A global disaster, not only a Jewish one

Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity to examine what is done — and what isn't being done — about the memory of the Holocaust and for its survivors. Both Israel and anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers have some things to ponder in that regard.  It's been 74 years since the death camps were liberated by the allied forces, and we still have among us few survivors who experienced hell on earth, in both mind and body.

Teens during the traditional journey to Poland, standing by the Auschwitz rail track and sign calling the place "a Polish concentration camp" (Photo: AFP)

The Holocaust has been researched and has inspired works of art, literature, cinema, theater, comics and more. In Israel, for instance, three graphic novels about the Holocaust or related issues have been published in the past six years, including one about the Anne Frank story. The Holocaust is studied in many countries as part of the schooling system, but some countries deliberately avoid it. Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf is constantly being republished in editions that add notes, explanations and context. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document published at the turn of the 20th Century and supposedly describes the Jewish plan to take over the world, are still sold worldwide, and still strike the imagination of those who believe in a global Jewish conspiracy. But Israel, and its leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, often use the Holocaust for causes that I find unacceptable. For example, it is used to fan the flame of nationalism among high school students and IDF soldiers who go on the traditional trip to Poland, to witness the death camps. In my view, this disrespects Holocaust victims and survivors and the legacy of the Holocaust. Many young women and men participate in the March of the Living, wrapped in our nation's flag, to the sound of the preposterous mantra: "We will not be led like sheep to slaughter". That custom draws a direct line between the state of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and our situation today, here in Israel, in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the threat from Iran. That's a comparison that's simply out of place.

Historians and academics have been toiling for decades, writing the history of the Holocaust. Their research is based on documents, facts, testimonies, photographs and archives. Irresponsible politicians, however, manipulate this for internal and external interests.

Mateusz Morawiecki and Benjamin Netanyahu

Politicians and statesman should never use the Holocaust for their populist purposes. The joint statement by Netanyahu and Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, after the latter's government, prohibited blaming Poland for the Holocaust, is an insult to history, the truth and the memory of the Holocaust. A recent statement by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that the crimes of the Holocaust can be forgiven is a disgrace to our intelligence and a disgrace on him.

In recent years I had the chance to speak about my graphic novel of the ramifications of the Holocaust, "Second Generation." I'm often saddened to hear Israelis of Mizrahi roots say they are touched by my story but they don't feel they have any familial or historical links to the Holocaust.

I always remind them that their families were on Hitler's agenda for the Final Solution, and their extermination was only prevented by the victory of the allied forces.

This ignorance is a result of the Israeli education system, among others

Moreover, Israel has to be ashamed of how it treats Holocaust survivors and for its faulty management of their compensation funds.

Many survivors live in complete poverty in their final years. Every few years a new campaign for funds is launched to no avail.

I told my father, who lives in Belgium and celebrated his 93rd birthday this month, that it's better that he never immigrated to Israel. He would have lives in extreme poverty here.

The State of Israel appropriated the Holocaust, and that's a horrible mistake.

The Holocaust is a disaster that belongs to all of humanity across the globe. If we presume to be a light unto the nations, we must stop using the Holocaust as a means for self-promotion.

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Poles and the Holocaust: preserving the narrative

On the one hand, there is the Polish government which bans blaming the Polish people for the Nazi atrocities; on the other hand, there is Israel and the rest of the world standing against an attempt to rewrite history. Amid this merciless political game are the few elderly survivors from the ashes of the Holocaust. They are the ones who remember and remind us of the brave Righteous Among Nations who risked their lives to save Jews. 

 

Aside from being offended by the Polish reactions, that are on the verge of Holocaust denial, there is some sense in protesting the ignorance involved in dealing with this delicate issue over the past year with expressions such as "Polish extermination camps" and so on.

The burning of the puppet with Jewish characteristics

 

All sides concerned understand that the Polish law is obscure and anti-Semitic. But with the Polish prime minister outrageously comparing Polish and Ukrainian involvement in the Holocaust with "Jewish crimes" and with the State of Israel; Jews in the diaspora and Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz undiplomatically retaliating, along comes the story of the Easter holiday ceremony involving burning puppets with Jewish characteristics on the streets of Poland two weeks ago, a reminder that part of the Polish nation never stopped hating. 

