this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Germany to give Holocaust survivors $236 payout to help them cope with October 7 attacks (edition.cnn.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I know it's trendy to shit on Germany rn (and Isreal obviously and for good reason), but 90 year old holocaust survivors surely aren't the ones commiting genocide.
And they very well might have had to relive a trauma that Germany rightfully feels a responsibility for.

So what is the problem with giving those old folks that really had to endure some of the worst things anyone ever had to endure a symbolic sum to show them that they are not forgotten?

This is in no way defending Germanys support of Israel, while it is committing cruel war crimes.
But let's be real here, is this gesture really that outrageous to you?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The question is, what symbolism do people draw from this gesture. The symbolism I see is viewing the current conflict through the lense of 80 years ago. And, in my view, the pervasive of that 80 year old lense to this conflict is the central problem to solving it.

If Germany wants to pay symbolic reparations for the Holocaust, fine. But don't tie it to something that has nothing to do with the Holocaust.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Germany is also the second largest contributor to UNRWA by total amount of money donated since 1952 and the largest donator of food in Gaza in 2023:

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwa-eur-45-million-new-contributions-germany-services-palestine-refugees-jordan-lebanon-syria-and-west-bank

This very much goes against your claims that Germany is viewing this conflict through the lens of 80 years ago. Contrast the 27 million going to Holocaust survivors (a third of which is living in poverty, by the way) against 197 million donated to UNRWA last year and 48 million this year so far.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

my problem is that for some reason we allow groups to distribute these funds who have a long history of shafting the actual holocaust survivors, instead funelling money towards their board of directors and settler projects

[–] [email protected] 39 points 7 months ago

The Hamas-led murderous rampage into southern Israel was the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history, killing at least 1,200 people and abducting more than 250 others. Israeli attacks on Gaza have since killed at least 33,634 Palestinians and injured another 76,214 people, according to the Ministry of Health there.

Jesus fuck, Germany is paying symbolic money to roughly as many genocide survivors in Israel as people have been murdered and injured by Israel committing genocide.

The current German government is an absolute fucking joke, and they are doing everything to actually show it.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago

What is going on in Germany?

[–] [email protected] 66 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The fuck is wrong with everyone

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's simple.

The perfect and unattainable solution is the preferred one, despite nobody even being able to agree on what it is, let alone acknowledge that it's impossible.

But it's still the perfect solution, so anything else is admitting fault, failure, and trying to move forward in reality.

And nobody wants to acknowledge that they live in reality.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

25 million, that's a few percent of the over 350 million of revenue Germany made from selling weapons to Israel [1]. This is a symbolic gesture to keep up good relations with the state of Israel.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/rights-lawyers-go-court-stop-german-arms-deliveries-israel-2024-04-05/

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Given that one third of Israeli Holocaust survivors are living in poverty, a couple hundred bucks for each are more than just symbolic:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/one-third-of-israeli-holocaust-survivors-live-in-poverty-advocates-say

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wow this is so dumb. Good job Germany you dumb shits.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Sounds like Israel should spend less money committing genocide and more money helping victims of it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure one third of everyone lives in poverty

[–] [email protected] -3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What a weird reply. Average poverty rate in Israel is 16.9%:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/233910/poverty-rates-in-oecd-countries/

Almost twice as high points towards significant hardships for Holocaust survivors.

Global average is 46.9%, by the way (but Israel is relatively rich, so it doesn't make sense to compare it to most of the world):

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/march-2023-global-poverty-update-world-bank-challenge-estimating-poverty-pandemic

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Maybe they should stop all the genocidin' if they want to get out of poverty... can't squeeze money from a stone