Israel and its supporters, including world leaders, hide behind the Holocaust and use the Holocaust and what Jews have suffered in WWII, as a justification for occupying Palestine and for the siege on Palestine.
Secretary of State Blinken even called the Hamas attacks on Israel a holocaust. Blinken does not compare the actions of Israel to a holocaust, though, and that is both uneven and illogical. Hamas is not starving Israel, bombing Israel without pause, cutting off water and electricity, destroying hospitals, forcibly moving citizens and then killing them, and not allowing for borders to be opened. Those are the actions of Israel, not Hamas. Those are the actions of people who are actively trying to annihilate an entire population.
What these people refuse to admit, or even consider, is that Israel can in fact do what was done to jews in WWII to the Palestinians. They are actively committing a genocide against Palestine.
The acts of genocide include: a) killing members of a group. b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group. c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction. d) Imposing measures limited to prevent births. e) Forcibly transferring children to another group. Israel is committing all of these acts against the Palestinians.
If a wrong was done to a person, it does not give the victim justification to do what was done to them.
What happened in WWII was horrific and sadistic. No person should suffer what the Jews and other minorities faced at the hands of Nazis. What happened in WWII should never happen on this earth again, this is the lesson to be learned. This does not give those who suffered these atrocities the ability to perpetrate those same crimes no matter how horrific it was on another group. Israel uses the pain of the Holocaust to hide behind their crimes against Palestinians, but they cannot. Israel is now what they once feared and despised.
Any criticism of Israel’s actions are labeled antisemitic and that person is then accused of being a Nazi because Israel is using any attack against them as an attack on being jewish. Using the Holocaust to silence opposition that is calling for human rights to be respected and upheld, just like those who defended the Jewish community and minorities from Nazis, is weaponizing the pain of the Holocaust in order to create another holocaust in Gaza.
World leaders are not taking action. They cannot because of the role they have played in history. World leaders have not accused Israel of genocide and war crimes (only a small handful). This is partly because many of these nations were complicit in the creation of Israel in the first place. They would also have to admit their countries role in creating the state of Israel and their funding of the country. Then there is the money that the US rewards these countries for their silence over the decades of war crimes Israel has perpetrated against Palestine. There is also the threat of being labeled antisemitic by Israel and being compared to a Nazi, which no leader wants to be labelled.
Israel is trying to silence the world through the weaponization of their pain and that threat is keeping many silent and inactive. Anyone who questions Israel’s actions is antisemitic. Anyone who exists in Palestine is a Hamas agent of terror. Anyone who asks for proof of Israeli accusations or information is a person who wishes another holocaust on Jews. Anyone who does not support Israel hates jews. These are nothing but manipulations to silence and to justify crimes. Truth is found in actions, not words and sentiments. The actions of Israel are clear in their intent to destroy Gaza and the lives of innocent Palestinians, those actions cannot be denied, yet Israel tries to silence this truth through weaponizing the horrors that jews once faced.
No one is free from justice even if the horrors of this world have hurt them greatly, this does not give any person a pass to hurt innocent people. Our pain, no matter how great, does not justify us to commit further pain on others.
In our pain, if we cannot gain compassion and empathy, there is more healing that must be done. Seeking destruction and death does not heal. Israel is creating a never-ending cycle of oppression and hate. Others will also use their pain to the hurt others, they have found justification in the actions of Israel.
Put down the pain and embrace humanity. Heal from the pain. There are so many who do not want to see anyone hurting, and will help everyone heal, but to do that leaders must take accountability for actions and put an end to the cycle of hate and violence.
There are old wounds that must heal for everyone to live in peace. There are uncomfortable truths that must be admitted.
We cannot use our pain to hurt another person. Let us help this world heal and live in peace.
No person should be oppressed. No person should be controlled. Everyone deserves freedom.
From the river to the sea, may Palestine be free. May the whole world be free.
BE UNGOVERNABLE. Protest. Boycott. Volunteer. Organize. Contact elected officials. Share the stories from Palestine. Share the news from Palestine. Share the history of Palestine. Please extend the same energy to other countries that are also facing genocide and atrocities- the Congo, Sudan, West Papua, Armenia, and Uyghurs.