Berlusconi's Holocaust Joke

The Italian Buffoon.

There isn't a European leader more comical than Silvio Berlusconi. The premier would at least be partially redeeming if he had any political principles, but he only entered politics to defend his private interests: which include a quasi-monopoly of the Italian press and media.

103308 berlusconi describes obama young handsome t

His time in office has been marked by numerous scandals. From routine charges of corruption to a divorce trial where his ex-wife accused him of adultery with an 18-year old model.

But Berlusconi has often been a headache for Italian diplomats due to his often offensive statements. An apologist for Mussolini, he describe fascist Italy as a "benign dictatorship" and that “Mussolini did not murder anyone. Mussolini sent people on holiday to confine them.”

And he has exhibited anti-Islam views: A few days after September 11th he dismissed the Islamic world as being inferior to the Christian West and called for a rejuvenated European Christian identity. He's also a fan of the late fanatical Italian anti-Islam writer Oriana Fallaci, who Berlusconi encouraged to run for office.

And know we can add anti-Jewish remarks to his infamous list of stupid statements which have soiled the reputation of Italy's high office:

the Italian leader can be heard telling a joke about a Jew who admits that “during the time of the death camps” he agreed to hide another Jew in his cellar but forced him to pay more than $4,000 a day because “we are Jews.” The joke’s punch line, such as it is, involves the man asking his family if he should finally admit to the man in his cellar that Hitler is dead and the war is over. (Source: The Lede.)

Beyond being insensitive, it plays on the canard that all Jews are greedy for money because "we are Jews".

The Vatican's newspaper has condemned the joke as “deplorable” and “an offense to the sacred memory of six million victims of the Holocaust."

Berlusconi has yet to issue an apology. But what is very amusing and telling is that there hasn't been a response from the Israeli government. When Prince Henry wore a Nazi uniform, the Israeli state denounced it. And recently the Israeli prime minister and president sent words of thanks to Fidel Castro (of all people) because of his sympathy for the history of Jewish suffering. Israel's government is not timid in condemning antisemitism: It involved itself into recent fights with Norway and Sweden due to a Norweigen stamp honoring a Nobel Laureate who happened to be an admirer of Hitler and a Swedish publication which accused Israel of harvesting Palestinian organs, and in the 1990s Israel withdrew its ambassador from Austria after the inclusion of an anti-Semite into the governing cabinet.

But no word on Berlusconi. Maybe because Berlusconi is a pronounced apologist for Israel, one of the few friends a desperate Israel has and is keen to keep. Maybe because of this:

"I brought my government with me here for the first of many meetings," Berlusconi added. "Israel has become one of the five closest countries to Italy. You can turn to us in any request for support in the international community. I want to promise you that this is not just my position. This is also the position of the entire Italian government and people."

"We are lucky that there is a leader such as yourself. I don't believe we have a better friend in the international community," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi during a gala dinner at Jerusalem's King David Hotel Monday night.

No, that can't be it. Israel can't be that cynical as to play the antisemitic card for political purposes in order to silence honest critics while ignoring genuine prejudice amongst people who are conveniently Zionist.

No way. Israel is not to be impugned so unfairly and without foundation.