Reply #12: Hi Violet, of course you are correct and there were other

[Colorado Blue]

factors involved. But the Holocaust - indeed - other genocides that flare up around the world - cannot happen if people aren't already predisposed to bigotry against a particular group of people. And in enlightened countries like Germany that very frequently is expressed in whispers for the very reason that it is really NOT acceptable on the polished, rational surface of things.

My in-laws are German, Opa having flown for the Luftwaffe. They're about 80 now and their civilized faces slip occasionally. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry, for example, they are so mad at George Bush right now they have decided he a) looks Jewish and b) he has a Jewish grandparent.

I use this anecdote to illustrate a point which cuts 2 ways: even after all these years the worst insult they can think of is to say somebody is or looks Jewish. And secondly, anger at Bush is expressing itself in terms of antisemitism. I think this is happening elsewhere in the States, among people who would consider themselves liberal. Antisemitism - and I don't mean being upset at the policies of Israel - is definitely on the upsurge.

As to the aspect of the German state actively hunting Jews and other groups - one could argue that the War on Terror and the Patriot Act have already given the government cover to hunt people they don't like, or whom they fear. And in a time when people are scared and increasingly vocal about their underlying bigotry - no longer politely hidden - I think another bloodletting is altogether too possible.

Finally, one group who must take some credit for the Holocaust: liberals in Western countries who were stone antisemites and who failed not only to help the trapped Jews, but who merely shrugged when told of their agony. These ranged from people who had real political power to the intellectual elite. Two of my favorite authors, Henry Miller and Laurence Durrell, shared the same publisher - a man who published their shocking and innovative work when nobody else would touch it - and they called him, instead of "our publisher", "the Manchester Jew". These people, and others like them, with their eloquent voices, could have stopped this evil before it got off the ground. Stranger still, Durrell had two Jewish wives, one the model for Justine herself, heroine of The Alexandria Quartet. Yet antisemitism threads itself throughout his brilliant writing, particularly the works on the Greek islands. It's a disease of Western culture that is flaring anew.

Indeed, even after the War, after the extent of the Holocaust had become apparent - nobody wanted the Jews. It is impossible for a person to understand the history of Israel without understanding the bitter imperative embodied by the sad remnants of European Jewry, nor the beacon of hope she represented for the Sephardic Jews scattered throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Perhaps you need to be Jewish to understand the depth of our love for Israel - but I would hope an imaginative, intelligent American would be able to empathize at least to some extent. However, I know people, fellow DU'ers, who are afraid to visit this forum let alone post on it - because they are so hurt by what THEY feel is the antisemitism expressed hereon.

That's why we can't be quiet now when confronted with antisemitism, and it's why we must be extremely careful, when discussing Israel, to remember that "Israel" is not a THING. It is a nation of human beings, each of whom has a story and a right to be on this planet, each of whom has links to people here. Well-meant criticism of Israeli policy on the part of some thoughtful DUer's, other intellectuals and peace activists is slopping over into hostility against the Jewish people themselves, their houses of worship, and their children.