He talks like he has the intelligence of a soap opera star. His melodrama would be ok at two in the afternoon. Jimmy Carter and Ami should do a road show. Ami could even be a ghost writer for Carter. No Jew in America would do the job. Hey if you need publicity and money, follow Ami. The left will pay anything to recruit idiots like him.

What he is talking about. YOU CAN NOT BLAME THE WORD IN THE PAST, IN THE PRESENT AND IN THE FUTURE USING hOLUCOST, OR ANTISIMESTE. YOU HAVE TO GO FORWARD AND HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE THE FUTURE WITHOUT BLAMING EVERY ONE ON THE PAST. this way you will not intregue the wrold and your self. Good luck

Ben ami forgets that ahmadinejad is not a joke. But listen to this: livin' here in spain for a jew is difficult, for they all the time defend the palestinians (havin' their own terrorism...what a sh..t) and they call israelis terrorist, criminals and genocide-makers. the spanish government and media are one of the most anti - israeli in europe, and they don't really know what holocaust was. Speaking like this in the holocaust memorial day, in a country where they compare what happened to jews to what happened to republicans during their civil war, is not a great idea.

And today, we are threatened again with mass-murder. No one helped us before & no one will help us now. Mr. Ben-Ami is worried about our relationship with the international community? Don't worry, Mr Ben-Ami - they don't give a damn about us.

nothing at all can be compared to the Holocaust. Comparisons do nothing to honor the lost or the State of Israel

People should stop complaining about what happened all the time. It happened, fine. LET'S MOVE ON, please. Don't keep hanging in the past. The future is what we have to focus on. There is a reason why we Chareidim do not join secular Israelis in their minute of silence on "Holocaust Day": the gedolim (great rabbis) decided that first and foremost, we do not have the power to institute new remembrance days for generations to come. But their reasoning, I believe, was also that if we would institute a remembrance day for every disaster that hits us, we would end up with 100 such days every year. We have Tisha b'Av, on which we remember all tragedies. That includes the Shoah. There is no need for another separate remembrance day. In Holland, I remember that last year the calender of a Dutch Jewish website listed 9 events for March, 8 of which were about the Shoah. And 11 events for April, 9 of which were about the Shoah. I got permanently kicked off that website because I said the Dutch Jewish community should quit whining about the past and focus on the FUTURE. Have CHILDREN, educate them as Jews, make sure they marry Jews, go to shul 3 times a day, eat kosher, keep shabbos. That is what you have to do, not cry about the dead every day! Save that for Tisha b'Av! We have more important things, like our future, which we have to focus on right now!

To him, nuclear bombs on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa would not be a Holocaust--perhaps "partly cloudy with occasional rain"? Ahmadinejad calls for annihilating Israel almost every day--but compare him to Hitler? Perish the thought, what bad manners. Ben Ami still thinks Fatah suicide bombings are a peace process.

Mr. Ben Ami violated the rule of Loshon Horah - slander, by criticizing Israel/Jews in front of Goyim. By appearing balanced and fair, he added fuel to the fires of anti-Semitism by legitimitizing a position which weakens us in the eyes of the world and makes us appear paranoid and foolish. Whether his remarks are right or not is something which can be debated among ourselves, but this sort of criticism must not be forwarded in front of the world. Bad move, Shleimelach. Bad move.

is not helpful. It's a valid point.

I think Shlomo Ben Ami has interesting points of view, but some of his statements, out of their context, are usually used by the enemies of Israel. The same problem happens with other Israeli personalities in Europe (Amos Oz, David Grossman, etc.). With respect to Holocaust Day Memorial here in Spain, perhaps it should have been coordinated with Israeli embassy, in order to avoid misunderstandings. By the way, a Spanish town near Madrid decided to replace Holocaust Day by “Palestinian Genocide Day”. Another brilliant idea from our left-wing parties, as usual.

Unfortunately the Mass murder that happened is been constantly abused by some part of our population. There are those 6 Million-Screamers who think they have the privilege to use this point whenever they run out of arguments. They should stop so out of respect for the victims.

to a man of intelligence. Just goes to prove what I always said,the dumbest people in any country are past,present and probably future foreign ministers.

I can understand your irritation: there are too many cases where Israeli politicians don't necessarily take account of local circumstances in the Diaspora. However, rhetorically he is quite right. He clearly wanted to use a platform where he would be heard, and this was a good opportunity. It sounds like the problem is that the Spanish reporting didn't want to understand his point or deliberately focussed on the "internal Israeli" points so as to divert attention from the ones aimed at the Spanish or European audiences.