Lately, the horrendous stories of Polish atrocities during the Holocaust are diminishing because many of the survivors have died. An Israeli Charity "J-nerations" has launched a campaign called "Thus Poles were cruel to us" which publishes harsh testimonies of survivors online. These are small stories of huge tragedies that include collaboration, abuse, murder and looting on an unimaginable scale - with the aid of the Poles.

Writings in Polish on envelopes revealing Polish collaboration (Courtesy of the National Library of Israel)

 

When the Polish prime minister insists that his people saved Jews during the Holocaust and when Polish ministers take pride in the number of Polish Righteous Among the Nations, Jewish Organizations in Poland are quick to point out that the number diminishes in ratio to the number of Jews in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust. The fact that Poles too were murdered by Germans during the Holocaust doesn't justify Polish collaboration with the Nazis.

The need to stand up for the historical facts is now more crucial than ever as Polish Leadership attempts to revise their role in the Holocaust.

First and foremost, the Holocaust was an attempt to annihilate the Jews and not the Poles. Secondly, we mustn't forget that the number of Poles who gave out information on Jews for a kilo of sugar was four times higher than the number of Polish Righteous Among the Nations.

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Why the March of the Living is so important

Each year, on March 16, a contentious parade takes place on European soil. Although many people wonder why it still exists, it nevertheless goes ahead as planned every single year. This event is called “Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires” and its goal is to honor the soldier who fought for the Latvian Legion, which during World War II was part of the Waffen-SS. Thousands of veterans, commemorating Legionnaire Day, don their SS uniforms - symbols of horror and tragedy - and proudly march with their heads held high in the main square of the Latvian capital of Riga.

One of the greatest challenges of Holocaust remembrance is bringing the information about the atrocities that occurred some 80 years ago to the younger generation. It’s a huge task, as evidenced by the latest surveys - conducted all around the world - which reveal that an incredibly large number of people either don’t know or don’t believe that six million Jews were murdered in the Nazi genocide. Many have never heard of Auschwitz. This is a very worrying statistic, which points to the younger generation being incredibly ignorant about the horrific events of the Holocaust.

March of the Living starts at the gates Auschwitz (Photo: EPA)

Dwindling knowledge of the Holocaust is not an educational problem, but rather a social one, with people treating the Holocaust less and less as a grave lesson in history. This is evident by the rise of anti-Semitic attacks all throughout the world, which have skyrocketed in recent years. Political leaders, institutions and even ordinary people are becoming more accepting of hateful and inciting discourse, which sometimes carry an apologetic undertone toward the Nazis and their successors.

International March of the Living (Photo: EPA)

In the meantime, our ability to combat this phenomenon is diminishing. Holocaust survivors are dying at an unprecedented rate and those still alive are both physically and mentally weak in order to continue telling their stories which describe the horrors committed by the Nazi regime.

In a few short years there will not be a single Holocaust survivor left. The heavy responsibility of keeping the memory alive will be shouldered by their sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in order to remind the world of where anti-Semitism, racism, hatred and ignorance can potentially lead to.

Israeli flags at the March of the Living (Photo: EPA)

The old Latvian Nazis, however, are not the only once marching in the middle of spring in Europe, we do as well. Every year, tens of thousands of Jews come to Poland to march in what used to be a horrific death camp where over one million Jewish men, women, and children died. We’ll continue marching until everyone in the world knows what Auschwitz is what kind of atrocities took place there.

This is our burden, this is our mission, and this is our indispensable contribution to humanity as a whole.

Dr. Shmuel Rosenman is the co-founder and chairman of the International March of the Living.

