'Never Again': The Big Fat Lie
“Never again” is what I, like you, have always heard about the Holocaust. It’s the vow that no one would ever again stand by and allow a group of people—in this case, Jewish people—to be assaulted, abused, and murdered in ways too horrific for the brain to fathom. It’s the solemn oath that we would fight against such evil if it were ever again attempted.
Fast forward not that many years later, really. And what do we see? Hamas waged an attack too inhumane for most of us to even behold in pictures—babies, the elderly, and the disabled among the victims. I’ve made it my business not to see the images; my stomach would not be able to tolerate it. But I’ve heard, and I’ve read. I know what transpired. Others did make themselves look—some because they felt they had to, had to see what others endured simply because they were Jewish, felt everyone needed to see it.
What we have all seen since are people displaying antisemitism not surreptitiously, not shyly, not ashamedly. Oh, the contrary. Jewish people are being openly targeted, threatened, attacked, and killed. College campuses are a red-hot hate zone, where Jewish students have been forced to hide in the library and in their rooms, where dining halls have had to be locked down, where online messages on campus forums stated such things as:
If you see a jewish “person” on campus, follow them home and slit their throats. rats need to be eliminated from cornell.
And…
the genocidal fascist zionist regime will be destroyed. rape and kill all the jew women, before they birth more jewish hitlers. jews are excrement on the face of the earth. no jew civilian is innocent of genocide.
And posting about a Kosher dining hall…
gonna shoot up 104 west
And…
If i see another synagogue another rally for the zionist globalist genocidal apartheid dictatorial entity known as “israel”, i will bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews
Jews are human animals and deserve a pigs death.
Much of the antisemitism taking place is occurring at the indoctrination camps we have come to call Ivy League schools.
Let’s not forget we have a member of Congress spewing antisemitic remarks in the wake of the Hamas attack and has refused to retract her false claim that Israel was responsible for a bombing outside of a Gaza hospital. This, of course, is Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American who has a history of antisemitic comments. On Tuesday, the House voted to censure her, which is “an extraordinary rebuke of her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war,” Newsmax reported.
The hatred displayed against Jews is so disturbing, the calls for death so intense, the Israeli government has advised its citizens not to travel overseas and warned if they do, they should not wear any paraphernalia that would identify their heritage. The Detroit Jewish News wrote, “The National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have identified a significant rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement, alongside life-threatening violent attacks on Israelis and Jews around the world.”
It also reported, “Given the magnitude of this, the National Security Council recommends reevaluating the necessity of foreign travel,” adding, “If one must travel, the advisory said, travelers should avoid ‘openly displaying Israeli and Jewish symbols and features.’”
This is what is going on, what Jewish people face—in 2023. We are actually living at a time when people are in hiding because of who they are, and if they choose not to stay put, they still must hide that which identifies who they are. Instead of those wielding threats being dealt with, the threatened are told to stay in their place. This is surreal. This is inexcusable. And this is not what “never again” is supposed to look like. What it looks like is the precursor to some Anne Frank-type reemergence. We have all heard some variation of the expression “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I don’t know about the snot-nosed indoctrinated babies on college campuses, but many of us do remember being schooled about what the Jews endured, and so what? Are we condemned to repeat it anyway? Because it sure looks like too many are willing to not only look the other way from it but to even applaud it—if not to actually get in on it. We remember the past, but have we learned anything from it?
'“Never again,” I fear, is a cute maxim people say when it looks like the problem has gone away, that someone else took care of it, when it looks impossible for whatever the thing was to ever show up again. But all it took was an October 7, and all hell seems to have broken loose. And oh, the people who jumped on board! And oh, the ones who lost their voice! And oh, the folks excusing hate speech by citing “free speech.”
It hurts me to say it, and I pray I’m not right, but “never again” is looking like a big fat lie. Now, prove me wrong.