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Is “Never Again” simply an elusive item on a Jewish wish list?
By David E. Kaplan
How can it be in the third decade of the 21st century that 6 Jews – in the midst of negotiations – are summarily executed in cold blood. With bullets to the head , it could have just as well have been before a freshly dug-up pit instead of an underground tunnel, for the Gazan executioners were of that same murderous mindset. They may have not worn the same uniform of the Nazisbut they were certainly inuniform with that same malignant ideology.
The imagery of a past juxtaposed with the present is inescapable, a stark reminder of the Einsatzgruppen – the Nazi death squads that roamed Eastern Europe, perpetrating mass executions by shooting rounded-up defenseless Jews wherever they found them. The first Jews selected, dug the pits – for themselves and for the others to follow. It was a ‘temporary solution’ until the more sophisticated “Final Solution”.
Hamas’ Role Model. Execution of Jews by an Einsatzgruppen in Latvia, November 1941.
Hamas are the heirs of this legacy; but if the Nazis tried to cover their tracks, not Hamas that brazenly advertises to the world their murders as if proudly marketing a merchandise in the hope the fad of Jew hatred will catch on globally. It has!
Such is the security status today of Jews in the 21st century.
“How can it be?” is the question.
Easy.
No soon after the Hamas triggers were pulled ending the lives of Hersh Goldberg–Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi – the United Kingdom decides to suspend select arms exports to Israel.
Executed by Hamas. Thousands attend burial of dual US-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin who became a symbol in the battle for the hostages, and was executed by his Hamas captors along with five others. Seen here is his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin eulogizing her son. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash9)
No shame or embarrassment – none.
This diabolical decision made on the same day of the funerals of the abovenamed executed hostages, sent not a “mixed-message” signal as some have called it but a clear message to Hamas and their supporters that Briton “understands” – read sympathetic – to their position. The UK decision was applauded by these mass murderers and their fiendish affiliates and supporters.
However camouflaged with verbiage the British ‘explanation’, the UK’s new Labour government is evidently now more concerned with appeasing an ever-increasing numerically powerful and volatile Muslim community than with supporting an ally with supposedly shared values. This “ally” – being the irksome Jewish state – is looking increasingly expendable in the wake of the new Labour policy of expediency. As Labour Party member representing Birmingham Yardley Jess Phillips recently admitted at an event at the Kiln Theatre in North London:
“I was seen much quicker by a doctor in a crowded emergency room, at a National Health Service hospital because the medical professional was a Palestinian who noted that that I was a Labour MP who had voted in favor of a Gaza ceasefire.”
Morality “on Hold”. With Israel fighting an existential war on multiple fronts, UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy announced that 30 licences, including parts for fighter planes helicopters and drones, would be put on hold. (Image credit: Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images)
Astute observation Jess in how to jump a queue – such is politics today in the UK.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is fooling few with his lame justification for the freeze that it “is not a blanket ban” but only “a targeted measure” aimed at “preventing potential human rights violations.” In other words, why make such a fuss, it’s not so serious.
British Betrayal. While Israelis were burying their dead, the British foreign secretary David Lammy announced that his country is suspending 30 of 350 licenses for the export of arms to Israel, in order to prevent “possible violations of international humanitarian law.” It’s worth noting that according to the UK’s own official assessments, the IDF hasn’t broken any such laws.
That’ would be like Edward I in 1290, when expelling the entire Jewish population of England saying, “Don’t worry; it will be fine; the weather on the Continent is far more suitable for your lot.”
Mr. Foreign Secretary, your words are demeaning and offensive.
How dare you try sell it to us that the British ban is of little consequence – being only 30 of 350 arms export licenses!
In British parlance – “Tripe”. It’s super serious.
It was an official public posture amounting to siding with evil.
Reciprocal Backscratching. Labour MP Jess Phillips claimed she was seen faster in a crowded emergency room in the UK as her Palestinian doctor supported her ceasefire vote.
The reality on the ground is that Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to minimize civilian casualties, even as Hamas cynically uses Gaza’s civilian population as human shields. The Foreign Secretary knows this but felt he had to be seen doing something against Israel; show some support for those who are determined to bring about Israel’s demise in an existential war that also threatens Jews across the world.
Britain’s conduct is a slap in the face to Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself and to the IDF’s commitment to adhering to international law, and stands exposed as waffling during a war, for the UK is not responding to actual violations by Israel but – in their words – “at preventingpotential human rights violations.”
How would Britain have reacted if in the 1940s, if the US suspended some of its vital convoys across the Atlantic under a US concern articulated by President Roosevelt that he wanted to prevent “potential human rights violations” of Germans.
They would have heard in Washinton, Churchill bellowing from across the channel.
It is not only Israel, but Jews everywhere are feeling betrayed by the UK.
It is very rare that the UK’s Chief Rabbi takes issue with a British government in power but this is what happened when the Commonwealth’s Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, denounced the decision by the British government to suspend 30 out of some 350 arms export licenses to Israel.
In a statement on X, Sir Mirvis said that it “beggars belief” that such a decision was made:
“…at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families.”
Foreign Secretary v Chief Rabbi. Britain’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis slams government’s decision to suspend arms licenses to Israel, accusing the decision of feeding into “the falsehood that Israel is in breach of International Humanitarian Law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it.” (Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters)
FROM UK TO UN
In the wake of Hamas’ execution of the 6 Jews, the UN’s behaviour is no less appalling even if no longer startling. Commenting on the execution of the six Gaza hostages, United Nations Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, expressed that all hostages, both “Israeli and Palestinian,” should be freed.
“Free the hostages, both Israeli and Palestinians,” she posted on X, formerly Twitter.
What “hostages” does Israel have, Francesca?
The UN’s representative is equating Israelis kidnapped during a massacre with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails for acts of violent terrorism. The Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli jails made an active choice to commit a crime, while the only “crime” committed by the Israeli and other foreign hostages was that they were Jewish or were in Israel.
The UN’s Albanese’s characterization is deliberate as it is dangerous – designed to further marginalize Israel and undermine its legitimacy, contributing to global antisemitism.
And no castigation from the UN Secretary General for he invariably shares this mindset of false equivalency between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. He could say something. He chooses not to.
With such global leadership only eight decades from the Shoah, is “Never Again” to be really “Never Attainable”?