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Clasped in a bear hug with Hamas

The mini-escalation in the Gaza Strip's boarder, overnight Thursday is one of the characteristics of the bear hug that Israel, Hamas, Egypt and the U.N. are clasped in.  On one hand, there is diplomatic progress, and Gazans are experiencing an easing of some of the restrictions imposed on them. But on the other hand, there are sill rounds of clashes, since Hamas isn't satisfied with the slow progression towards the deal, and other unruly militants like the Islamic Jihad stir things up to prevent any long-term arrangement with Israel.

Hamas militants with firebombs (Photo: AFP)

Recent events are an excellent example of the way the conflict between Israel and the Strip has been managed, since last October.

Understandings regarding the second phase of the long-term ceasefire arrangement are pretty much agreed on by both sides, but Hamas claims that Israel has only been performing a small part of its commitments.

Israel, on its part, tries to fulfil its commitments, but things are not always under its control. There are no direct talks with Hamas, and both negotiations and operative steps are managed by the U.N., Egypt and Qatar.

Often Israeli bureaucracy slows down good intentions,

Hamas resumed the launching firebombs and explosives at Israeli border communities on Wednesday, in order to get Israel moving. After a short period of calm, explosions were herd again throughout Wednesday night, when Hamas' nightly disturbance unit, hoping to hassle the border communities on the Israeli side, returned to its ovenight clashes along the border fence.

Israel's responded by an overnight attack of a Hamas army facility in the northern part of the strip, was quick to come.

Despite the fact that Israel's interest is to avoid an escalation at this time.

The Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers, followed by Independence Day, the Eurovision song contest and of course the new government on its way, would all benefit from quiet in the Gaza front, so that tourists don't flea the country and the political situation remains stable.

File photo: an Islamic Jihad launching facility in the Gaza Strip (Photo: Reuters)

That’s exactly why the IDF was restrained when a rocket was launched by Islamic Jihad militants, earlier this week, and landed at sea.

The terror group, backed by Iran, is trying to disturb the efforts towards a long-term ceasefire, either to preserve a constant state of conflict or to satisfy its Iranian patrons. But the Wednesday clashes were all Hamas, that now lost yet another military facility.

  

We can assume that this is the end of this mini-flare-up. It's clear that both Hamas and Israel are interested in preserving the calm. But it does exemplify how fragile the situation is, and how quickly we can be drawn into a large clash, perhaps even involving ground forces, with no prior warning.

The way events have unfolded, and the prospects for the future, are all explained by the passing year and its weekly March of Return protest. It started in March 2018, and throughout the year cost the lives of 187 Palestinians by the border fence. Thousands of other Gazans were injured, Israel lost two IDF soldiers and several Israeli civilians were hurt from Hamas' rocket fire. But behind the scenes, negotiation was ongoing, initiated by Hamas' leadership. Despite clashes on the border fence, Hamas informed the U.N. back in March 2018 that they are prepared to reach an arrangement in return for "the removal of the siege" and the easing of the humanitarian situation in the Strip. After a year of clashes, and as the arrangement seems to ripen, both sides are walking on a fine line, and must calculate every step.

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The torch is now passed on to the younger generation

My dear young boys and girls, Youth from around the world, future leaders.

74 years have passed since the gates of hell were shut and the ovens of Auschwitz extinguished.

President Reuven Rivlin

 

Auschwitz as a symbol of the Holocaust, the darkest, most monstrous event in human history. Six million Jews, a third of the Jewish people – were tortured, starved, slaughtered, burned and wiped off the face of the earth, in the Holocaust.

1.5 million of them babies and children whose only crime was being Jewish.

The holocaust was horrible low point for humanity and the worst crisis in Jewish history.

Never have the Jewish people been in such danger of annihilation.

Today it is clear the Nazi destruction machine would not have succeeded in their horrific scheme, unless it was constructed on a foundation of hate-filled anti-Semitism, of Europe. The Nazi's were not alone. They were aided by others, from other nations.

Anti-Semitism remains a deep-rooted disease. It did not begin with Hitler and did not end when World War II did. It can be found anywhere; in the right and in the left, supported by nationalism or religion, manifested by hate towards Jews or by de-legitimizing the existence of the state of Israel.

