home > this article
To hell with Auschwitz, give me Israel
By Ariel Natan Pasko To hell with Auschwitz, and damn those people who invoke its memory, but ignore the injustices being done to the Jewish people today. A certain radical rabbi used to say, "I'd rather be a live Jew that everyone hates, then a dead Jew that everyone mourns over." Today, they mourn over Auschwitz, but are working hard to take away from the Jewish people its most basic national right, its homeland, Israel.
Though most countries (about 150 out of 191 member nations) voted in favor of holding the 60th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz (Jan. 27th) at the UN, the General Assembly was less than half full, and Jordan was the only Arab country that remained during Holocaust memorial speeches by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom. The only representative of an Arab country to speak, was Jordan's UN ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. Yet, he took advantage of the occasion to attack Israel's alleged mistreatment of the "Palestinians," rather than to express solidarity with the sufferings of the Jewish People at the Holocaust commemoration. Referring to "one people dominat[ing] another, deny[ing] the latter many of its most basic rights, and so, with the passage of time, also degrade[ing] it as a people." Where was Israel's peace partner, Egypt? About the UN commemoration, the Egyptian government-owned newspaper, Al-Ahram Al-Messa'i, commented on what it called Israel's "investment" in "the so-called Holocaust." The newspaper criticized the UN for holding the event, writing in its editorial, "The UN adopted the Israeli standpoint, paying no heed to the sufferings of the Palestinians under the Israeli occupation." On the contrary, "commemorating the Holocaust requires opening the issue of the daily Israeli violations against the Palestinians...." There you have it; the Egyptians (and the rest of the Arab/Islamic world) compare the Holocaust to the "Palestinian" situation. But what took the UN 60 years to discuss the Holocaust? Why did a major UN anti-racism conference a couple years ago in Durban, South Africa, ignore Anti-Semitism? Why did the UN declare, "Zionism is Racism" between 1975 and 1991, when the UN itself approved the creation of the State of Israel? Which was the culmination of the Zionist movement's efforts to liberate the Jewish People's homeland from foreign occupation. Who cares what the UN, the Quartet (US, EU, UN, and Russia) and the rest of the world thinks...they're a bunch of liars, hypocrites, and accomplices to murder. Has the past memorialization of the Holocaust prevented any mass murder in the last 60 years? The same hypocrites, who cry today about Auschwitz, watched as Cambodia and Rwanda happened, and now stand on the sidelines, while Arabs in Darfur, Sudan, slaughter black Africans. That includes Kofi Annan. Jews too can get caught up in this duplicity. Recently, some Jewish Gazans adopted an orange Star of David, as a symbol of protest against Ariel Sharon's planned expulsion of Jews from Gaza. Well, you can't imagine how fast they got jumped on. It was a true media frenzy, leftists of all colors, Yad V'Shem (Israel's National Holocaust Museum), a few survivors of the Holocaust (although other survivors in Gaza put on the orange star), and even some assorted "right-wing" supporters of the "settlers" all complained that such a symbol (mimicking the Nazi's use of yellow stars to identify Jews) was too sacrosanct to be used for "political" purposes. Before that, a "right-wing" activist got into trouble writing a public letter comparing the head of the Transfer Authority, Yonaton Bassi, who is in charge of organizing the "settlers" that the Israeli government wants to throw out of their communities, to the "Judenrat" (the Holocaust-era Jewish committees that helped the Nazis organize Jews). People across the Israeli political spectrum criticized her for the comparison, with the usual assortment of leftists calling for a police investigation, with which they obliged. But an important point must be made here. The Holocaust, i.e. the mass murder of about six million Jewish men, women and children during World War II by the Nazis and their helpers, didn't happen overnight. It began by the demonization of Jews (for centuries throughout Europe) and in Nazi Germany in particular. It moved on to the deligitimization of fellow German citizens just because they were Jews, depriving them of home, study, occupation, and business. When the Nazis occupied other countries, mass expulsion of Jews from their homes began. They were moved to "Ghettos," then later deported to labor camps and murder camps. In other words, it was implemented in phases. Those in Israel, who don't like the comparisons to the Holocaust or use of Holocaust-era symbols or language, should act very