"Yom HaShoah"

Arlene Kushner

In Israel, it's Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day -- because we must remember those Jews who fought back against their Nazi torturers, as well as those whom the Nazis destroyed.

At 10:00 AM this morning, the siren sounded and the nation stood still. Remembering, thinking...

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Inevitably, Yom HaShoah becomes -- both literally and figuratively -- more distant with time, as the number of direct witnesses who are still alive diminishes.

But we must never forget.

With the remembering comes our cry, "Never again!"

With the remembering comes the understanding that there is such a thing as consummate, unmitigated evil in this world, and that it must be recognized and fought without respite.

Unfortunately, the world does not remotely understand this. (Yet?) A Holocaust memorial video. Unbearable, and yet we must remember. The song, rendered quite beautifully, is "Ani Ma'amin" -- I believe with perfect faith... A miracle, that we are still here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9e639d1Js&feature=related

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I rather like the three statements regarding the Shoah that Liat Collins shared in her JPost column yesterday:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=218606

1) "Elie Wiesel: 'The Shoah wasn’t a crime against humanity, but a crime against the Jews.'”

Today the terms and images specific to the Shoah are borrowed freely by many protesting violent offenses of one sort or another. But when everything becomes like everything else, then the historical realities are blurred or misunderstood or forgotten.

2) "Writer Haim Guri: 'Israel was created not because of the Shoah but in spite of it.'"

This is an extremely important point. The mythology in many quarters -- fostered by the Arabs -- is that Israel exists only because after the Shoah Jews had no other place to go. The Arab version has it that they are now suffering at Jewish hands because of the Holocaust; many Europeans, in particular, have bought this. This is, as well as being a libel, a denial of our intrinsic rights.

The reality is that our claim to this land is more than 3,000 years old, and our modern legal rights were established decades before the Shoah.

3) Unattributed: "Had there been a Jewish state in the 1930s, the Holocaust might not have happened at all, or would have been on a much-reduced scale."

A stark reminder, in particular, to those Jewish members of the younger generation who imagine it's OK to dissociate themselves from Israel because they're doing just fine where they are. The younger generation is without memory. If they are doing just fine they had best look to the role that Israel has played in their lives by conveying messages of Jewish power. Every Yom HaShoah, we hear from the IDF that it considers itself responsible for Jews everywhere.

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See this video of a Yad V'Shem (Israeli Holocaust Memorial) ceremony at Auschwitz that includes the fly-over of Israeli Air Force planes. It makes the point regarding the need for Israel's power stunningly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfv3jsLGzL0

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Please, also see this article of mine that went up on American Thinker a couple of days ago:

It shares basic facts -- truths that must be known and of which too few are aware:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/the_palestinian_authority_what.html

After you have seen it, please then share the URL with others, including your elected representatives in Congress.

It's a certainty that there are many Congresspersons and Senators who are unaware of the events described in the article. And right now, that's not a situation that we can ignore. In a pinch, their understanding will make a difference:


For your Congresspersons:



http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml



For your Senators:



http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm



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The US got bin Laden at last. This is good, although it hardly signals the demise of radical Islam in that part of the world, as some would have it. His capture and murder should have considerable psychological impact, but the battle against al-Qaeda and its ilk will go on.

The palace in Pakistan where he was located puts the lie to the notion that terrorists are enraged because they are poverty stricken. This terrorist was anything but...

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Hamas is mourning the killing of this "Arab holy warrior," and condemns the US action.

Think the world will take notice? Nah...

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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.