Jerusalem Insights Magazine : News, Views, and Insights from Israel

a weblog from shorashim of the old city biblical shop

Home

Current Events

Perspectives

Holocaust Day Wariness

Written by Dr. Tzahit Shoshani

This Thursday, Israel and Jews worldwide mark the annual Holocaust Commemoration Day. Misconceptions about Jewish history and the establishment of the State of Israel still abound and stoke a merciless blaze of criticism that has led to hopeless paths towards ineffectual peace plans in the Middle East.

Foreign peace initiatives are all about carving out tiny Israel, ethnically cleansing the Jewish population and giving yet more land for Arab domination, in addition to the 22 existing Arab countries (within a total of 50 Muslim countries). Such solutions fail to acknowledge an objective reality whereby prior Israeli pull-outs proved only to exacerbate terrorism against Israeli civilians. When Israel pulled out of Gaza and southern Lebanon (occupied in response to unrelenting terror attacks and provocations), terrorist organizations continued to thrive wildly and build up arsenals of ammunitions and bombs to be used indiscriminately against civilians.

There is a 20% Arab citizenship within Israel's Green Line, with full democratic rights, welfare, subsidized healthcare, representation in the Israeli parliament and government, and elected Arab mayors. Arabs are found in all lines of profession, and although there is some degree of undeniable discrimination in this imperfect reality, vocal and open support by many Israeli Arabs of Hizbullah and of Palestinian terror attacks surely does not help.

While accusing Israel of "apartheid," Palestinians demand 100% Jew-free territories, Judenrein. And the mere suggestion of a population exchange or even transfer of Palestinians, in the exact same manner as was implemented towards Jews in Gaza and some West Bank settlements, is unspeakable, considered racist, and provides a raging justification for violent Palestinian uprising and brutal terror attacks.

The fact that 850,000 Jews were expelled from their Arab countries of origin after 1948 has never been a point worth consideration in Arab or international discourse.

The lexicon of "occupation" also neglects to consider that Palestinian Arabs never had charge of the land. Even the name "Palestina" (of Greek origins) was given to the land in 135 CE by the Romans who conquered Judea, in an attempt to obscure its Jewish past. Effectively, "Palestinian" Arabs became a nation only in 1948.

In the 1930s, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, was a prominent figure in the creation of a shared consciousness among local Arabs, many of them Arabs from neighboring countries who immigrated to Palestine for economical reasons (Yasser Arafat, the paragon of Palestinian nationalism, was born in Cairo, 1929). The Mufti was also involved in the SS Nazi extermination plan against Jews, as well as in the Christian Serbian Genocide carried out under his direct leadership.

Al-Husseini traveled to Germany as Hitler's personal guest in 1941 and toured death camps that he was inspired to replicate in Palestine. The Mufti was also the mastermind of violent massacres of Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936.

The buffoonish efforts made by foreign dignitaries to impose utopian and unrealistic "agreements" blatantly ignore the draconian desire of Israel's Arab neighbors to obliterate it. The Palestinian National Covenant - adopted in 1964 by the PLO/Fatah, (three years before the 1967 war) - still declares the destruction of Israel as its goal.

Letting Israel be eaten alive under the auspices of what is currently referred to as a "peace process" would necessarily spell disaster to Jews and possibly the whole region. From the vast lands of the Arab, American and European continents comes a dangerous armchair ideology, disguised as a high ideal, that pressures a small people in a tiny homeland to cede territory crucial to their survival.

Jews have stood praying in the direction of Jerusalem daily for thousands of years. Muslims turn to Mecca. Al-Aksa Mosque was built in the 8th century CE in the heart of the ruins of the Temple most sacred to Jews. Where is there historic, geographic, religious and contemporary justice?

Must every Jewish generation be threatened with a holocaust?

Dr. Tzahit Shoshani is a professor of English Literature.

Comments (0)

To post comments on our articles, Jerusalem Insights requires a one-time membership registration to hopefully eliminate racist, vulgar, and offensive posts. Please register if you do not have an account yet by going to the Member area at the top right. Registration process only takes a few seconds.

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

26 Elul 5770

Article Sections

Jerusalem Insights Digest

Current Events

Taste of Torah

Tanach and Spiritual Growth

Days of Joy

Land of Israel

Jewish Observance

JI Email Updates

Want to receive an email when a new article has been added to our site? Then click here to subscribe. When a new article has been added to the Sections you choose, you will receive an email that includes the introductory text of the article and a Read more... link.

Note: You must be a registered user and logged into the site to subscribe.

Article Sections

JI Email Updates