Impervious and Incurable

Yom Hashoah this year is being commemorated in the shadow of the worst outbreak of Jew hatred seen since the Nazi era.

Survivors of those years’ genocidal convulsions could never in their wildest nightmares have imagined a resurrection of this virulent virus sweeping every continent.

Those who coined the slogan “never again” devoutly believed that the civilised world had finally learnt its lesson and that Jews would never again have to face unbridled enmity of the most lethal kind. Optimists were convinced that benign enlightenment towards Jews would finally dawn. In fact, these individuals were so sure that in many cases, they actually returned to live at the scenes of the crimes, confident that the hate of the recent past was just a bad dream.

Unfortunately, what they forgot or preferred to ignore was the inconvenient fact that most of the perpetrators were never punished and merely melted back into local communities as respected citizens. There was no recanting of recent acts, and in most cases, a veil of amnesia descended whereby children and grandchildren had no idea of the dirty deeds of their parents and grandparents.

In Germany, at least some attempt at Holocaust education was instituted, while in other European countries, shameful collaboration by more than willing accomplices was covered up and whitewashed.

In South America, war criminals sought and found refuge. A few faced justice, but the vast majority lived out the rest of their lives safe in the knowledge that they had got away with their murderous deeds.

The multitudes who danced in the streets and celebrated the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in 1948 fervently believed that at long last the international community had genuinely shed its past hate. It seemed that the world had finally righted millennia-long prejudices and Jews could now look confidently forward to recognition and respect.

How wrong can one be was proven almost immediately.

The Soviet Union and its captive satellites showed their true intentions by suppressing any manifestations of Zionist feelings. In addition, the age-old theological Jew hate of the Eastern Orthodox Churches combined with communist ideology and Stalin’s paranoia saw a swift return to persecution and repression. The gulag replaced the concentration camps, and a long, hideous night of delegitimisation against Jews and Israel followed.

Conveniently ignored in the West’s appeasement of oil-rich Arab countries was the Islamic religious and lay leaders’ embrace of Hitler and his genocidal plans for the Jews of mandated Palestine. This desire to eradicate any Jewish presence in the ancient Jewish homeland incubated and then erupted after Nazism’s defeat.

This reality needs to be acknowledged if we are to honestly face the challenges now confronting Jews, not only in Israel but also elsewhere.

The sad reality is that, apart from an initial and shocked reaction once the horrors of the Shoah were finally revealed, it took only a few short years for the hate virus to openly reappear. After the war ended most people were ashamed to express any sort of Jew hate openly. Many took this as a sign that finally sanity had prevailed and at long last the oldest surviving virus had been vanquished.

Unfortunately, this assumption was widely optimistic given past historical precedents.

The first serious Holocaust museum and memorial, Yad Vashem, was opened in 1957 in Jerusalem. Twelve years after the end of hostilities it was apparent that something serious must be established to not only commemorate the Shoah but also to educate future generations. The realisation that ignorance of what happened during the period from 1933 to 1945 was becoming widespread led to other Holocaust museums being established in various countries.

Students who have toured these memorials no doubt leave with a better understanding of what prejudice can precipitate. The impact of a visit to one of these museums or to a concentration camp itself is dramatic. It is tragic therefore that only a miniscule number have had that experience. For the vast majority of today’s non-Jewish pupils, Holocaust studies are non-existent and consequently, their knowledge of those years is shaped entirely by social media distortions. Never having met a Jew or knowing anything about their history the blank minds are fertile ground for every variety of fake fictitious allegations.

Viruses mutate, and Judeophobia is no exception.

Back in the 1930’s the Nazis told the Jews to get out of Germany and go to (mandated) Palestine.

Today’s successors scream that the Jews should get out of fictional Palestine and return to where they came from.

Once it was the fascists and Nazis who shouted such epithets.

Now, the demented mobs of ignoramuses have the backing of the United Nations and its associated corrupted groups.

The anti Zionism and Israel venom being spouted and promoted on every continent is a virulent mutation of the ancient Jew hate now conveniently dressed up in the latest crusade.

It is now a lethal combination of religious, theological jihadist ideology and secular Western hate against not only Jews but also the whole concept of democratic liberal values.

This year, on Yom Hashoah, as Holocaust survivors and participants in the March of the Living visited Auschwitz, anti-Israel demonstrators confronted them and shouted support for Hamas and a Jew free Palestine. This shameful display on this particular day exemplifies their real agenda. It is a clarion call for the eradication of any Jewish sovereignty and for a repeat of what happened at Auschwitz.

As usual, Jews are the canary in the mine. Once they have been disposed of those who espouse support for Israel and a democratic world will be next. Just look at which regimes are lining up against the Jewish State and you will get a very good idea of where this is all heading.

What lessons can we draw this year on Yom Hashoah?

Since 7 October 2023, many Jews have received a brutal wake-up call.

Some, but not all, have finally woken up to the fact that hallucinatory visions of messianic peace were illusions. Those conditioned and educated to hate Jews and whose agenda is the elimination of Jewish sovereignty cannot be hailed as really doves of peace in disguise. There will always be some who would rather try to curry the sympathy of the murderers and their cheerleaders.

For the vast majority of Jews, especially in Israel, this Yom Hashoah is a sobering day of remembrance and a day to resolve that never again will we be sacrificial offerings to please a hypocritical and uncaring international community.

It is incumbent on Jews wherever they may be living to forcefully respond as the ancient hate runs rampant worldwide, and politicians mouth meaningless mantras. Diaspora Jews should send their teens to Israel for an educational experience and to see the reality of a vibrant Jewish life. Visiting Holocaust museums is not enough. They need to be equipped with historical facts about the centrality of Israel and the miracles of its rebirth.

They also need to be inoculated with a decent dose of knowledge so that they can fight back against the deniers, delegitimizers and self-loathers who learn from a very young age how to hate.

These lyrics from the show, South Pacific, encapsulate how effectively hate spreads:

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six, seven or eight to hate
the people your relatives hate

YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.