One of the last remaining Auschwitz survivors has launched a blistering attack on Israel over its occupation of Palestine, The Herald reports. Dr Hajo Meyer, 86, sparked a furious reaction from hardline Jewish lobby groups, with Dr Meyer branded an "anti-Semite" and accused of abusing his position as a Holocaust survivor.
Dr Meyer said there were parallels between the treatment of Jews by the Nazis and the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis. "The Israelis tried to dehumanise the Palestinians, just like the Nazis tried to dehumanise me. Nobody should dehumanise any other and those who try to dehumanise another are not human," he said. Dr Meyer also insisted the definition of "antisemitic" had now changed. "Formerly an antisemite was somebody who hated Jews because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an antisemite is somebody who is hated by Jews," the 86-year-old death camp survivor said as he began a lecture tour of Scotland. "Maybe we should start calling "real anti-semitism" by another name," one internet commentator suggested. "Maybe something that does not suggest that the plight of this one group of people is completely unconnected to the plight of others? This may sound crazy, but I suggest the term racism."
