she went to Harvard and had no idea of Rowanda? she was not a child at that time. her allegiances to Israel are basically nil and she married a non-Jew so what can we expect from her.

she definitely does not understand the subject or the history. portman should learn some modesty and stop thinking that she is some rennaissance women. she is not. she is quite superficial. the shoa is precisely not simply a genocide of which unfortunately there are quite a few. in order to understan the distinction, portman would have to learn the history of nazi germany, the history of the holocaust and the aims of the nazi regime in its totality.

e.g. where innocent Jews are languishing in prison because they weren't found guilty yet; where the ZIonists kidnapped over 5.000 Yemenite children and sold them to childless Jews and non-Jews all over the world; where the Zionists forced thousands of Yemenite, Sephardic and other children to leave the Jewish fold and become secular Zionists; where Yitzchak Rabin was behind the murder of 19 Israelis; oh there are so many more Zionists atrocities that can fill up volumes and volumes of books.

Although Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem (does it say Israel in her U.S. passport?), the views she expresses are those of a naive American. She says that Jews only learn about the Shoah. Did she attend a Jewish Day School in the States where that was all that was taught? She certainly has the right to oppose any Israeli policy she chooses, but if she really wants to be part of the action here, she should consider living here.

The Shoah is different from all genocides & is a turning point for civilisation. Natalie Portman is only right at the level of the individual victim or of the families who lost a relative. For these people all genocides are equally atrocious. But the Shoah unfortunately can be distinguished from even the genocide of the Armenians. The Turks did massacre more than a million of helpless people, but they also spared some whom they compelled to Islam, some women & children to be used as semi slaves. The Germans wanted the total extermination , without any exception of all Jews (and eventually of all non “Aryans). That the government of a highly civilized country could have such a major objective & the means to do it, is a major turning point in the history of civilisations. The Nazis & their collaborators demonstrated that even with conventional weapons it was now possible to annihilate a whole nation, even a civilisation. This was not possible before the 20th century. Even when he was under siege in his bunker did not order his SS & gestapo to stop the deportation of Jews & return to Germany to defend the invaded country. Yes, for victims all genocides are equally tragic. But for humankind the Shoah is the most tragic of all signs of its weakness & criminal potential now threatening on a global scale with nuclear & other weapons of mass destruction. So the teaching of the Shoah in schools should be the rule in any country. It has lessons for everyone.

There should be many heads hung in shame. That there is competition to decide which genocide has prime position in the global collection of genocides is utterly disgraceful. Was the Shoah unique? Of course it was, in so many ways, not least because of the scale and industrialsed way it was undertaken. Not least because it is contextualised in a long history of violent antisemitism. Not least because it is etched on the Jewish collective soul. At the same time, victims are victims. Pain is pain. Murder is murder. A survivor of, say, a Rwandan family killed in a genocidal action, is hardly likely to be comforted knowing that it was not as bad as the Holocaust! Portman is correct and those of you who are eager to damn her just to display egotistical righteous indignation might wish to pause for a moment to reflect on what she was really saying.

There is such a colossal difference between the holocast and other atrocities. The most important point is that it came about in the most civilised country in the world-doctors and academics became raving animals while ordering the killing and humiliation of innocents to the music of classical composers. The saddest note of american jewry to the holocaust-a generation was brought up on ONLY on holocaust as an identity as jews and failed hopelessly to see the beauty of living a true jewish life

EEBEN SMART BEOPLE CAN BE UTTERLY STOOPID

As much as I like Natalie Portman as an actress, it's a pity she apparently doesn't know what makes the Holocaust unique among all the other genocides throughout human history. The Nazi's goal (and pathological obsession) was to exterminate Jews regardless of where they lived or what they believed. As horrible as the Rwanda, Armenian or Cambodian genocides were, their perpetrators did not systematically plan to kill their victims wherever they lived. On the other hand, as an Israeli I am ashamed my government has never officially recognized the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottomans.

Natalie, seems unaware of the fact that Israeli interest and concern is a one sided affair. There is no group that will be more interested solely intake selves and where all other people's are viewed as lesser.

They have been condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a number of Jewish organizations and leaders, by organizations representing the interests of Holocaust survivors, as well as by Holocaust survivors themselves. Do you think you know better than they do what constitutes the difference between a legitimate concern for the victims of other genocides and riding roughshod over the feelings of Holocaust survivors in a callous and self-righteous manner?

There is no racism within Jewish Israeli society that even comes close to the bigotry displayed by Ashkenazi Haredim towards Sephardim. They even try to bar Sephardi children from their schools. Without government intervention, they would have succeeded.

"Why there are more that thirty thousand Jews in Iran and do not what to immigrate to Israel." Really? Now for the facts. The most recent census of Jews in Iran is 8,756. The vast majority of Jews LEFT Iran after the Iranian Revolution, and those who did leave have a very different take on the situation there than the ones still remaining. By the way, the number of Jews in Israel with Iranian Jewish heritage is estimated at 200,000-250,000. So much for the claim that "they don't want to immigrate to Israel".

This will play well in the Arab world, Germany, Iran and much of the EU.

that education in the States does not touch on the Holocaust or any areas outside of the States that doesn't concern the States. At least during the 60's. Only history lessons we received were about Britain vs. America and American history. Of course, there might have been some areas in the States that did teach Holocaust then and during the years later on.

As a Jew from an Arab country who had to flee my country, I know that you are a liar and a historical revisionist. Ms Portman has made your day.

or families watching news together and discussing world affairs? For a Harvard educated woman she doesn't look too bright right now. It would be nice if Israel actively sought justice for other countries in the world. If one looks at the media it appears that we are indifferent. But it's only been 80 years ago that a country systemically and evily did it's best to exterminate its' own citizens. As Jews thousands of years of being invited into countries and then murdered has left us a little traumatized.

I highly commend the curriculum and other offerings of the organization "Facing History and Ourselves" that teaches about the Holocaust and about the dynamics that contributed to it. Its intent is to pass on knowledge AND to develop students' ability to recognize and oppose collective violence. With the Holocaust at its center it addresses other genocides as well, and includes a focus on youth living in violent environments. "Facing History" is a standard part of the curriculum in school systems throughout the country.

I found this information from Google. It states that fewer than 30,000 Jews live in Iran today compared to more than 100,000 in 1970. Google is supposed to be a reliable source for information.

Google is a broad search engine. Narrow your search if you want facts. Ezra and Nehemiah Plan pertained to Iraqi Jews. They were forced to renounce Iraqi citizenship and their belongings and property were confiscated. They did not they give up the right to request future compensation.

"It states that fewer than 30,000 Jews live in Iran today." Yes, Harold, and the last official census in Iran counted 8756 Jews. And if you remember elementary school math, that's indeed less than 30,000. By the way, my heritage is Middle Eastern Jewish, and I know that my family's assets and possessions and bank accounts were simply frozen by the government and seized. No one signed any affidavit renouncing their claims to their stolen property. That's simply a lie. They were simply given a "laisser passer", a one-way ticket out, with little more than the clothes on their back. Your life was saved by a Jew? As the saying goes, "no good deed goes unpunished".

I have no doubt that Portman's or anyone else's opinions will be condemned by somebody or other. You have read - I hope - my comments on the Shoah. They are unequivical. However, there are, as you know, Holocaust survivors who indeed wish to make connections with other genocides but I guess you would condemn them too.