Israeli Holocaust in Gaza - That “Holocaust”
Osama Al Sharif; 5/3/08
It was a classic Freudian slip of the tongue, but it summed up the reality of what Israel is doing to Gaza. A day after more than 18 Palestinians were killed, including four children — a five-month-old baby among them — Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai warned that Gazans face yet a “bigger holocaust” unless they cease the firing of rockets. It was a shocking choice of words by the Israeli official. The term holocaust is almost never used by Israelis unless it is associated with Nazi oppression of European Jews during World War II. In fact it has become synonymous with their suffering, universally accepted and rarely challenged. Israel’s most revered historical monument is dedicated to the holocaust. It is a term that lives on in the Jewish psyche beyond the borders of Israel. To contest the holocaust in Europe — and elsewhere in the Western world — is to the Jews what the Danish cartoons mocking Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) are to Muslims!
