Channel 12 News analyst Arad Nir drew harsh backlash on Wednesday after equating Israel’s temporary shelter plans for Gaza residents with Nazi concentration camps, a comparison that many viewed as deeply offensive and historically inaccurate.
Nir stated, “The declared intention here in Israel to turn Rafah into a humanitarian safe haven area – a euphemism for a concentration camp – with the intent to transfer and funnel the population there.”
The anchor in the studio, visibly taken aback, responded by questioning the language: “Concentration camp? That takes us back to other times,” prompting Nir to repeat and defend his words. “A concentration camp is a concentration camp. When people are gathered in tent camps amid ruins and are given food there – it’s a concentration camp, and we must also remember the historical connotation.”
Fellow panelist and journalist Shirit Avitan-Cohen immediately countered his comparison. “With all the drama, you cannot compare the tent city being established to a concentration camp. When we were put in concentration camps decades ago, it was to exterminate us. Israel is trying to establish a humanitarian zone – to provide civilians with food, water, medicine, and shelter, and to separate them from Hamas so we can end this war.”
The comment prompted a wave of condemnation, including a statement from Minister Amichai Chikli, who urged that Nir be removed from his position. “Arad Nir’s words are extremely grave. First, they amount to Holocaust distortion if he truly sees any similarity between Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen and humanitarian aid compounds. Second, his words serve as a weapon for enemy propaganda that seeks to dehumanize and Nazify the State of Israel.”
“A glaring red line has been crossed,” Chikli added. “I expect Channel 12 News to unequivocally disavow these statements and fire Arad Nir immediately.”
Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust remembrance authority, also condemned the remarks in a strongly worded statement: “The use of the term ‘concentration camp’ in this context – given its deep historical meaning to the Jewish people – is a serious and inappropriate distortion of the Holocaust. The Nazis established concentration camps as part of their ideology-driven mission to exterminate the Jewish people.”
This isn’t the first time Nir has stirred controversy. Back in 2017, he urged his Twitter followers to check out the work of Carlos Latuff, a Brazilian cartoonist infamous for anti-Israel themes.
At the time, Nir praised Latuff’s illustrations as “sharp” and noted that the artist “as usual, does not spare anyone.” However, Nir failed to acknowledge the antisemitic content in Latuff’s drawings, many of which liken Israel to Nazi Germany.
Latuff received international notoriety after winning first prize in Iran’s 2006 Holocaust denial cartoon contest for one of his anti-Israel sketches.
In another incident in 2022, Nir faced criticism after commenting on the makeup of a right-wing political bloc while discussing poll results on-air. He remarked, “Netanyahu legitimized the Israeli extreme right-winger Itamar Ben Gvir and put him together with Bezalel Smotrich, who wants the State of Israel to be governed according to Torah law, in a party whose very name causes discomfort, Otzma Yehudit.”
Channel 12 responded at the time with a clarification, stating, “We encourage a plurality of opinions, but we will not agree to personal positions leaking into news reports.”
{Matzav.com Israel}