You have a great way of illustrating your point and I really enjoy reading your comments. And clearly, you make a lot of good points. Points that make people think. That is a real gift.

That said, while you may be right about Holocaust deniers in public life being ridiculed, among the masses-it does exist. And it is growing. No one denies it happened. They just deny that it was worse than what has happened to other groups.

One area of concern is how the subject is taught in our local public schools. While they may teach the dates and numbers; they are not teaching the horror of it-or the reasons for it. Mark my words, the upcoming generations will not only be poorly educated on the subject-they will feel no moral responsibility for it-or to prevent it. What then?

As for adults, I would say that most people I know agree it happened, but many don’t really care. And if they don’t care, what do you think they are teaching their children? When I grew up, families watched numerous movies on the subject. Our school not only taught it, they had visitors come in and talk about it. We didn’t study dates; we were required to write papers explaining how an entire country could stand by and allow it to happen. And we were taught in school, at home and in church that it was our personal responsibility to see that it never happened again. I guarantee you that our 7th and 8th graders are not receiving that same education.

In addition, there has been a definite rise in anti-Jewish comments, both serious ones and ones said as a joke, especially among young people. And there has been a rise in negative feelings in adults as well. For example, a growing number of Americans blame Israel for our problems with the Middle East. They think that if we stopped being Israel’s ally then Iran would be our new best friend and we would have cheap gas and a great economy forever. Sound stupid? Absolutely. But there are many Americans who genuinely believe that. And that is why it is so important that every American be educated and in some cases: re-educated about the Holocaust. For if we can not give the American people a compelling and emotional reason to support Israel-they will go for the cheap gas and the great economy. But if you have a better, more compelling reason to argue for Israel’s support, I’m open to ideas

As for your comments about the fact that there are other groups that have been persecuted. It’s a good point. And one that I have heard with some regularity. The comment or question I might hear from people goes something like this:

“Why should the Jews get special protection? The Chinese are imprisoning and torturing Christians. Saudi Arabia does the same. Christian students have been beheaded in Indonesia. In Iraq, Christians are leaving. In the Sudan, in North Korea… And it’s all true. And it’s horrifying. And being a devout Christian, I am deeply concerned.

But…here’s my answer. No group has been as consistently persecuted as those of Jewish faith have been. They were, are, and always will be – God’s Chosen People. And God loves them in a very unique and special way. For that reason, and that reason alone, they are deserving of our support and protection.

And if, after that, a more “factual” reason is needed as to why, whether or not we solve the problems in the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, China…-we must solve the problems in Israel -now. Then I would simply point to the numbers. There are varying numbers bandied about, but the last ones I have seen put Christians at a billion to two billion in number. They put Muslims at well over a billion as well. The last numbers I have seen for those of Jewish faith put them somewhere between 14 and 20 million. I have no idea which numbers are right. But it’s clear that compared to other religious groups, those of Jewish faith comprise a very, very small group. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that is proof enough for me that they have suffered far more than any other religious group.

Are we responsible for the crimes committed by people who came decades, and perhaps centuries before us? No.

But do we, as human beings have a responsibility to do our best to make amends and to stop the persecution of these brave people?

Yes. I believe we do.

The Shoah isn’t even the only time one-third of World Jewry was murdered.

The same slaughter occurred in Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century (how do you think Queen Isabella really financed Columbus?) and again in the first century of the Common Era when the Romans expelled Jews and began the Great Diaspora.

B’shalom,

Jeff

But as a person deeply steeped in history, my college major, I also can’t help but notice how the overemphasis of this tragedy has had the effect of sending the message (especially to those who don’t know their history) that the Holocaust was sui generis, the ONLY time in world history in which millions were murdered. That’s hardly the case. Pol Pot in Cambodia, Stalin in Russia, Mao in China all perpetrated slaughter & genocide on a similar scale. The Turkish genocide of Armenians was smaller in sheer numbers, about a million and a half, but similar in every other way, except one (and this is important): they were all less systematic than the Nazi extermination, which makes the Holocaust worse, because it was more cold blooded and premeditated than the others.

Another related problem presents itself. The sharp and sometimes exlusive focus on Jews in this genocide leaves the average person unaware that Jews represented only about half of the Nazi’s murders. I’d wager that if you asked the average person in the street how many were killed in the Holocaust, they’d say 6 million, the number always used to tell the Jewish part of this story. The real number was about twice that. Don’t the lives of gypsies and homosexuals count just as much as the lives of Jews?

While I can understand your perspective and the reason you raise it, I disagree. The reason the world doesn’t want to hear about the Holocost anymore is that it doesn’t want to hear about it-period. And, in fact, more and more people tend to claim it “really wasn’t as bad as people say.”

