Which is it - Never Again ... or Here We Go Again?

 

"It has been said that there will never be people as innocent as the victims on the thresholds of the gas chambers."

 

 The Auschwitz Album at Yad Vashem

 

Innocent, because they had no clue they were about to be exterminated. 

There will never [again] be people so innocent,because  subsequent peoples will know, will have seen the face of evil -- or at least pictures of it. We have heard the stories.  And every year, in the spring, we recite the fact that "in every generation they rise up against us."  We have no claim to innocence.

Marchers in Tehran staged a funeral procession for symbolic coffins of America, Israel and Britain in the February 11 rally Thursday.

The coffins were carried over 3 carts pulled by several horses. The flags of the three countries were attached to the coffins.

The marchers were chanting slogans against America and Israel.

 

Meanwhile, in California, Israel's ambassador to the United States tried to speak in public but the event was sabotaged by the Muslim Student Union at UC-Irvine. 

Why on earth should we tolerate this?  What on earth comes from tolerating such a vile display of bigotry toward Jews?  Make no mistake, Auschwitz is what comes, or some variation on its universal theme.

This year "students" disrupted an event with outrageous behavior. Next year they could decide to blow themselves up instead. But only if we don't stop this right here, right now.  

If I ran the world, Israel would respond to this institutionalized hostility by withdrawing her ambassador and closing her embassies; the President of the United States would thus find it necessary to go to "the most Muslim university in America" and personally rebuke the anti-Israel haters. At the very least, he would call the president of the university and insist that the Muslim Student Union be abolished.  The Secretary of State would beg Israel to allow Michael Oren to return.

You cannot on the one hand say "Never Again," and on the other hand allow profound hatred to flourish.  The Muslim Student Union at UC-Irvine did not pop up overnight; it has a history.  And that history includes "an unresponsive, if not hostile administration" (fully documented by the Orange County CA Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism).

We cannot claim to be innocent.

... on May 15th [2008], a Jewish female... was threatened by members of the Muslim Student Union for videotaping Amir Abdel Malik-Ali’s evening lecture. According to a community member who witnessed the event, the female and her male companion were followed back to their car and surrounded by six male Muslim students. The witness then became a victim of intimidation when one of the students situated themselves on the hood of her car to photograph her vehicle identification (VIN) number. He then subsequently took photographs of her face and license plate.

The UC Irvine Campus police officers on duty witnessed the entire event, but stood idly when the alleged crime occurred. When the community member called the watch commander later that night, he explained that the Muslim Student’s were just “getting back at the Jews.”

 

We know what happens, we know what these young Islamic Nazis do and say, we know the university administration is unresponsive and we know that police officers stand idly by when our children are threatened. We cannot claim to be innocent. 

Each of us makes a choice in response to what we know. Will it be Never Again or Here We Go Again?  Decide. Because you will be called upon to answer, for all eternity.

Contemporary Jew-hatred is in your face. You and I, all of us, are participating in the creation of this world every day. So what are you going to do?  Certainly you cannot claim innocence as you choose to sit back and change the channel, like a "good German" ... or an editor at the New York Times or Wikipedia:  

Persecution of Jews has occurred on numerous occasions and at widely different geographical locations. It is an important section of Jewish history -- [because?] --  "as it has greatly effected the development of countries where those who were persecuted lived."

Gevaldikeh Zach!

 

In this electronic age, there is no excuse for not knowing what's happening in the world (scientists in Haifa notwithstanding). So how hard is it to recognize the age-old pattern and project it ever so slightly forward, to see where all of this is bound to lead?

We watch The Auschwitz Album as if it is another world, as if we are as innocent as the victims on the thresholds of the gas chambers.  But our children know better. And they are watching us. 

If they are blessed to survive the conflagration in which these events are bound to culminate, what will our children remember?  They will remember what we said.  And what we did ... or did not do ... to create their world.

 

Comments

[RR]

And we know what "engagement" with this was called last time it happened, so we are not innocent about that either. Thank you for this wake-up call.

[Mannie Sherberg]

Yael -- thank you for this heartfelt -- and heartrending -- essay. A good many observers have remarked that our idiotically gentle treatment of the jihadists in our midst is attributable to political correctness. PC may have something to do with it, but -- in my opinion -- not very much. The real problem here is fear. Most of the West is scared stiff of these Islamist goons -- so scared that it's willing to look the other way, no matter how perverse the provocation. If we do not soon regain our courage, we are truly lost. No nation, and no civilization, can long survive when its leadership and its people cringe, cower, and crumble in the face of mortal threats. And yes, "simply" disrupting a speech is indeed a mortal threat. By the way, those of your readers who want to put all of this into context can do no better than read Robert Wistrich's new book (masterpiece, really) "A Lethal Obsession." It's a monumental tome (nearly 1,000 pages of text) that describes every form of Jew-hatred contrived by the mind of man. This long catalog of irrationality. derangement, and sheer evil may be disspiriting, but it's also necessary reading for all those who believe the survival of the Jewish people is inseparable from the survival of civilization. Wistrich -- like you -- writes with prophetic urgency. May Hashem bless both of you.

[Walt Gottesman]

It is worth mentioning that in spite of the numerous efforts by jihadists at UC Irvine to interrupt Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., during his speech there, he persevered and finished his talk. It is also noteworthy that, according to reports, ten to twelve of the interrupters were arrested...... Oren is not only a diplomat, a distinguished historian, professor of history, and author, but he is also a military veteran. Like every soldier, from the lowest rank to the highest, he must know that courage is not the absence of fear, but perseverance in spite of fear...... In my opinion disbelief, in addition to fear, contributes to the denial that many people have toward jihadist threats. Who wants to believe that there are others, who don't even know us personally, who hate us? That disbelief leads to inaction and a kind of mental fog, a sleepiness from which we must awaken lest we remain in peril......

[Kanwi Aussie]

I empathise and agree with you. Your forthrightness, telling it as it should be is inspiring. Most people are apathetic by nature and need a shock awakening to remind them of the historical realities and so-called lessons of life. I wish I was 50 years younger so I could do more. Obama is in my view America's biggest mistake of the last 100 years so don't rely 100% on his support either. ...Kanwi