The John Fitzgerald Airport in NYC used to be called the Idlewild Airport, the Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome used to be called the Fiumicino Airport, and before it was called La Guardia, the second airport in NYC used to be called the North Beach Airport.
Nations like to memorialize those they consider giants in their history and culture and they like to think that travelers arriving through those portals would be reminded, even if only subconsciously, to make the identification: “This is JFK country,” or “This is the Da Vinci land.” It is easy to see how that can be viewed as “nationalistic,” perhaps to a worrisome degree to progressive minds.
All the major Swedish airports are named after their locales, as Idlewild and Fiumicino used to be. Suppose the Swedes would like to change the name of their biggest airport, now called Arlanda, what national hero do you think they should select to honor?
In a country of such rich, centuries-old history and culture as Sweden the choice is quite large. Maybe one does not want to go back to Eric the Victorious or to Magnus Ericskon, the Swedish king who abolished slavery 1n 1335 — three centuries before the American colonists clambered on Plymouth Rock and a good five centuries before the Americans abolished slavery (except the Swedes did it without a civil war).
Maybe the candidates should include scientists like Carl Linnaeus or Tycho Brahe? Or national heroes and humanists like Olaf Palme or Dag Hammerskjöld? Playwrights like August Strindberg? How about Alfred Nobel?
None of the above. That would be nationalistic and luckily that is not what is afoot, according to the the Israeli media (emphasis added):
“A group of politicians and intellectuals said on Wednesday that Sweden’s largest airport should be renamed after Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews.
A petition signed by 36 prominent Swedes, including two former prime ministers, called for Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport to be named in Wallenberg’s honor.
“Raoul Wallenberg’s name deserves to fly around the world as a reminder of what one single person can accomplish in the name of humanity,” they wrote in daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
“Naming Sweden’s largest airport after Raoul Wallenberg would also be an important signal against antisemitism and racism, in Sweden as well as abroad, in a time when xenophobia is once again gaining ground.”
Wallenberg, a diplomat posted to Nazi-occupied Budapest in July 1944, is believed to have saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews in the final months of the Holocaust by providing them with protective passports.
…
The 36 petitioners include former prime ministers Goeran Persson and Thorbjoern Faelldin.
Other airports to have been named after major political figures include Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, New York’s John F. Kennedy and Berlin’s Willy Brandt, they noted.”
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Travelers going through Wallenberg Airport will be prompted to think:
” Who controls toponimy controls a part of history and national identification. This is a northern European province of the Jewish Power Empire. I must remember that “humanity” means “Jews only, ” and that the all-important vigilance against anti-semitism must never go dormant. The only worthy Gentiles are those who are good for the Jews.”
Perhaps it is time to reconsider the name of the JFK airport. Not only was JFK no good for the Jews, in fact he was what in today’s language is called “an existential threat” for the state of Israel, as can be seen in the letter below (emphasis added):
JFK’s Letter To Israeli PM Eshkol, July 5, 1963
Dear Mr. Prime Minister (Eshkol),
It gives me great personal pleasure to extend congratulations as you assume your responsibilities as Prime Minister of Israel. You have our friendship and best wishes in your new tasks.
It is on one of these that I am writing you at this time. You are aware, I am sure, of the exchange which I had with Prime Minister Ben-Gurion concerning American visits (ie: inspections -ed) to Israel’s nuclear facility at Dimona. Most recently, the Prime Minister wrote to me on May 27. His words reflected a most intense personal consideration of a problem that I know is not easy for your Government, as it is not for mine.
We welcomed the former Prime Minister’s strong reaffirmation that Dimona will be devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and the reaffirmation also of Israel’s willingness to permit periodic visits (ie: inspections -ed) to Dimona.
I regret having to add to your burdens so soon after your assumption of office, but I feel the crucial importance of this problem necessitates my taking up with you at this early date certain further considerations, arising out of Mr. Ben-Gurion’s May 27 letter, as to the nature and scheduling of such visits.
I am sure you will agree that these visits should be as nearly as possible in accord with international standards, thereby resolving all doubts as to the peaceful intent of the Dimona project. As I wrote Mr. Ben-Gurion, this Government’s commitment to and support of Israel could be seriously jeopardized if it should be thought that we were unable to obtain reliable information on a subject as vital to the peace as the question of Israel’s effort in the nuclear field. Therefore, I asked our scientists to review the alternative schedules of visits we and you had proposed. If Israel’s purposes are to be clear beyond reasonable doubt, I believe that the schedule which would best serve our common purposes would be a visit early this summer, another visit in June 1964, and thereafter at intervals of six months. I am sure that such a schedule should not cause you any more difficulty than that which Mr. Ben-Gurion proposed in his May 27 letter.
It would be essential, and I understand that Mr. Ben-Gurion’s letter was in accord with this, that our scientist have access to all areas of the Dimona site and to any related part of the complex, such as fuel fabrication facilities or plutonium separation plant, and that sufficient time to be allotted for a thorough examination. Knowing that you fully appreciate the truly vital significance of this matter to the future well-being of Israel, to the United States, and internationally, I am sure our carefully considered request will have your most sympathetic attention.
Sincerely,
John F. Kennedy
Luckily for Israel, JFK was killed soon after this letter (something to do with Cubans or Soviets or Mafia, wasn’t it?), so Israel did not have to be subjected to the humiliation of inspections or to worry about their American subsidies being spitefully cut.
The JFK Airport should carry the name of a Righteous Gentile like Henry ‘Scoop’ Jackson, who “saved Soviet Jews” –the only Soviets who suffered in Communism or suffered a lot more. He enabled them to come to the US by the millions, which invigorated the finance industry and certain commerce areas, especially in personal services and entertainment, as well as transplantation surgery.
Photo: Senator Jackson with friends from the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs (JINSA)
It’s a thought. At any rate it would be embarrassing for the US to lag behind Sweden.