

If only these bellicose fools would realize that their advocacy of aggression is a waste of time and that their fears are imaginary. Iran has no nuclear bombs and is a long ways off from having them. Why do they persist in perpetuating this phony existential threat?

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Crimson Ghost says:

February 8, 2010 at 4:13 AM

With the awarding of the Nobel “Peace” prize to Barak Obama just before he decided to massively escalate the Afghan war, I, for one, have nothing but contempt for the Nobel Prize process. I suspect many others feel as I do.

Just because a group of Nobel Prize winners support or oppose something is no reason for lesser mortals to do the same. And this goes double for matters of war and peace.

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Elisabeth says:

February 8, 2010 at 5:13 AM

What a lovely picture: Eli Wiesel looking suitably tragic (as always), and Dershowitz giving us a fierce look in his role of defender of the Jewish people. The red noses spoil things a bit though.

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gloopygal says:

February 8, 2010 at 5:27 AM

Elie Wiesel, the Professional Holocaust Survivor™. Imagine, if he hadn’t been in a concentration camp, the guy might have had to *gasp* get a job!

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- Elisabeth says:
  
  February 8, 2010 at 10:28 AM
  
  I don’t like his using his saintly Holocaust survivor status for bad causes, but it is not as if he never had a job. He worked as a journalist and a writer.
  
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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  February 8, 2010 at 12:29 PM
  
  I think that’s rather overstated. I respect Wiesel as a witness for Jewish suffering during the Holocaust. He served that role when almost no Holocaust survivors would or could do so. And he has a voice that is legitimate. However, I don’t respect when he goes beyond this role & intervenes in Israeli politics with purely partisan motives. I have very little respect for Wiesel overall. But it’s important to understand the historical role he played and that was an entirely legitimate one.
  
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  - gloopygal says:
    
    February 8, 2010 at 4:42 PM
    
    Hi Richard, Elisabeth, sorry about that – guess I’m just bitter. If Mary thinks his novel is good – well I assumed if it was written by that guy, it must suck, but maybe one day when I feel like I don’t loathe everything connected to that guy I might bring myself to read it. What kills me is that a HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR could advocate bombing Iranians or Palestinians. He may have his merits but I believe there’s a special place in hell for the likes of him.
    
    Reply
    - mary says:
      
      February 8, 2010 at 5:18 PM
      
      That is exactly my point. Having read the book, I just cannot imagine this is the same man who wrote “Night.” To say I am disillusioned is an understatement. Wiesel seems to believe that Jews are the only people whose sufferings count in this world. I am appalled by this complete lack of caring for the rest of the human race.
      
      Reply
      - Richard Silverstein says:
        
        February 8, 2010 at 5:57 PM
        
        Some people do great things at one pt in their lives and the rest of their lives either betray that achievement or never live up to it. That’s true of people like Benny Morris & Elie Wiesel among others.
  - Brenna says:
    
    February 9, 2010 at 6:42 AM
    
    The problem is that he LIED about some things in the holocaust and his excuse was “it could have happened.” So he is a spokesperson for nothing and no one.
    
    Reply
    - Elisabeth says:
      
      February 9, 2010 at 1:30 PM
      
      There is a Dutch writer (Jeroen Brouwers) who wrote a novel (already several decades ago) about the experiences of a child in a Japanese internation camp in war-time Indonesia. (Obviously very autobiographical.) He was criticized because he described things that other Dutch survivors of these camps declared not to have been typical of such camps. But it was a novel, and things were described through the eyes of a child. He said “I did not lie, I wrote a novel.”
      
      I do not know what exactly Elie Wielsel made up, and in which book. Was it presented as fact, in an essay, or as the subjective remembrances of a child in war time in a novel? People read such books as fact, and writers should definitely be aware of this. Jerzy Kosinsky’s ‘Painted bird’ (a book I wished I had never read, by the way) turned out to be largely made up as well. It is a complicated issue.
      
      Reply
      - Richard Silverstein says:
        
        February 9, 2010 at 5:49 PM
        
        Night was a novel, not non-fiction.
bar_kochba132 says:

February 8, 2010 at 8:27 AM

I have always wondered about your use of the term “pro-Israel” as an epithet, meaning something like “extremist” or “fascist”. Doesn’t J-Street call itself a “pro-Israel” organization (you do approve of them, don’t you)? Would Yossi Beilin (he is okay, isn’t he?) call himself “pro-Israel”?

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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  February 8, 2010 at 12:41 PM
  
  Read my About page, which explains my usage of the term. I almost always add an adjective to pro Israel to distinguish bet. those like myself who are pro Israel & others who adopt a radical right wing agenda & mislabel it pro Israel (which it is not).
  
  Reply
mary says:

February 8, 2010 at 8:47 AM

I used to admire Wiesel; his book “Night” was so painful to read that I was in awe of his ability to put such suffering into words. I am vastly disappointed in his lack of humanity now. How can this be the same man who wrote that book? I just can’t square it in my mind.

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muhammad says:

February 8, 2010 at 6:48 PM

Iranians do not need Dershowitz to shed crocodile tears for them. they can take of themselves. they also do not need a right winger like Voight.

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- mary says:
  
  February 9, 2010 at 7:33 AM
  
  Both Dersh and Voight need to mind their own business. As for Voight, who does he think he is? Why do movie stars like Voight seem to think they have any gravitas in the political world?
  
  Reply
ali isfahani says:

February 9, 2010 at 12:39 AM

where is the ad?

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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  February 9, 2010 at 1:49 AM
  
  This isn’t the actual printed version fr. the Times, but this is the text of it:
  http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/inthenews.aspx
  
  Reply
Cborg says:

February 9, 2010 at 2:22 PM

To be clear, this post is not a defense of Iran’s current regime. Anyone who reads this blog knows that it is not my purpose…why not defend the Iranian government? It is the democratically elected government of Iran

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- Richard Silverstein says:
  
  February 9, 2010 at 5:52 PM
  
  I don’t choose to defend a government of thugs & murderers whether it’s Iran or any other similar country.
  
  Reply
Holland: Simon Wiesenthalcenteret sætter Jøder op mod Protestanter » Balder Blog says:

March 6, 2010 at 5:36 PM

[...] Krigslystne 'holocaustoverlevende'. Den løgnagtige 'Holocaustoverlevende' Elie Wiesel opfordrer til krig mod Iran sammen med den jødiske ekstremist Alan Dershowitz Reporters Notebook 7 februar 2010 – Wiesel Nobel laureate ad urges Iran sanctions [...]

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