never again - so the world pledged

Never Again – So the world pledged

For 80 years the world has sympathised with and supported Israel through the prism of the indescribably brutal holocaust. For generations to come the world will now view Israel through the prism of its atrocities in Gaza.  This will be a huge burden for members of the Jewish community to bear, especially as it was not carried out with their imprimatur, but through its vengefully and ideologically driven self-interested and self-aggrandising inner political circle.  Waging war has always served the self-interest of those doing the waging.

Appropriately there are multiple holocaust memorial sites throughout the world including many in Australia:  the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre; The Jewish Holocaust Centre Melbourne; Centre for Progressive Judaism Kew, Victoria, Holocaust Memorial; Melbourne General Cemetery Holocaust Memorial; Magen, Shoah, The Central Synagogue, Sydney.

On 1 November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly created the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to be celebrated on 27 January every year.  The first purpose of the day is to remember the lives of an estimated one third of European Jews, together with thousands of others unwanted by the Nazis, who were slaughtered on the pretext they were an inferior race, whose very existence sullied the lives of a supposedly superior Aryan race.

Its other prime purpose was to remind the world that this horror happened, it must not happen again, and there must be fierce human resolve to uphold human rights.

Netanyahu and those who support him do all in their power to diminish, criticize, or stymie those who wish to uphold this, the second purpose of Holocaust remembrance. Cynically the name ‘holocaust’ has been weaponized through the IHRA definition, to accuse as antisemitic those who dare to highlight the human rights violations of the State of Israel.

While the scale of what happened in Europe in the 1930s and 40s dwarves other atrocities, such as Armenia, Rwanda, and now Gaza, similarities are appalling.

• Populations must first be inculcated with a false narrative, convincing them they and especially their leaders, are in the right. But ……. Palestine was not an empty land.  …… Palestinians are not inferior human beings. …… The land does not belong exclusively to Jews. ….. The land now occupied was not ceded, or bought, it was taken violently.  ……. Palestinians are not violent people, they are peace loving people who have for generations been glad to live harmoniously alongside others.  ……. The violence, as deplorable as it was, did not commence on October 7, it began with Palestinians being made aliens to their own land in 1948, again in 1967 and has continued, even escalated, ever since.  Gaza is largely populated by refugees. Hamas is the product of this alienation. And yes, Palestinians are also Semites.

All human beings are responsible for their own actions, but we are also responsible for actions of others that emanate from what we have done to them.

• Those committing atrocities do all in their power to conceal or deny what they are doing.  The Nazis, believing they would win the war, did all within their power to conceal what they were doing.  Had they won the war the world may never have known.  Netanyahu refuses foreign media access to Gaza. The killing of journalists at the Nasser hospital was not a ‘regrettable accident’. They were targeted. The UN says 242 journalists have died in Gaza since October 7. Netanyahu continues to deny what is in clear sight. After every appalling incident Israel tells us there will be an investigation. The ‘investigation’ is not transparent and there are never any consequences.

Truth always flourishes in the light; evil can only flourish in the dark.

• The image of emaciated Jewish figures, victims of Nazi starvation and humiliation are forever burned into my mind.  It was not enough to exterminate, it was necessary to starve, torture and humiliate.  That the same is happening in Gaza is fiercely denied but is beyond dispute. How so?  International humanitarian organisations have been stopped from operating. UNWRA, the most effect vehicle of food distribution has been banned on the pretext it has Hamas fingerprints on it.  Zomi Frankcom the Australian aid worker with World Central Kitchens was targeted and killed with other aid workers despite her vehicle clearly displaying its identity and posting its travel details. The agency no longer works in Gaza.  Israel wants complete control of food distribution that it might limit it.  Countless Gazans have been shot trying to access food.  

It is not simply morally wrong, it is unlawful to deny essential sustenance to any human being, in any circumstance.  This is a war crime

• The European Jewish community, through hard work, ability, and research accessed considerable wealth assets and influence. The Nazis pillaged these assets to their advantage. The facts of the matter are that Netanyahu and those who support him are doing the same. It is clear the Israeli government wishes to push Palestinians out of West Bank land, generationally theirs, into small enclaves. The speed at which this is being done is escalating, not least through planned new illegal settlements that will cut the West Bank in half. It is also brazenly clear that they wish to take the Gaza strip, making it Israel’s riviera. (How much of this Trump wants, for himself is less clear). Make no mistake, this is an open and unapologetic grab for Palestinian assets that the international community should be protecting.

What should never happen again is happening in clear sight. The US has the power to stop it and chooses not. It is complicit.

Tony Blair, Jared Kushner, as you meet to plan the future of what will be left of Gaza, with no input from Palestinians, you might first consider how to stop the killing and starvation. Then the first item on your agenda should be a memorial which names every single, child, parent, elderly citizen, aid worker, medical practitioner, journalist who have lost their lives.  As you contemplate this task you might also contemplate the lifelong trauma that the living will have to endure.

You may then like to contemplate the shame and ignominy of dreaming to build your ‘riviera’ over the rubble you have caused, actively, or complicitly.
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I write for the people of Gaza, including the October 7 Kibbutz hostages (apparently expendable to the Netanyahu agenda of blitzkrieg) with words from this weekend’s lectionary ringing in my ears: Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured as though yourselves are being tortured. (Hebrews 13: 3)