I am a reader of The Conversation, a site that puts up essays by academics on their fields of expertise. Recently they published an appeal for more education on the holocaust in American public schools. I replied with an essay calling for American education on the country's relationship with Israel and what Israel is doing that goes against the American motto of liberty and justice for all. Here is that essay.
The great irony of education on the holocaust as well as in the several holocaust memorials in the U.S. is the studious avoidance of any mention of how the state of Israel, borne of the holocaust, until which Zionism had fallen short of interesting enough Jews to move to Palestine to create a Jewish state, practices eviction and oppression of the native Arab people while at the same time stating “never again.” Just as Hitler proclaimed that Jews were not Germans and had to go, Israel proclaims that the Arab natives, not being Jews, have to go. Though Israel does not practice extermination as Hitler did, it does practice systematic oppression, harassment and eviction (going on now in East Jerusalem as I write) going so far as to deny that there is a Palestinian people all in the service of making life so intolerable for the Palestinians that they will leave on their own though they are refusing to go, despite decades of mistreatment.
Just as the United States swept Native-Americans from the continent with intent, so Israel seeks the same with the Arabs on the land it wants for Jews alone. We in America are ashamed of what was done to the “Indians.” and we are proud (most of us) of being a multicultural society where all are equal under the law. The descendants of the Indians have full civil rights along with all other Americans today. Yet Americans, uneducated in what is going on in Israel, voice not a whimper in objection to a repetition of what was done to the Indians, instead watching our government pouring on full support, billions of dollars in aid (Israel is the #1 recipient of our aid) and defending Israel from any consequences of violating international law against moving one’s own citizens into territory occupied in war by repeatedly vetoing UN sanctions on Israel. The U.S. alone stands with Israel in this way. The hypocrisy is epic. Education please!
Yet this knowledge is not passed on to U.S. public school students though it involves American current events and is a direct refutation of what America claims to stand for: liberty and justice for all. The holocaust is, by comparison, foreign history. Our current president has gifted Israel with everything on Israel’s wish list - our embassy placed in Jerusalem, endorsing the wording of a State Dept. document outrageously equating anti-semitism to criticism of Israel, the silencing of peaceful campus protests against Israel and just this week, the OK on Israel seizing more Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley.
Many American Jews are outraged that what Israel is doing is being done in their name, organizing to oppose it in organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace.
Is yet more holocaust education needed? It is required in the public schools in many states. The holocaust is continually featured in media, either the main subject or background to literally dozens of movies, books, plays, and magazine articles produced over the years and each new year features additions. It is a staple. There are holocaust memorials in several locations across the county and there is no lack of funding for more. It is a subject far from being unaddressed.
Education of all Americans is needed on the power of lobbies of which Israel’s is among the most powerful, so powerful it can get Congress to support enthusiastically what is definitively un-American! This education would truly be valuable for creating an awake and aware citizenry and would help reduce the ranting between Americans, helping them understand not just how corrupt our government has become, but why and how it is able to be pushed against the bedrock ideals that America once stood for in a concrete ongoing refutation of the truths we supposedly hold to be self evident. Russian interference? It is nothing compared to Israel’s tail wagging the dog.
You know about the holocaust, all Americans do to at least a limited extent. Educate yourself in an area where another country desires Americans be ignorant. Let Jews who are on the scene in Israel and appalled at what their country is doing tell you the whole terrible story. Visit B'Tselem, the Israeli NGO for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. They know that things will not get better as long as the U.S. gives full support to a human rights disaster. If we do nothing to end “the special relationship” then Americans are responsible for the awful project Israel conducts in broad daylight thumbing its nose at the rest of the world with our blessing. Education should affect behavior. If you feel sorrow for what we did to the Indians, if you regret the holocaust, then speak out for the Palestinians.
