2023-12-04 13:27:42
A group of historians and researchers specialized in the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II and anti-Semitism from different universities and institutions around the world have written an open letter to express their “dismay and disappointment at the political leaders and notable public figures who “They invoke the memory of the Holocaust to explain the current crisis in Gaza and Israel.” This document is dated November 20, 2023, although it has now reached us, after Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government resumed its offensive after failing to reach another extension of the truce with the Hamas group.
The resumption of attacks left at least 184 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to data from the local Ministry of Health. A final figure that is added to the more than 15,000 that have occurred since, on October 7, Hamas carried out its massacre at the Nova Festival, near Kibbutz Reim, ending the lives of 1,400 Israelis, leaving 5,000 injured. and kidnapping 229 more. There is no doubt that the carnage caused by this latest Middle East conflict is historic. The letter is not foreign to it, especially when the main victims are children: more than 5,000 have died.
«Anti-Semitism often increases in times like this of heightened crisis in Israel and Palestine, as does Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. The unconscionable violence of the October 7 attacks and the continued aerial bombardment and invasion of Gaza are devastating and are generating pain and fear among Jewish and Palestinian communities around the world. “We reiterate that everyone has the right to feel safe wherever they live, and that addressing racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia must be a priority.”
The ‘Open Letter on the Misuse of Holocaust Memory’ begins with several examples ranging from Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wearing a yellow star with the words “Never Again” while addressing the General Assembly, to US President Joe Biden, who stated that Hamas had “engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust,” to the US representative Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, who even questioned the idea that there are “innocent Palestinian civilians” in the House of Representatives. “I don’t think we used the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ so lightly during World War II,” he said.
Netanyahu
The historians and Holocauto experts who sign the letter do not forget the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that “Hamas are the new Nazis.” Among them are even respected academics from Israel, such as Amos Goldbergprofessor of Jewish History and Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Raz Segalhistorian and director of the ‘Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ program at Stockton University.
They are added Jane Caplan, British historian specializing in Nazi Germany at the University of Oxford; Omer BartovProfessor of European History and German Studies at Brown University; Deborah Dworkdirector of the Center for Holocaust Studies at New York University; Stefanie Student-Springorumspecialist in German history of the 19th and 20th centuries, or David Feldmandirector of the Birkbeck Institute for the study of antisemitism at the University of London, among other researchers from Canada, Romania, Germany, Great Britain, the United States and Israel.
«Appealing to the memory of the Holocaust obscures our understanding of the anti-Semitism that Jews face today and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel and Palestine. The Nazi genocide involved a state (and its willing civil society) attacking a small minority, which then escalated into a continental genocide. In fact, comparisons of the crisis unfolding in Israel-Palestine with Nazism and the Holocaust (especially when they come from political leaders and other people who can influence public opinion) are intellectual and moral failures,” they explain.
Racist narratives
They go on to warn: “At a time when emotions are running high, political leaders have a responsibility to act calmly and avoid fanning the flames of anguish and division. And, as academics, we have a duty to defend the intellectual integrity of our profession and support others around the world to make this moment meaningful. Israeli leaders and others are using the Holocaust framework to portray Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza as a battle for civilization versus barbarism, thus promoting racist narratives about Palestinians. This rhetoric encourages us to separate the current crisis from the context in which it emerged. Seventy-five years of displacement, fifty-six years of occupation and sixteen years of blockade of Gaza have generated a spiral of ever-deteriorating violence that can only be stopped through a political solution. “There is no military solution in Israel-Palestine, and deploying a Holocaust narrative in which an ‘evil’ must be defeated by force will only perpetuate an oppressive situation that has already gone on for too long.”
Read the full letter below:
«The undersigned are scholars of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism from different institutions. We write to express our dismay and disappointment at political leaders and notable public figures who invoke the memory of the Holocaust to explain the current crisis in Gaza and Israel.