Neo Nazi march, Bulgaria

 

In recent years we are again witnessing, the rise of hate crimes against Jews, furthermore, we now see the denial of the Holocaust, and the loss of its memory.

Half of all young people around the world, have never heard of Auschwitz. Many others know very little about the Holocaust.

A cry must come out of Auschwitz as the biggest manufacturer of death, where our innocent brothers and sisters were burned alive.

A cry to end anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate.

concentration camp inmates upon release (Photo: Reuters)

 

Fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of racism must be the common goal of humanity in its entirety.

It must be a strong and unequivocal fight.

We must invest in education, commemoration and history, if our promise of 'never again' is to be kept.

Holocaust survivors are fewer in number now. Within one generation, there will be none left to testify to what they have seen with their own eyes.

The commemorative torch is now passed-on to you, the younger generation. You are our future. You are our future leaders, scientists, athletes and intellectuals. In each of you lives the spirit of leadership, creativity and hope.

Auschwitz

 

We are counting on you to create a better, more tolerant and more compassionate world. A world that will love people, where the state of Israel can flourish in peace and security.

As you take part in the 'March of the Living', remember you are marching from Auschwitz to Jerusalem, from the Holocaust to resurrection

 

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Does Google contribute to online anti-Semitism?

A few months ago, a former Google employee and the New York Times columnist - Dr. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz - wrote a troubling report that unfortunately didn't get much traction, especially in the Israeli media (which ignored it completely). The report, published by Institute for Jewish Policy Research, was titled: “Hidden hate: What Google searches tell us about anti-Semitism today.”

He starts off the report by emphasizing that people are “remarkably honest” when it comes to their online queries. “Google searches reveal interests, prejudices and hatreds that they might keep hidden from friends, family members, neighbours, surveys and even from themselves,” he wrote.

He is correct in his assessment. In that search box we allow ourselves to ask the kind of questions we wouldn't want anyone to know about. This level of honesty is actually quite rare in a world of political correctness and photoshopped selfies.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

With that notion in mind, Dr. Stephens-Davidowitz goes on to examine just how frequently people in Britain make Google searches containing anti-Semitic expressions. Using Google Trends (website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries) he discovered that people in Britain, annually conduct on average some 170,000 searches containing anti-Semitic rhetoric with 10% of those queries containing violent phrases.

The report also finds that anti-Semitic search queries spike anytime news from Israel makes UK headlines. For instance, when Netta Barzilai’s song “Toy” emerged victorious at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, queries containing anti-Semitic rhetoric rose by some 39 percent.

The volume of Google searches about a conspiracy theory that the Jewish Rothschild banking family controls the world has grown significantly among the British internet users.

But the most disturbing finding of the report is the fact that since Google has altered its autocomplete algorithm - to eliminate hateful search suggestions - the numbers of anti-Semitic search queries has lowered. This means that before the changes in the algorithm had been made, Google was encouraging users to look for anti-Semitic content.

For instance, the report cites an investigation conducted by the Observer newspaper back in 2016 that found if a user was to type “are Jews” into search box, the autocorrect algorithm would suggest “Are Jews evil?” as the first option. Meaning that even if a person had no intention to search for any anti-Semitic content, Google would still suggest it an option. The article in the British paper three years is what prompted the tech giant to change the autocomplete algorithm.

After reading the report, I decided to conduct a little experiment of my own to see whether Google autocomplete still makes hate-filled suggestions. I tried typing - in Hebrew - the words “Why Arabs” and the first option autocomplete provided me with was “Why are Arabs bad?” When I asked a general question such as “Why we hate?” Google suggested “Why we hate the Poles?”

Although I know the suggestions made by autocomplete are based on actual searches made by its users, the fact that these inciting and hateful options are not immediately removed is appalling.

I don’t believe Google is interested in encouraging violence in the world, but we - as users - should do our part to stop this phenomenon. On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), I encourage everyone who encounters hateful or inciting suggestions while making Google searches, simply click on the "report inappropriate predictions” options at the bottom of the autocomplete search box. Let’s make Google search a safe environment.

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