My mother is a Holocaust survivor who lived through the death camp at Auschwitz. Many members of her family, among them small children, were on the ramp at Birkenau and were then taken to the crematoria, ascending to the heavens in a storm of fire and ash together with millions of their brothers and sisters.
From the dawn of my youth, my mother taught me to be a Jew, which meant, among other things, to be constantly ready for attempts at my extermination and destruction. Hatred towards Jews appeared back in the days of Pharaoh and Amalek and did not end with the fall of Hitler and the Third Reich. My mother insists the Hitlers will never die. In every generation they appear in new form, speaking a different language and using a different means to accomplish the same goal: the elimination of the Jews.
There is no real reason to hate Israel. In Poland, they hated us because we were different from them in our customs and in our dress. In Germany, they hated us because we were similar to them in language and culture. Now, ever since the establishment of the state of Israel, the new anti-Semitism has assumed the form of anti-Israel sentiment. This global hypocrisy has been recruited in the campaign against the state of Israel.
This is the national homeland for the Jews, remaining after the destruction of the temple, 2,000 years of exile, suffering and misery, and finally returning to their historic homeland. But in all international forums, Israel is responsible for the ills of all humanity. This is an exact repetition of the blood libels of the Middle Ages. The plight of the Jews has never mattered to intellectuals, even from religions and cultures that were ostensibly humanistic, open and in search of the truth.
This is the national homeland for the Jews, remaining after the destruction of the temple, 2,000 years of exile, suffering and misery, and finally returning to their historic homeland. But in all international forums, Israel is responsible for the ills of all humanity. This is an exact repetition of the blood libels of the Middle Ages. The plight of the Jews has never mattered to intellectuals, even from religions and cultures that were ostensibly humanistic, open and in search of the truth.
The European Jewish Holocaust did not burst forth out of a void, as if from nowhere. The Church and the monarchies in Europe manufactured and maintained dehumanization of the Jews for centuries. Jewish suffering is perceived as proof of Jewish responsibility for Jesus' crucifixion and the triumph of Christian theology. Nazi ideology and the Final Solution were intended to be the final chord in this black concert, which was organized by the successors of such minds as Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche.
Several years ago, I visited the extermination camps in Poland with a group of officers and soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces. I stood with them in a military parade, on that very same ramp in Birkenau from which my family members were sent to their deaths. In the sky above, three F-15 planes from the Israel Air Force flew over us. I looked at the sky and I imagined the smoke from the planes connecting directly with the smoke from the crematoria.
At that moment I realized fully that the establishment of the state of Israel and the power of the IDF are the fulfillment of the testament to six million Jews and the saying, "Never again." Filled with emotion, I did not notice that the military parade ended and did not realize that the soldiers had left the area. I stood for a few long minutes, rooted to the ramp by emotion: a ramp next to train tracks that no trains will ever pass over again.
At that moment I realized fully that the establishment of the state of Israel and the power of the IDF are the fulfillment of the testament to six million Jews and the saying, "Never again." Filled with emotion, I did not notice that the military parade ended and did not realize that the soldiers had left the area. I stood for a few long minutes, rooted to the ramp by emotion: a ramp next to train tracks that no trains will ever pass over again.
These days, new Hitlers are emerging again, in the form of the Iranian ayatollahs and their lackeys. Now, as 70 years ago, we hear voices calling for the destruction of the Zionist entity. These are not only voices; Iran is very close to having nuclear weapons which can be directed against Israel.
Israel has no choice. The essence of its existence is to ensure the safety and future of the Jews. We returned to the land of Israel in order to build and be rebuilt, and we must protect our home. We do not have the luxury of relying on others to do the job for us. It has been shown more than once throughout history that no one really cares about the fate of the Jews.
David Ben-Gurion knew this during the War of Independence; Levi Eshkol, Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin knew this in the Six-Day War, and Menachen Begin knew this when he decided to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor, and the IAF did the job. This is how we have acted in the past and this is how we must act now in the face of the Iranian threat. History has taught us that we must not underestimate threats to the existence of the Jewish people. Even Hitler was perceived as comic when he started out on his path.
David Ben-Gurion knew this during the War of Independence; Levi Eshkol, Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin knew this in the Six-Day War, and Menachen Begin knew this when he decided to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor, and the IAF did the job. This is how we have acted in the past and this is how we must act now in the face of the Iranian threat. History has taught us that we must not underestimate threats to the existence of the Jewish people. Even Hitler was perceived as comic when he started out on his path.
As an Israeli citizen, I trust the Israeli government and the IDF to carry out the necessary actions to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat. The IDF has enough talent and ability to deal with it. The Midrash tells us, "Next to kill you, first kill him." Our ancestors taught us this and, 2,000 years later, we can carry out their command; let us not be late to comply.
