September 10, 2007 ... Superbad.

The term ‘Nazi’ was originally coined as a pejorative for the National Socialist Worker’s Party of Germany (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) as was ‘Sozi’ for its socialist counterpart. Thus, in general terms, it would not be unlikely for there to be an Israeli National Socialist or Socialist Worker’s Party.

However, as per the historical record, Nazism is synonymous with a whole trick-bag of madness predicated upon a particular view of nation, the requirements for citizenship and how those of different race and culture should be dealt with at home and abroad. Jews especially. This, allied to the symbolism associated with Nazism in order to progress political goals, is counter to what would be expected to have become a contemporary feature of Israeli society.

So what is the allure of Nazism for Jews in Israel? The most probable answer to this is two fold. Firstly, the Nazis at the time of World War 2 almost took over the western Europe including Russia, it taking the combined resources of Russia and the western allied powers to defeat them, in spite of the strategic mistakes of the German high-command. It is this ‘would have won except for mistakes’ which is at the heart of neo-Nazism. This attitude is compounded in Germany by its administration’s insistence upon policies which only show Germany in the softest of lights, even if that is damaging to the country’s economic and social well being. To be sure, Germany has a lot of baggage it would dearly love to see the back of. But one does not have to dig too deep to find nasty skeletons in others’ closets. This creates a power vacuum of the mind which Nazism in its neo-Nazi guise serves to fill, in lieu of something better. Which helped to develop Nazism in the first place after World war 1.

Secondly, it is the weakness of Israeli politics allied to the perception of its inability to fend of attacks by terrorists armed with little better than fire-crackers in comparison to Israel’s technical superiority, which serves to create the vacuum for neo-Nazism in Israel. Israel and Jews are perceived to be weak because of inaction at home and from international pressure to conform to certain norms of behaviour during war time. So Nazism--as a metaphor for strength--is the best and strongest philosophy which has yet to be surpassed in its symbolism, iconography and propaganda, which can address this problem in the minds of frustrated Jews who have fled persecution in Russia, yet admire the strong-man tactics of Vladimir Putin and company allied to a resurgence in Russian nationalism. Which is improbably why the Swastika is the symbol of choice for some disaffected Israeli’s.

The temporary solution to this problem of Nazism in Israel, and Germany, is simply to keep the neo-Nazis under surveillance and arrest and prosecute in accordance with the needs of security and to obtain restitution for property damage. In the longer term, Nazism will only be conquered when the weakness of socialism allied to fascism, as it relates to property rights and not the symbolism, iconography and propaganda associated with fascism, is replaced by capitalism and its focus on the individual as the proper foundation of strength.