It is the constant trying of appeasing of the worldand worry about world opinion that is a holocast mentality. Here in Israel our leaders refuse to protrect their citizens and allow thousands of rockets to fall on our towns. They refuse to take the right action and cater to the worlds wishes. Meanwhile showing the world how in fact we have no real reason, nor real claim to live here in the first place. So it is understandable with this kind of weak people running around the world flapping their gums,you get this kind of situations. So you know as a jew living here, Ben Ami is not representing me or many of my fellow jews of this land. It is time to see that the sate is not representing us,but its own worped iedees.

and just as well! Of the suffering from time immemorial and the bitter struggle which started at around the late 19th century and not yet ended. History is past reality and there is no convincing evidence that the world changed, not even when you were Foreign Minister (foreign alright).

David: It is time to see that the sate is not representing us,but its own worped iedees. Abdullah: I am obviously non-zionist. But I have to say that the state of israel is doing its best to protect its citizens. It is clearly limited by the fundamental principles of true zionism, which isn't jewish. But it is really working hard for its citizens like any nation state. IMHO one cannot put ALL the blame on the present leadership or the present secular israeli society who've simply inherited a lot of problems created by the state's founders IMHO. If a person accepts israeli citizenship or even if it is imposed on the individual then one needs to be a good citizen and respect the state and other citizens. Just by being a good traditional jew, G-d "fearing", and engaging in productive activities that are both materailly and morally/spiritually helpful to the individual and to her/his fellow citizens of the country. Of course it hasn't always been easy....

Look at world's reaction to israel and you'll find out that nothing much really changed.

Shomo Ben Ami might not have intended so, but he justified the move of that Spamish town replacing Holocaust Day with 'Palestinian Genocide Day.' Ex- Foregn Minister? One would expect better diplomatic skills.

I address first of all to those who don't know Israel. One of the biggest lies that the EU haters of Israel like to repeat is that "Israel compares current events to Shoah or current leaders to Hitler". There is nobody who compares the Palestinians to Hitler or whatsoever. Give me just one exampe thereof! It's like the lie claming that Israel justifies military activity against Palestinians by Shoa. Such a statement has never been said by any Israeli politician. As to Ahmadinejad, how the appeal to "efface (mahw kardan in Persian) the Zionisy entity" should be depicted if not as an appeal to genocide? It's an interesting phenomenon that some Europeans invent something concerning Israel and are surprised that Israel doesn’t' behave according to this stereotype. The last point is also worth your attention, European anti-Semites and demagogues. Even if we were captives of paranoia, we have ALL good reasons in the world to be it. You expect us to "pass away"? O.K,, let you expect the same from the Palestinians and forget their Nakba and their rights. If you require something EXCLUSIVELY from the Jews while forgetting to require form the others, you are anti-Semites par excellence. It's not Israel that refers always to Shoa, it's you bloody ignorant Europeans, compare us to Nazis ( no to the Frenchies in Algeria, no to the Russians in Afganistan or Yankees in Viet Nam ) because you need to deliberate yourselves from the load of impure conscience: The Jews are as Nazis, and if it is so the Nazis were not so horrible or the Jews were not so innocent. When I was boy in Russia I hears "Kike, go to Palestine". No I hear from Europe " Kike get out from Palestine"

This from the man who brought us Oslo??

AS AFORMER DIPLOMAT REMEMBER DISRAELI WORDS LET THEM WOUNDER WHY YOU DONT TALK, THAT RATHER WH YOU TALK TO MUCH

when both his prime minister and leader of the opposition call on the world to be alert to the danger of a nuclear Iran, Shlomo-Ben-Ami "in the name of balance" explains to the world that they shouldn't take these warnings too seriously.

Not much else has changed. Eurabia is as bad as ever for Jews. Hamas has a charter that calls for killing Jews. Arab papers use the same sorts of propaganda that the Nazis did. NOTHING has changed other than Israel can defend itself. I pray my Jewish brothers and sisters have many children, go on the political, economic, and if necessary, military offensive when necessary. We must do whatever is required to grow and defend ourselves and still have Tikkun Olam. Its a tough balancing act, but no one else can do it. These facts should be pointed out.

Historically and curently, we have fought with either host nations or foreign nations to preserve ourselves from horrendous bouts of anti-semitism, right up to the most catastrophic of all events, the holocaust. We emerged from that history with an identity that was forged completely in reaction to constant and perpetual threats. All of 'Am Yisroel' needs to keep vigilent at all times. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.

he should never be given the position to speak on israel's behalf ever again.

As a proud orthodox Jew, and one named for a Holocaust victim, I find myself agreeing with Ben Ami. Just because he was once senior in the Labour party doesn't make him a left winger, an that anyway is no reason to dismiss his view. We are a strong and determined people, and we are all the poroduict of our histories, but we must not allow those - individually or as a nation - to keep us in their thrall. There are many lessons to be learned from our past, for ourselves and for children and for the rest of the world, and once we have passed those lessons on, we too must move onwards, putting our past in the right context, and not trying to hold onto it or re-live it. The shadow of the Holocaust is long and we must step out from under it. We are strong enough to shed our self image of victims. And if there is anything we should learn from our history it is that we cannot be both - victims and victimisers.