While I admit that you raise one point in that those who were sent to Auschwitz were defenseless and Israel is not has some merit-it does not change our own culpability. Because if the United States sent troops over there: the so-called war would be over. If we told Israel-do whatever you have to do and we will support you-it would end. But instead we tell Israel to “be careful”, don’t fight “too hard” or “too long”. As in the recent war with Lebannon, we’re sending mixed messages and the message that the Palestinians are getting is that to win-they just have to not surrender. That’s no way to fight a war. War is a horrible thing. But if you are going to fight it; then you need to fight it all the way. Otherwise, you are just wasting the lives of some of the bravest young men and women that Israel has.

As for comparing the hatred posessed by Nazi Germany to that of Radical Islam-not only is it true. It is working. I have hosted numerous speakers from Israel to speak to local officials; civic groups and church groups… One in particular tells her story of how her parents were both in one of the camps. They later came to New York. But they never really recovered. For hours her mother would tell her of the camps. When she grew up, she moved to Israel because she wanted to be “safe”. She wanted to live in a country that was “Jewish”, where they could defend themselves. Her story has touched countless hearts and many of these people in turn have either traveled to Israel to show their support or started ording products from Israel to help their economy. They call their congressman and the president insisting that we must do better by Israel. All because they had the chance to hear the truth. Perhaps there is not a “market” these days for the truth-but it doesn’t make it less important.

The past does matter. For Israel was re-created because of WWII. The reason it has a right to exist is, at least in part, due to WWII. And yet, every since its creation, it has been under attack. And if we want Americans to truly support the defense of Israel, then we must help them to understand why they have a right to exist.

As for our culpability? We are not blameless. Sure, we send money. But we have sent money to Palestine as well. When we send our troops over to stand side by side with the members of the IDF-then we can truly say that we support Israel’s right to exist. Until then-we’re just playing politics as usual. The people of Israel have survived so much; they deserve better than that.

Theresa, much of the world has long since tired of Israel’s supporters forever using the Holocaust as the be-all defense of everything it does, and for a simple reason. It’s a specious comparison to suggest parallels between on the one hand the ’40s, when the world’s second strongest power, Germany, was killing stateless, defenseless people (and not just Jews, it should be noted), and on the other hand the Middle East today, where the region’s strongest state, nuclear-enabled Israel (backed at every turn by the world’s strongest power), is more than capable of defending itself, including by pre-emptively taking out budding nuclear reactors with airstrikes, as it did in Iraq in 1981.

To say that the world is culpable for standing by and watching poor, defenseless Israel being preyed upon is a little rich, given both the level of foreign aid we heap upon it and the fact that this is a country that has always easily won every war it ever fought with its neighbors.

When the Israeli tanks rolled north across the Lebanese border in 1982 I was sitting in Professor Doxy’s class on the Middle East waiting to take the final.

As he handed around the exams, we joked that Doxy ought to cancel the test because everything had changed.

Little did we neophyte political scientists know how prophetic we were that afternoon.

B’shalom,

Jeff

Let’s be honest. If rockets kept coming over the Mexican border and the Mexican government wouldn’t stop it-we would do the same thing. And if we’re honest, I think we’ll admit that if we held a child, bloodied beyond recognition and watched them die from yet ANOTHER suicide bomb or rocket-we’d be fighting back too.

What exactly should Israel wait for-another Auschwitz? The Palestinians don’t want peace-they never have. And this war is not about “land”. It never was. Israel has given up land. But the Palestinians don’t want part of the land-they want it all!

When will we learn…The kind of hatred that Nazi Germany had is the same exact kind that Radical Islam has. They want Israel destroyed and every Jewish person gone or dead. Their hatred can not be negotiated with and it can not be appeased. And if people don’t wake up to that fact soon-it may well be too late.

And this time, people will not be able to claim “they didn’t stop it, because they didn’t know”. We all know exactly what the President of Iran and the Hamas intend to do, but to date we have lacked the courage to stand up to them.

As for “words”. You are right-words mean nothing. And every day that we as a nation fail to act, we must face the fact that we are as responsible for those injured in Israel as the Hamas are. For we have watched for months and years as Israel has been attacked over and over-and we have done nothing.

If we truly support Israel, then we should be sending troops to assist them. And if we really did that, the Hamas would back down. They are not strong enough -yet- for an all out war with the United States. But we haven’t done that. Instead we mouth meaningless platitudes and send checks. Sounds a lot like what countries did before WWII…

Speaking of which…What exactly is the difference between the Germans who watched Jewish families being put on the trains for Auschwitz-and did nothing. And us, for we have watched as the Jewish families in Israel have been attacked over and over-and we have done nothing.

Personally, I don’t see a big difference.