averilburystedmunds: Gaza Revisited.

Conflict

I have recently tidied up both my filing system and various individual files. In doing so, I have come across a most interesting newspaper clipping dated 16/08/2014. It IS interesting but in fact, it is also riveting. I have obviously saved it because of its powerful testimony at the time but now, a decade later, it resonates with an uncanny eloquence given the present war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. It is written by the following people:

Jewish women and children arriving in Auschwitz 1943

Hajo Meyer, survivor of Auschwitz; The Netherlands.

Henri Wajnblum, survivor and son of an Auschwitz victim from Lodz, Poland. Belgium.

Norbert Hirschhorn, refugee of Nazi genocide and grandson of three people who died in France during WW2, and whose mother died in Auschwitz. London.

Suzanne Weiss, survivor after hiding in France; whose mother died in Auschwitz. Canada.

Felicia and Moshe Langer, survivors from Germany. Moshe survived five concentration camps. Other family members were exterminated there. Germany.

Michael Rice, child survivor, son and grandson of survivors. United States.

Plus 30 Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide and 260 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other relatives of survivors. [Full list at: ijsn.net/gaza/survivors-and-descendants-letter/]

Stutthof Concentration Camp, near Gdansk, Poland
Post war, 1945.

The 2014 letter reads:

As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of Nazi genocide, we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonisation of historic Palestine. We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world.

Women and children walk towards the gas chambers,
Auschwitz 1943.

We are alarmed by the racist dehumanisation of Palestinians in Israeli society which has reached fever pitch. Politicians and pundits of the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians, and right wing Israelis are adopting neo-Nazi insignia. Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these pages [Advertisement, August 11; Report, August 11] to promote blatant falsehoods used to justify the unjustifiable. Nothing can justify bombing U.N. shelters, homes, hospitals, universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water.

We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism. We call for an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again,” must mean “Never again for anyone.”