I didn’t know Mohandas Gandhi had a grandson named Arun Gandhi until I read this.

Now, intemperate remarks about Israel and Jews being "the biggest players" in a global culture of violence have gotten Gandhi removed as president of the peace center he launched in 1991.

"My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence," Gandhi said Friday, a day after the institute’s board accepted his resignation.

Gandhian Studies was once the rage for reasons as numerous as the tomes written by and about him. It is horribly passé now. From the glimpse I’ve had into his profile, Arun Gandhi has built a successful career expounding his illustrious grandfather’s practices in theory.

However, he also shares his grandfather’s incurable penchant for Islam-appeasement, which has landed him in sudden trouble. He gets the script wrong from the start.

Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience — a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed… The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger.

Followed by something, which would be ridiculous if it wasn’t written in all seriousness:

We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.

This stuff is so outrageous that it’s hard to even begin to frame a reasonable response. And so it has received a torrent of the kind of response it deserves. I’ve pasted just the tastiest of them:

Perhaps it is this passive Indian approach to things that has helped maintaine the festering squalor that passers-by at the Mumbai airport are treated to. Tul karm m’eneychah. [daweeni:]

I am older than Mr. Gandhi and still remember the time when Indians ran around the world with their holier-than-thou attitude sanctimoniously preaching against nuclear weapons. Then they got their own bomb.

I see that nothing has changed. [David Sternlight, Ph.D.]

You make a living based on who your GRANDPA was? Give me a break. You say that Israel is the "biggest player" in violence? Did you forget the slaughter in AFRICA? What about the violence all around INDIA? What of the wars in Europe and the Middle East?

You are yet another Jew-hating, Israel-slandering, left-wing, misguided hippie living off the entitlement of a famous name.

Get a life, Ghandi! [You a misguided dweeb:]

Now I agree that Israel sometimes acts aggressively (and in a disproportionately violent manner) when dealing with Palestinian violence. This policy has not worked and has made Israel less, not more, secure. But I do not see why a Muslim Palestine nation cannot live in peace with Israel. Muslim nations that call for the destruction
of Israel should remember that there are many people in this world who have given up land to accomodate others in peace. Otherwise, as an Indian I suppose we should seek the destruction of Pakistan because
they took our land. Yet, have you ever heard of Indian terrorists carrying out terrorism in Pakistan in the name of a undivided Hindu land? But there are Islamic terrorists from Pakistan spreading death and destruction in India because they want more land, they want Kashmir! So I do not know what Mr. Gandhi is talking about. The security of Israel is non-negotiable. [Dave:]

Arun Gandhi has apologized for his "poorly-worded post." But irreparable damage had already ensued. You don’t say stuff like that in public and not expect a mere apology to restore your reputation. Even the apology is an exhibit in its own right. Of all things.

I am writing to correct some regrettable mis-impressions I have given in my comments on my blog this week. While I stand behind my criticisms of the use of violence by recent Israeli governments — and I have criticized the governments of the U.S., India and China in much the same way — I want to correct statements that I made with insufficient care, and that have inflicted unnecessary hurt and caused anger. … While we must strive for a future of peace that rejects violence, it is also important not to forget the past, lest we fail to learn from it.
Having learned from it, we can then find the path to peace and rejection of violence through forgiveness.

Right. But why doesn’t he start spreading his message of non-violence to the rogue states that surround Israel and India? This non-violence business is funny. And bloody.

Arun Gandhi should have really learnt how to quietly enjoy the prosperity he has built on the foundations of his grandfather’s non-violent legacy.