Heil Harry: Little Harry Hitler’s Swastika Amusement

Steve Yuhas

Princess Diana’s memorial fountain stopped working last week and the Princess herself rolled in her grave as her youngest son disgraced himself and his family by wearing a Nazi uniform to a party. The 20-year-old prince had a surrogate issue a statement indicating that he was sorry for wearing the Nazi uniform, complete with Swastika, and that it was done in poor taste.

As fine an education as the young prince has received, obviously part of his studies didn’t include that part of British history that had Germany bombing Britain every day for months in what became known as The Blitz and the death of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

The Jewish community in Great Britain numbers around 400,000 people. The relatively small Jewish population is concentrated in London and there were approximately 400 anti-Semitic attacks in 2003 (2004 numbers are pending).

Anti-Semitic violence has been increasing at a rate of about 7% a year in the UK since 1999. These activities increased greatly since the British became involved in the Iraq war and with the help of political parties such as the British National Party and extreme and violent Islamic groups like al-Muhajiroun.

Israel has long been a target for many in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party and Tom Dalyell, the longest serving Member of Parliament, was criticized after an interview in which he stated that Blair’s decision to join the Iraq campaign was influenced by a “cabal” of Jewish advisors.

The London Evening Standard was forced into an apology after a positive book review of infamous American Holocaust denier Michael Hoffman III; that review came complete with an anti-Israel article to buttress his position.

The House of Lords had a problem when it determined that the chargeable offense of blasphemy only included Christianity, but eventually the legislature made good when it declared it illegal to discriminate against a person based upon their religion.

When asked in a poll, “Has the scale of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews during the Second World War been exaggerated?” A surprisingly high 25% of British citizens said yes and 15% declared themselves neutral (good thing America didn’t remain neutral when it came to saving Britain from the clutches of Germany during WWII, but to be neutral to the Holocaust is an astonishing concept).

Many in Great Britain have excused Prince Harry’s costume selection as simple immaturity. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the costume was in "bad taste” but were satisfied that he apologized “especially in the run-up to holocaust memorial day on the 27th of this month, which the Royal Family will be taking a leading role in commemorating."

Others were not so forgiving, the Queen's former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter said, "This young man has got to come up front and be seen in person making an apology." Former Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson said that his place at Sandhurst should be forfeited as Diana’s youngest is "no longer suitable" for officer training at the prestigious military academy.

Prince Harry is the epitome of the red headed step child of the British royal family. Where his brother seems to be a well adjusted young man, Harry is just a typical street thug who has the red hair of his mother’s former lover and pride in the uniform of appeaser Neville Chamberlain.

Anti-Semitic rhetoric runs rampant through Europe: cemeteries are desecrated, people and businesses are attacked and the man third in line for the British throne thought it perfectly appropriate to wear a Nazi uniform to a costume party (presumably he wasn’t drunk when he put it on – he knew exactly what he was doing and that he would be photographed wearing it).

It is surprising that twice in as many weeks the British people have been shown to have an unrelenting and nauseating grasp of human events. First was the poll where they ranked Israel as the nation least deserving public respect; then came their prince dressing up as a Nazi.

No wonder so many in Israel hate Israel, their royal family endorses the hatred and with all the body guards and handlers that members of the royal family have – nobody stopped Harry from leaving his palace dressed as a member of the Reich.

Prince Harry should be marginalized in the world and the UK and made to visit Auschwitz to see the results of the people who proudly wore the armband that he partied with last week. That is not where his punishment should end; however, because it is simply not enough.

Marie Antoinette found her end at the blade of the guillotine. Harry likes the uniform of the Third Reich, maybe Harry should meet his the way his heroes the Nazis dealt with Jews during the war that little Harry Hitler would have enjoyed.

Oh wait – the British don’t believe in the death penalty, maybe someone should inform their prince that the Germans did.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego. He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com