Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hitler in Tel Aviv
In the second parking-related hubbub that has infuriated some Jews in about as many months, a YouTube clip that shows the likeness of Adolf Hitler enraged over a 250-shekel parking fine in Tel Aviv, has some Holocaust survivors up in arms. The parody, which borrows footage from “Downfall” — the 2004 movie about Hitler’s final days — shows the Nazi leader calling Tel Aviv’s municipal government “worse than the S.S.”
The Hitler of the parody goes on to complain to his deputies that “all of the money goes to this corrupted city council which for seven years is renovating the same meter-on-meter in Ibn Gavirol” — referring to a street in Tel Aviv.
And, don’t even get “The Fuhrer” started on the city’s public transportation system.
The clip, which contains an expletive, follows.
Haaretz is reporting that the chairman of the Centre of Organizations of Holocaust survivors, Noach Flug — himself a survivor of the Mauthausen concentration camp — wrote to YouTube demanding that the offending clip be removed.
In December, Facebook removed from its site the page of a group called “The Jew Parking Appreciation Club.” The group mocked with hateful language the way Jews park in a Sydney, Australia neighborhood.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
