Even those with the most vivid imaginations could not have envisioned the turn that the lessons of the Holocaust, commemorated internationally today, would take. Never before has Israel been in such a morally diminished position to represent the survivors who rebuilt their lives here after the Holocaust. Never before has it so starkly contradicted its ability to uphold the messages of the Holocaust and advocate for its universal lessons.
The state that claims to represent the people who were the victims of the most brutal racism in modern history is now an apartheid state that fosters racism, glorifies Kahanist ideologies, and seeks to institutionalize them through a series of legislative initiatives. These range from the Nation-State Law, which formally downgraded non-Jewish citizens, to the Citizenship Law, which prevents family reunification between Palestinian citizens of Israel and West Bank residents; proposals to ease the disqualification of Arab candidates and parties from running for the Knesset; initiatives to allow refusal of medical or other services to Arabs (“for religious reasons”); a demand to permit candidates or parties inciting racism to run in elections; and efforts to “Judaize” the Negev, even at the cost of displacing Bedouin villages that have been seeking recognition for decades. These culminate in legislative moves to separate Jews and Palestinians and end the use of administrative detention orders against settlers in the West Bank.
To the “glory” of the State of Israel, its Prime Minister rushes to defend a billionaire with a fondness for Nazi salutes who promotes the AfD in Germany—a party with neo-Nazi roots—while the Diaspora Minister is sent to Europe to court extreme parties and movements, once considered the worst enemies of the Jewish people and now carrying on the legacy of its destroyers.
The murderous Hamas attack on October 7 deepened Israel’s Holocaust narrative, and not without reason. The invasion by thousands of members of the Islamist organization featured shocking scenes reminiscent of those Israeli leaders have always sworn would never recur: Holocaust survivors hiding in closets, civilians feigning death, parents throwing their children out of burning homes, children shielding themselves under their parents’ bodies to survive. For all this, Hamas will not be forgiven.
Yet Israel embarked on a long war of vengeance that transplanted the Holocaust narrative to besieged Gaza and its two million citizens. While nothing compares to the Holocaust and its unique circumstances, foreign correspondents could not avoid being horrified by what they described as “scenes worse than those in Dresden, Hamburg, and Cologne”; by visions that reminded some of movies like The Pianist and similar works; and by the tens of thousands of displaced people who, more than a year after the war began, are still not able to find the remains of their loved ones amid the rubble of their homes.
So severe are the actions of Israel’s government of vengeance that leading human rights organizations worldwide have unanimously concluded: Israel is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some have even declared that it is guilty of “extermination” and “genocidal acts.” Investigations by others have led to the gravest accusation: “genocide,” plain and simple.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ironically enough, will not be at Auschwitz today—the largest cemetery of the Jewish people —where the 80th anniversary of its liberation is being commemorated. In a surreal and horrifying twist of history, he now faces the prospect of an indictment by an international criminal court established precisely to prevent crimes like those committed at Auschwitz.
The statement “Not in Our Name” is important. But it is not enough. If there is one universal message we must continue to carry, it is the critical importance of not standing idly by, of resisting crimes as they occur, and of unwaveringly mobilizing for the human rights of the defenseless.
No more Auschwitz. No more October 7. No more war crimes in Gaza.
Sincerely,
Adar Primor
Director of Public Activities
Physicians for Human Rights Israel