carefully not to encourage the comparison. Stop the late night surprise expulsions of "illegal" outposts. Stop the brutalizing of Jews by the police, who protest expulsion policies. Stop the demonizing of "settlers". Stop acting like that NOW! The demonization of Jews has been taking place in the Ara/Islamic world for some time now, and the deligitimization of the Jewish people's national political rights (the State of Israel) has followed. Anti-Semitism (or better called Judeo-pathic behavior), masquerading as anti-Zionism is rife again today in Europe and among international leftist circles globally. I guess the "political capital" of the Holocaust has run out, even in Europe, today they barely mourn over dead Jews (except for our newly found friends at the UN). Some even plan the next massacre. While much of the world supports the enemies of Israel (the "Palestinians" for example), "for the sake of peace" no less, Ariel Sharon and his helpers have demonized the "settlers," deligitimizing them and their communities in the process. The democratic exercise of free speech, to voice opposition to Sharon's expulsion plans, has been labeled "extreme right-wing" behavior, and gone beyond some imaginary "red line". Plans to expel over 8,000 Jews from their homes are underway, and numerous "leaks" from high-ranking government officials (like Olmert and Peres) have stated that this is just phase one. Even the discredited former Prime Minister, Ehud Barak (who is planning his political comeback), is still bantying about the Clinton plan, that the late mass murderer Yasser Arafat rejected. That plan, would require the expulsion of about another 50,000 to 80,000 Jews from Judea and Samaria. So, expulsion of Jews from their homes and communities is high on the Israeli political agenda, as they maneuver to make nice with the "Palestinians". How could this be? How could Israel's right to exist be being questioned internationally, while Jew-hatred is flourishing in all quarters, yet Jews are being persecuted in their own homeland? The words of Shimon Peres, just after losing to Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996 (during an interview in the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz) reveals a lot. When asked, "What happened in these elections?" Peres answered, "We lost." The interviewer then asked, "Who is we?" Peres replied, "We, that is the Israelis." The interviewer clarified, "And who won?" Peres said, "All those who do not have an Israeli mentality." Then, the interviewer asked, "And who are they?" Peres answered, "Call it the Jews." So, back in 1996, Shimon Peres already differentiated between, the "religious," the "settlers," and the "nationalists," as "The Jews" who rejected his "Oslo Dreams," and those cosmopolitans willing to compromise on their identity and homeland, "The Israelis". Sharon is just taking it one step further. Peres could only dream his Oslo dreams of peace with the enemies of the Jewish People, and the forced expulsions of the Jews from their homes. But now, Sharon, through his Gaza Expulsion Plan, is working to implement Peres' dream. While Jews as a whole and Israel in particular are under fierce attack globally (both politically and through terrorism), many Jews are also under attack locally in Israel (not only from Kassam rockets and suicidal-genocidal terrorists), but by "The Israelis". "The Israelis" (like Peres and Sharon) prefer to die and be memorialized by the world, rather than confront the world's ire while defending themselves against "Palestinian" terror. "The Israelis" are working hard to destroy "The Jews" lives in Gaza, Samaria and Judea, trying to please the world, rather than sticking to the eternal G-D given truth (that the Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Jewish People). "The Israelis" are trying to uproot the Jewish People's millennia-old love for its homeland. It seems not only has the rest of the world not learned the lessons of the Holocaust, but also "The Israelis" haven't either. "Never Again" as used by international do-gooders has become an empty slogan. It hasn't prevented new genocides, and it hasn't prevented the rise of virulent Judeopathy either. "The Israelis" are just a couple steps behind, hardly preventing attacks against Jews by "Palestinians," always worried what the world will say, and now, planning their own expulsion program. To hell with Auschwitz...and the past, give me life, strength, the glorious future of the Jewish People, and my homeland, the Land of Israel. Ariel Natan Pasko is an independent analyst & consultant. He has a Master's Degree in International Relations & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites, in newspapers, and can be read at: www.geocities.com/ariel_natan_pasko (c) 2005/5765 Pasko
|
| |||||
© 1996-2024, Enter Stage Right and/or its creators. All rights reserved.