The Failure of Never Again - Daniel Schay

Hi All

Below is the next in the series for Yom Hashoa.

On Yom Hashoa 2005 18,000 people from differing backgrounds stood together united in Auschwits-Birkeneu. In front of them stood a stage with guest speakers ranging from the Prime Minister of Poland to Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Lau and also included Elie Wiesel. Scattered throughout the crowd were big screens emblazoned with a candle and the words “Never Again”. I was privileged enough to be one of those individuals there on that day.

The words “Never Again” have become synonymous with Holocaust Remembrance but have we ever really thought what does “Never Again” mean? I think now’s the time to do so.

Does “Never Again” refer to just the Holocaust of Jews or genocide in general. If we say it refers to genocide generally than we don’t have to look very far to understand its failure. Since the Holocaust we’ve seen genocide in Rwanda and continue to see genocide in Darfur and furthermore I dare say that we may be seeing the first seeds of genocide developing in Nigeria. With all these examples what has been done to prevent any of them, nothing. The United Nations continues to fail at one of its core duties and is almost unwilling to attempt to rectify that.

If we’re still searching for a success of “Never Again” we’re going to have to define it specifically deal with Jews. Now we need to decide whether it applies to Jewish lives or Jewish souls. If we say Jewish Souls than the majority of us have all heard by now of the Silent Holocaust which is the loss of millions of Jewish Souls to assimilation all over the world. While once this problem was considered to be monopolised by American Jewry, it is no longer the case today. In South Africa the figures are higher than anyone dares to disclose and can longer be ignored. With this said “Never Again” has failed with reference to Jewish Souls.

We’ll continue our search for a success of “Never Again” by defining it to Jewish lives only. Whilst you may propose that we have yet to experience a loss of Jewish lives on the scale of the Holocaust since the World War II and therefore in this definition of “Never Again” we have a success, I’m going to differ. I differ as the fact that we haven’t lost 6 million of our brethren since the Holocaust is not enough for me, for the potential for a nation to stand by and allow elements from within it to commit genocide against Jews is still in existence. This potential exists throughout the Palestinian Territories; we need not to look further than Palestinian Media to understand this. Whilst not every Palestinian Citizen is a willing murderer, there are elements within their population that will be, and for as for the rest of the population there’s been very little evidence shown (through their inability to control terrorist groups within their midst) that leads me to believe that they will try stop these elements if the opportunity was presented to them. The Holocaust was perpetrated by the Nazi’s and their collaborators but it was those who stood by and turned a blind eye that allowed it to occur. Given the opportunity Hamas and other terrorist groups would happily commit a Holocaust and the rest of the Palestinian population wouldn’t so much lift a finger to stop them. So as you can see within the Palestinian population we have a potential Holocaust and for me that is enough to say the “Never Again” has failed in reference to Jewish Lives as well.

To understand the true extent of the failure of “Never Again” we also have to understand that the Silent Holocaust and Potential Holocaust are 2 forces that are rapidly merging thus creating a much larger and more urgent threat to world Jewry. All over the world we are beginning to see victims of the Silent Holocaust who have lost connection to who they are and where they come from, that they no longer can or want to feel any connection to their people, to Judaism or the Global Jewish Experience. For these people it is easier to align to sympathise and to side with the Palestinian cause without really understanding either side of the conflict. By these “Jews” showing their support for the Pro-Palestinian / Anti-Israel Camp they give this side legitimacy to continue behaving as they currently are, the legitimise the hate-mongering that is spread through the media and they legitimise the terror used against innocent civilians. Whilst they continue to legitimise the Anti-Israel cause they also delegitimize Israel and therefore limit its ability to respond to legitimate threats against her sovereignty. These “Jew’s” actions give legitimacy, at least according to the world media, for terror to continue against Israel and the Jewish population within it. Furthermore this gives legitimacy to the Potential Holocaust. Thus due to the combination of these two forces we are rapidly approaching a situation very similar situation to the Evian Les Baines conference where the Holocaust could be committed and no one would lift a finger, the only difference is that the world refuse to help, not because they don’t want, but rather because they would believe that the cause of this Holocaust would be legitimate and therefore no action needs to be taken. With these 2 forces merging we find ourselves almost back in 1939 with a single exception, that exception being that world Jewry relies on the very State that is being used as a stick to beat it with, for its protection.

The pamphlets for this year’s Yom Hashoa service read “The Next Generation Remembers the Six Million”, but do they really? Remembering the Holocaust does not mean going to a ceremony once a year. Remembering the Holocaust means actively preventing the perpetuation of the cycle that World Jewry finds itself in. It means doing whatever you can to hold on whatever aspects of Judaism you currently perform and maybe even adding to them. It means teaching your descendants about the importance of a strong Jewish Identity and instilling that identity upon them. For it is up to the current generation to stall the Silent Holocaust and thereby retarding the Potential Holocaust, for without legitimisation the Palestinian Cause will need to rethink their policies on education and media. The fate of World Jewry lies in the hands of the current generation, and it’s a responsibility that we should not take lightly.