A verbal juggling act (Poles operated Auschwitz)

Two days separated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Auschwitz and Israel’s response to the Goldstone Report. The two texts were very different in terms of their importance, length, and their intended audience. The Netanyahu speech was aimed at the Polish government, which currently holds an important EU status, while Israel’s response to the Goldstone report was meant to appease the UN.

Yet despite the differences, it appears that the same person is responsible for drafting both texts; someone who specializes in verbal deception.

Speaking at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, the greatest extermination facility in history, which was built in Polish territory (and not coincidently) and was operated by Poles, Netanyahu managed to skip the enthusiastic role played by the Poles in the Holocaust. In terms of their dedication to persecuting Jews, turning them over to the Nazis, and their active role in the extermination industry, the Poles were second only to the Germans, and sometimes even more devoted than them to the extermination work.

The murders within Polish territory continued even after the German were defeated. According to estimates, about 1,500 Jews were murdered in independent pogroms approved by the new regime; many of them took place on city streets while an excited Polish crowd cheered on. The Righteous Gentiles among them were few, at the very margins of society.

Yet the Netanyahu speech aimed to blur this terrible story. The address sought to turn the central theme – that is, the lively popular anti-Semitism – into the margins, while turning the margins of the Righteous Gentiles into the central theme.

Israel’s response to the Goldstone Report is premised on the very same verbal juggling act. Israel has declared that it adheres to universal war conventions, but according to these conventions Israel agreed not to use white phosphorous bombs. Were such bombs used in Operation Cast Lead? It’s a trivial question, as all of us saw these bombs being fired, and the results, on television. We saw them time and again even in photos released by the IDF spokesman.

And were hundreds of Palestinian children killed? This time, Israel did not deny. How could it? However, “we found no evidence that would justify a criminal investigation.” The same was true in respect to cases where the IDF fired at medical teams. According to Israel’s response, the judge advocate general launched dozens of thorough investigation, but somehow everything and everyone turned out to be fine.

According to the judge advocate general, thus far authorities have not uncovered even one affair where the army misbehaved. After all, we are the world’s most merciful and most just army and we take the greatest precautions not to hurt civilians. No wrongdoing was found even in the case of the inexplicable fire directed at the home of Gaza doctor Abu al-Ayash and the killing of three of his daughters.

However, in the interest of accuracy and to prove that the IDF indeed does everything to maintain its purity of arms, authorities did uncover one severe case of wrongdoing. They found that a soldier stole a Palestinian’s credit card during the operation. The soldier was tried and punished; apparently, this soldier is our atonement.

PM Netanyahu's Speech at the Ceremony Commemorating 65 Years Since the Liberation of Auschwitz

27/01/2010

I want to thank the Government of Poland for the historic effort it is making to commemorate the greatest catastrophe that befell my people and the greatest crime committed against humanity.

We have gathered here, Poles and Jews, at the crossroads of tragedy. Our long shared history included tremendous cultural accomplishments and the lowest low humanity has experienced. We remember also that one-third of the Righteous Gentiles, those who risked their lives and their children’s lives and those of their families in order to save others, were Poles. We remember all this.

As we stand here to commemorate the past, we are helping to build a future of decency, truth and hope for our two peoples and for all mankind.

Now I will speak in Hebrew, the reborn language of the people whom the Nazis sought to exterminate.

The voices of millions of my people gassed, burned and killed in a thousand different ways rise out of this cursed ground.

In the final moment of their lives, many whispered or cried out the timeless words of our ancient people:

Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

Perhaps a few used their final breath to chant another age-old prayer:

Remember what Amalek did to you. Never forget!

To those who were murdered here, and to those who survived the destruction, I come from Jerusalem today with this promise: We will never forget! We will never permit those who desecrated this monument to death to distort or wipe away your memory.

We will always remember what Amalek’s Nazi heirs did to you. We will be prepared to defend ourselves when a new Amalek appears on the stage of history and threatens again to annihilate the Jews.

We will not delude ourselves into believing that the threats, vilifications and Holocaust denials are merely empty words. We will never forget. We will always be vigilant.

The Holocaust author, K. Zetnick, in his testimony at the Eichman trial, called the death camps “another planet.” But the horrors of the Holocaust occurred not in a far away world but right here on earth.

It was not the work of beastly animals but of beastly men, of loathsome and despicable murderers.

The most important lesson of the Holocaust is that a murderous evil must be stopped early, when it is still in its infancy and before it can carry out its designs.

The enlightened nations of the world must learn this lesson.

We, the Jewish nation, who lost a third of our people on Europe’s blood-soaked soil, have learned that the only guarantee for defending our people is a strong State of Israel and the army of Israel.

We gave learned to warn the nations of the world of impending danger but at the same time to prepare to defend ourselves.

As the head of the Jewish state, I pledge to you today: We will never again permit evil to snuff out the life of our people and the life of our own country.

I came here today from Jerusalem to say to those who perished here: The people of Israel live!

We have returned to our homeland, to the land of our fathers, to our capital Jerusalem. We have come from every corner of the earth -- Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab lands, Jews from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia, Poland and Yemen, Romania and Iraq, France and Morocco, Jews from seventy lands and five continents.

Some who came almost didn’t make it. Barracks #16 at the Birkenau death camp, a few meters from here, housed a17-year old Jewish boy who suffered from the 80 lashes he received in the Ghetto from his Nazi tormenters.

No one believed the boy would live, but he survived and escaped from the camp.

With the victory over the Nazis 65 years ago, he immigrated to Israel. Fifteen years later, he was the Israeli police officer guarding Adolph Eichmann when the Jewish state brought the Nazi henchmen to justice.

That young man is Michael Goldman. With his wife Eva, he raised a family in Israel, and they have five children and nine grandchildren. Michael is with us here today -- a witness to the Holocaust, a witness to the redemption.

The Jewish people rose from ashes and destruction, from a terrible pain that can never be healed.

Armed with the Jewish spirit, the justice of man, and the vision of the prophets, we sprouted new branches and grew deep roots.

Dry bones became covered with flesh, a spirit filled them, and they lived and stood on their own feet.

As Ezekiel prophesized:

“Then He said unto me: These bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.'

Prophecy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of your graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel.”

I stand here today on the ground where so many of my people perished -- and I am not alone.

The State of Israel and all the Jewish people stand with me. We bow our heads to honor your memory and lift our heads as we raise our flag-a flag of blue and white with a Star of David in its center.

And everyone sees. And everyone hears. And everyone knows – that our hope is not lost.

http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechauchwitz270110.htm

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