The Threat from Iran: The New Nazis

The touchstone for evil in history is clearly the Nazis. Today, there is a new touchstone: Iran. While some fear making such a comparison, doing so today is not outlandish. It is simply common sense. The Mullahs in Iran are the new Nazis.

Once again, Iran’s President—fraudulently elected as he was—put himself on exhibit at the UN for all to see, and of course for all to see what he represents. Seeing him in action should leave no one in doubt of this comparison. What should be surprising is that our leaders and those of our allies know these facts all too well and say history cannot and does not repeat itself. Well, it doesn’t take a Ouija Board or a crystal ball to divine the mysteries of Iran’s actions. They make that clear every day. They make war on the West through terrorism, preach the destruction of the Jews, arm themselves with missiles and the nuclear weapons to empower them.

Iran has rigged its own Presidential election and then used snipers from rooftops and terrorists on motorcycles to put down the brave protestors who dared to challenge that fraudulent outcome. It is Iran, of course, that races to gain nuclear status pleading innocence along the way while denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel’s destruction. It is also Iran that kidnaps Americans, funds attacks against American troops in Iraq, promotes Hezbollah and Hamas against Israelis, Lebanese, and Palestinians daring to oppose them, and befriends our enemies around the world, such as Cuba’s Castros, Venezuela’s Chavez, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, among others.

Let’s also not forget its alliance with Syria, another nation that seeks Israel’s destruction and a staunch ally of Hezbollah and the provider of the killers of American troops in Iraq. It seems as if they are going out of their way to prove the comparison.

Amazingly, others see this resemblance as well. On August 23, 2009, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan published an article by Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Al-Fahd, quoted by MEMRI which said in part, “This ideology, and the way it is being implemented, resemble Hitler’s occupation of Europe, which began in Poland. Hitler’s aim in occupying Europe was neither to compel the Poles, the French, or the Belgians to salute him by raising their arms and saying ‘Heil Hitler,’ nor to have portraits of him and his mistress hung on historical buildings. [Rather,] he occupied Europe so as to use the treasures of [European] countries to build a German empire…Iran employs various means [to achieve its goal]: it supports Al-Maliki’s party in Iraq; it sends money… to Hizbullah in Lebanon; its ambassador meets with parliamentary candidates and former parliament members of various democratic countries in [Iran’s] embassy. And it seeks not so much to revive ‘the rule of the jurisprudent’ as it seeks to take over these countries and to plunder whatever it can lay its hands on.

What is even more alarming is the abject appeasement – political and business — coming out of Europe and scarily, from our own government. It’s eerie to compare the rank appeasement of Iran these days. There is an absolute refusal to place further sanctions on Iran with European states fearing a loss of business with their terrorist business partners. Business lined up in the 1930s to make deals with the Nazis so why shouldn’t they do so now with the Iranians. Business, after all, is business. It seems ethical concerns play no role in a company’s decisions when it comes to dealing with Iran. Governments and individuals downplay Iran’s actions, excusing its violence and threats, rushing headlong into negotiations with that regime. Israel’s fears of Iran’s nuclearization are chalked up to irrational fears and at worst, a continuing Jewish plot – playing, of course, directly into Iran’s rhetoric. Its as if we’ve been collectively beamed back to the 1930s to hear the likes of Joseph P. Kennedy, Charles Lindbergh and Neville Chamberlin all downplaying the intentions of Nazi Germany despite how simply obvious it was to see – even in hindsight.

There should be no real problem to understanding the similarities. Yes, it can be argued that Iranians are not Germans in many ways and the world might just be a bit wiser now. Yet a regime that officially denies the Holocaust perpetrated by its spiritual predecessors for the purpose of delegitimizing and terminating the State of Israel should not be disregarded. Like the Nazis, the regime in Iran lays it plans out quite clearly regarding the Jews and we refuse to believe it. In the 1930s few believed the Nazis either, despite daily statements declaring it. When confronted with their violence, like the Nazis too, the Iranians make threats and challenge the audacity to make such a charge despite every visible sign verifying the charge. The regime in Iran is spoiling for a fight and daring anyone to respond.

Let us face facts. The leaders in Iran are the new Nazis. We should call them for what they are. Better yet, we should treat them like Nazis and isolate them until they join the Nazis on the trash heap of history. Deal with them now before, like their spiritual ancestors, they become too big for us to handle and a real battle takes place. We are headed for trouble unless we wake up to the facts and label and treat the Iranian regime as the new Nazis.

Cutting Edge commentator Gregg J. Rickman, Ph.D, served as the first U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism from 2006-2009. He is a Senior Fellow for the Study and Combat of Anti-Semitism at the Institute on Religion and Policy and a Visiting Fellow at The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism at Yale University.