Concrete examples range from Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wearing a yellow star with the words “Never Again” while addressing the UN General Assembly, to US President Joe Biden stating that Hamas is had “engaged in barbarism that is as momentous as the Holocaust,” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that “Hamas are the new Nazis.” U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, speaking on the House floor, questioned the idea that there are “innocent Palestinian civilians,” saying: “I don’t think we use the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ so lightly during the Second World War”.
Anti-Semitism often increases in times of heightened crisis in Israel-Palestine, as does Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. The unconscionable violence of the October 7 attacks and the continued aerial bombardment and invasion of Gaza are devastating and are generating pain and fear among Jewish and Palestinian communities around the world. We reiterate that everyone has the right to feel safe wherever they live, and that addressing racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia must be a priority.
It is understandable why many in the Jewish community remember the Holocaust and previous pogroms when trying to understand what happened on October 7: the massacres and the images that emerged afterward have tapped into the deep-rooted collective memory of genocidal anti-Semitism, fueled by Jewish history. too recent.
However, appealing to the memory of the Holocaust obscures our understanding of the anti-Semitism that Jews face today and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel-Palestine. The Nazi genocide involved a state (and its willing civil society) attacking a small minority, which then escalated into a continental genocide. Indeed, comparisons of the unfolding crisis in Israel-Palestine to Nazism and the Holocaust (especially when coming from political leaders and others who can influence public opinion) are intellectual and moral failings. At a time when emotions are running high, political leaders have a responsibility to act calmly and avoid fanning the flames of anguish and division. And, as academics, we have a duty to defend the intellectual integrity of our profession and support others around the world to make this moment meaningful.
Israeli leaders and others are using the Holocaust framework to portray Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza as a battle for civilization versus barbarism, thus promoting racist narratives about Palestinians. This rhetoric encourages us to separate the current crisis from the context in which it emerged. Seventy-five years of displacement, fifty-six years of occupation and sixteen years of blockade of Gaza have generated a spiral of ever-deteriorating violence that can only be stopped by a political solution. There is no military solution in Israel-Palestine, and deploying a Holocaust narrative in which an “evil” must be defeated by force will only perpetuate an oppressive situation that has already gone on for too long.
Insisting that “Haman are the new Nazis” (while holding Palestinians collectively responsible for Hamas’s actions) attributes hardened, anti-Semitic motivations to those who defend Palestinian rights. It also positions the protection of the Jewish people against the defense of international laws and human rights, implying that the current attack on Gaza is a necessity. And invoking the Holocaust to dismiss protesters calling for a “Free Palestine” fuels the repression of Palestinian advocacy for human rights and the combination of anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel.
In this climate of growing insecurity, we need clarity around antisemitism so we can identify and combat it appropriately. We also need to think clearly as we address and respond to what is unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank. And we must be frank in addressing these simultaneous realities—the resurgence of anti-Semitism and widespread killings in Gaza, as well as the escalation of expulsions in the West Bank—as we engage in public discourse.
We encourage those who have so readily invoked comparisons with Nazi Germany to listen to the rhetoric coming from Israel’s political leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament that “this is a fight between the children of light and the children of darkness” (a tweet from his office with the same phrase was later deleted). Defense Minister Yoav Gallant proclaimed: “We are fighting against human animals and we act accordingly.” Such comments, along with a widespread and oft-cited argument that there are innocent LIR Palestinians in Gaza, do indeed bring to mind echoes of historical mass violence. But those echoes should serve as an injunction against large-scale killings, not a call to spread them.
As academics we have a responsibility to use our words. and our experience, with judgment and sensitivity, to try to reduce inflammatory language that can provoke further discord and instead prioritize speech and action aimed at preventing further loss of life. Therefore, when invoking the past, we must do so in a way that illuminates the present and does not distort it. This is the necessary basis for establishing peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. That is why we urge public figures. including the media. Stop using these types of comparisons.»
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