- "Professor Barry Kosmin, executive director of the
Institute of Jewish Policy Research, said: "The Jewish community is
disturbed by constant references in the media and in political rhetoric
whereby any perceived discrimination, prejudice or violent behaviour is
automatically associated with Nazi Germany.
-
- "There are many other historical events, regimes
and analogies that could and should be drawn on for comparisons, rather
than this constant harping on a unique tragedy, which has hurtful and emotive
resonance."
-
-
- A leading Orangeman has caused outrage by comparing the
treatment of Loyalists in Scotland with that of Jews in Nazi Germany.
-
- Jim MacLean, grand master of the East of Scotland lodge,
said Orangemen were treated as pariahs whose views could be dismissed out
of hand.
-
- He claimed that First Minister Jack McConnell's crackdown
on sectarianism was targeting the Orange Order in an attempt to "marginalise
and demonise" its members.
-
- MacLean's remarks have angered Jewish groups, one of
which said last night that no-one was suggesting "rounding up Orangemen
and setting up factories to kill them".
-
- However, MacLean's comments follow the recent trend among
Loyalists to fly the Israeli flag. They see parallels between Israel's
struggle for survival and the situation in Northern Ireland.
-
- Republicans, meanwhile, have identified themselves with
the Palestinians, sympathising with what they see as their struggle against
oppression.
-
- Now MacLean has taken the historical parallels to even
greater extremes. He told Scotland on Sunday: "Being a Loyalist in
Scotland today is to some degree like being a Jew in Nazi Germany or in
the last days of the Weimar Republic.
-
- "They were treated like people who had no views
worth listening to. They were pariahs so you gave them no kind of hearing."
-
- MacLean insisted the Orange Order was not a sectarian
or bigoted organisation. But he said its members felt under threat.
-
- "The latest attempt by the First Minister and others
to outlaw what they describe as sectarianism, we see as a further example
of an attempt ultimately to marginalise and demonise Protestants,"
he said.
-
- Last night, leading members of the Jewish community criticised
MacLean for the comparisons he had drawn.
-
- Professor Barry Kosmin, executive director of the Institute
of Jewish Policy Research, said: "The Jewish community is disturbed
by constant references in the media and in political rhetoric whereby any
perceived discrimination, prejudice or violent behaviour is automatically
associated with Nazi Germany.
-
- "There are many other historical events, regimes
and analogies that could and should be drawn on for comparisons, rather
than this constant harping on a unique tragedy, which has hurtful and emotive
resonance."
-
- Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of
Jewish Communities, dismissed the idea that the Orange Order was suffering
anything like the same level of persecution as Jews under the Nazis.
-
- "Without wishing to pass any comment on what he
obviously intends to express, nobody as far as I'm aware is suggesting
rounding up Orangemen, throwing them out of work and setting up factories
to kill them," he said.
-
- However, one Holocaust survivor, Zoe Polanska-Palmer,
from Broughty Ferry, backed MacLean. She was 13 when the SS seized her
from her Ukrainian home in 1943 and sent her to Auschwitz, where she was
experimented on by a team of doctors led by Dr Josef Mengele.
-
- Polanska-Palmer, who is not Jewish, said the Scottish
Executive was "overdoing it" by introducing legislation against
religious hatred.
-
- "Far from doing good, they are doing more harm.
People will go underground," she said.
-
- "In the past few years Britain has been becoming
what you would call a fascist state. Maybe some people cannot see it, but
I can visualise what's going to happen because I have lived through it."
-
- Donald Gorrie MSP, who is trying to amend existing legislation
to make religious hatred an aggravating factor in criminal offences, said
the Orange Order had "to some degree brought trouble on their own
heads".
-
- "If people want to march to celebrate the Protestant
traditions, that's okay," he said.
-
- "But there are well authenticated accounts of them
halting outside where a priest lives and belting out some of their worst
songs. That sort of thing is intimidation and it's just causing unnecessary
offence."
-
- A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said it was willing
to listen to any views on the proposed moves to tackle sectarianism. "The
First Minister has made plain that there is no place for sectarian bigotry
and religious hatred in 21st century Scotland. "He is not distinguishing
between, or discriminating against, any religious groups."
-
- The Great Divide
-
- Sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics
in Scotland burst into life during the depression of the 1930s.
-
- Out-of-work Protestants in Glasgow complained that Catholic
immigrants who were drawn to the city in the 19th and early 20th century
were "stealing our jobs".
-
- Orange and Masonic lodges were said to have influenced
the allocation of jobs with the industries on Clydeside in favour of Protestants.
The Church of Scotland also encouraged anti-Catholic feeling, and recently
apologised for doing so.
-
- Rangers and Celtic football clubs came to embody the
divide. In the 1930s, the Scottish Protestant League was challenging the
Tories and Labour for political power, with support in the west of Glasgow,
particularly Govanhill.
-
- After the Second World War, the problem diminished as
the economic and social reasons behind the turmoil became less relevant.
But the troubles in Northern Ireland added renewed impetus which continues
to this day. Since 1995, 11 Celtic and Rangers fans have been murdered
for allegiance to their teams.
-
- http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/scotland.cfm?id=132952003
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