Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., September 30, 2007 , | | Israel Time: 19:44 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Print Edition
Diplomacy
Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising
Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 23:30 17/04/2007
Holocaust denial begins at home
By Bradley Burston

The photograph is arresting. Names, rank on rank of names, tens of thousands of names of victims of the World War II Nazi Holocaust, engraved on a tall black monolith on a memorial in Miami Beach. And then one name added at the bottom, added this week, to mark Yom Hashoa, the Holocaust remembrance day: Daniel Pearl.

I grieved and grieve the death of Daniel Pearl, murdered with hideous brutality five years ago, executed, his radical Islamist captors indicated, for having been an American and a Jew. He was a gifted, unusually humane journalist and an estimable human being. He deserves to be remembered and mourned as such.

But not this way.

Advertisement
"Daniel really died for basically one reason, and basically the same reason 6 million others did, and that was for the crime of being a Jew." said Norman Braman of the Holocaust memorial committee in Miami, adding that organizers of the commemoration felt it appropriate to place Pearl's name on the wall.

"There wasn't one individual that was in opposition,"

Perhaps there should have been.

My heart goes out to Daniel Pearl's widow Mariane, his son Adam, born three months after the murder, and to Judea and Ruth Pearl, Daniel's parents. I can certainly understand Judea Pearl when the Miami Herald asked him about the memorial. "Of course he was not a victim of the Holocaust," he said. Still, he said, "the same forces that killed my grandparents in Auschwitz, the forces of hatred, are still operating in our world in the 21st century - and Danny is one of the victims."

During the Sunday commemoration, Judea Pearl told participants, "The forces of barbarity and evil are still active in our world. The Holocaust didn't finish in 1945."

Daniel Pearl deserves to be remembered fully and appropriately for how he lived and how he died. But his name should not have been added to the wall.

The killing of Daniel Pearl was an act of authentic evil, an expression of unspeakable hatred and cruelty. It was a tragedy and a heinous crime.

The forces operating were forces of hatred. They deserve to be hunted down and removed from this world. But they are not the Nazis, and their crimes are not the crimes of the Holocaust.

We are outraged, and should be, when the actions of Israel are compared to those of the Nazis. We declare, and are right to do so, that the Holocaust was an event without parallel in human history. We believe, with morality on our side, that to compare the Holocaust to contemporary events, to use the Holocaust to further a political agenda or shore up a cause, is to cheapen the significance of the Holocaust.

To compare Islamic terrorism to the Holocaust, even when the intention is acting in defense of the Jewish people, is, in effect, to deny the Holocaust.

____________


Take it from us, over here. We have spent so much passion and conscience comparing our Islamist enemies to the Nazis, that we have managed to blind ourselves to the grievous act of Holocaust denial that we have committed on our own.

It has taken us 60 years to develop this blindness, to accustom ourselves to it, to so pervert the memory of the Holocaust that we can deny its victims their right to something approaching normal life.

After all, what if there were a nation which denied the Holocaust so effectively that its bureaucrats could look needy concentration camp survivors in the eye and deny them - year after year after year - compensation payments Germany had sent to that country expressly to alleviate the plight of the survivors?

What if that nation denied the Holocaust with such success that hundreds of thousands of aging survivors lived there as full citizens, yet one of every three eked out lives in poverty, unable to afford proper food, shelter, heating and medical care.

What if that nation denied the Holocaust to the extent that some desperate German-born survivors managed to receive adequate assistance and health care only by returning to live in Germany.

What if a succession of prime ministers of that nation denied the Holocaust by failing to redress the situation, even if they were made fully aware of it?

Jewish organizations across the world would denounce that government as obscenely insensitive, an insult to the memory of the six million who perished in the Nazi genocide.

Unless the perpetrators were us.

We have pledged, as Jews in America and Israel both, never to forget the Holocaust.

In the process, what we have clearly forgotten, is how to remember it.

_______________


Recent blogs:

We like our Arabs to be traitors
Help free them. They could've been yours.
Next year in divided Jerusalem
A place at the table


__________________


The guiding principles of the talkback forum for this article will be mutual respect and openness to dialogue. Participants, even if they rule out, dismiss or oppose coexistence, must, within the confines of this forum, practice it.

Censorship will be unapologetic.

Political orientation will have absolutely no bearing on whether a comment is posted or rejected.

The following will be grounds for deletion:

1. Racist remarks, as well as slurs on the basis of religion, ethnicity and gender.
2. Use of the terms Nazi, Hitler, to describe the actions and policies of Israelis, Palestinians or other parties to the Israel-Arab conflict.
3. Disparaging remarks, personal attacks, vulgarities and profanities directed at other participants in the forum.
4. Advocacy of violence against individuals or religious, ethnic or racial groups, including statements which may be construed as urging attacks on leaders, officials, security forces or civilians.
Bookmark to del.icio.us
Three fickle masters
In my dreams, my kids love and care for each other. In reality, they drive each other mad.
Supersize is better
In the religious home of my youth, overcrowding bred love, warmth and friendship.
  1.   Israeli Shoah Survivors Living in Poverty 10:44  |  Esty 16/04/07
  2.   ONLY ONE REASON 11:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/04/07
  3.   Daniel Pearl 11:14  |  God 16/04/07
  4.   You`re right Bradley, but let the grieving grieve how they want 11:15  |  Michael 16/04/07
  5.   So they set up another committee 11:16  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  6.   innocent + guilty 11:17  |  woody woodpecker 16/04/07
  7.   THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS 11:17  |  indrajaya 16/04/07
  8.   The Problem is post-holocaust Jewish behavior 11:23  |  AK 16/04/07
  9.   If the holocaust can be compared to "Islamic terrorism" then 11:48  |  Christian in Israel 16/04/07
  10.   #8, KA 12:02  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/04/07
  11.   Shalom Khalid #9 12:15  |  FOX 16/04/07
  12.   #9 CRAZY THINKING IS IT INDICATIVE OF RELIGION ?? 12:18  |  paul harris 16/04/07
  13.   In agreement with Burston 12:46  |  Daniel 16/04/07
  14.   Today I remember my dear friend 12:58  |  Lynn 16/04/07
  15.   Holocaust Remembrance 13:04  |  whodey 16/04/07
  16.   # 12 paul harris 13:20  |  Lynn 16/04/07
  17.   Also in agreement with Bradley 13:27  |  Nick Ferriman 16/04/07
  18.   The Mutating Left 13:31  |  FOX 16/04/07
  19.   today I remember my three uncles who were 13:40  |  KA 16/04/07
  20.   Fox -hypocrite 13:52  |  Baruch Nili 16/04/07
  21.   # 3 ungodly god in Beirut 13:59  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  22.   No Problem 14:00  |  Johnny Weintraub 16/04/07
  23.   # 7 Indrajaya 14:02  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  24.   Yom HaShoah yartzeit candle 14:02  |  akiva P 16/04/07
  25.   AK - Khaled 14:04  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  26.   Mourne the death of PC 14:07  |  Niall 16/04/07
  27.   # 19, KA 14:16  |  indrajaya 16/04/07
  28.   # 22, CHANAHS 14:23  |  indrajaya 16/04/07
  29.   To Bradley Burston, a far huge mistake !!! 14:28  |  Alberto Cohen 16/04/07
  30.   The Zionists 14:56  |  Phillies Wright 16/04/07
  31.   # 28 Indrajaya 15:09  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  32.   Cheapening the Holocaust 15:12  |  Tosefta 16/04/07
  33.   Holocaust - the extermination of Jews during WWII 15:24  |  Boris 16/04/07
  34.   Holocaust - the extermination of Jews during WWII 15:24  |  Boris 16/04/07
  35.   People Overboard 15:43  |  Ronnie Wolman 16/04/07
  36.   # 24 akiva P. WHILE I AGREE WITH CIPORA.TO A CERTAIN DEGREE.... 15:46  |  Kath` 16/04/07
  37.   Reading this article I feel ashamed to be man. 15:53  |  Karl 16/04/07
  38.   The ??? Faces of Khalid 15:57  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  39.   holocaust 16:13  |  rose 16/04/07
  40.   Whoever added Daniel Pearl to the holocaust list is a damn moron 16:27  |  Steve Holden 16/04/07
  41.   There is a need for a new museum and a new list of names 16:33  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  42.   Chanah..you continued living..by murdering 16:34  |  Khalid 16/04/07
  43.   THERE IS NOTHING UNHOLY ABOUT ADDING PEAR`S NAME 16:35  |  Meir Weinstein 16/04/07
  44.   KA 16:37  |  mandehu 16/04/07
  45.   Kath #36 16:37  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  46.   No. 40 16:45  |  Baruch Nili 16/04/07
  47.   # 42 Khaled 17:03  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  48.   Khalid Amyrah (AK) is now going Freud on us 17:23  |  Jacob Blues 16/04/07
  49.   Kath #36 17:24  |  akiva P 16/04/07
  50.   Yonatan #41 17:27  |  Gabe1 16/04/07
  51.   Ronnie, Hi there! 17:33  |  akiva P 16/04/07
  52.   Adding Danny was correct. Others will unfortunately follow 17:34  |  Jason 16/04/07
  53.   Shoah Memorial 17:43  |  Moshe 16/04/07
  54.   Akiva will watch it later 17:54  |  Ronnie Wolman 16/04/07
  55.   Burston-The Holocaust is NOT Unique In Jewish History 18:05  |  Ben Israel 16/04/07
  56.   #54 Ronnie 18:06  |  abd 16/04/07
  57.   Ronnie, about those ulta cuckers in Florida... 18:16  |  akiva P 16/04/07
  58.   abd:Parking in Toronto on the sheep 18:26  |  Ronnie Wolman 16/04/07
  59.   Khalid #42-Haaretz STOP Censoring. 18:31  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  60.   This Conflict and the Holocaust 18:36  |  Ronnie Wolman 16/04/07
  61.   # 49 akiva P. I AM SORRY IF YOU MISUNDERSTOOD... 18:47  |  Kath` 16/04/07
  62.   #59 Gabe 1 - You need a course in reading comprehension 18:58  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  63.   Phillies Wright - another "anti-Zionist" 19:02  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  64.   Jonathan...if antiZIonism is anti-Semitism, I am 19:10  |  Human 16/04/07
  65.   Daniel Pearl 19:19  |  Carl 16/04/07
  66.   Buston is correct historically speaking - 2dn Attempt 19:20  |  Chick Corea 16/04/07
  67.   an anecdote -pt 1 19:21  |  ipse dixit 16/04/07
  68.   an anecdote pt 2 19:23  |  ipse dixit 16/04/07
  69.   Jews have to decide whether the Holocaust is universal 19:24  |  Michael 16/04/07
  70.   an anecdote pt 3 19:24  |  ipse dixit 16/04/07
  71.   #64 Inhuman 19:48  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  72.   Burston is plain wrong 20:09  |  Wade 16/04/07
  73.   Holocaust Denial begins at home - Burston 20:13  |  Sharonelle 16/04/07
  74.   Yonatan #62 20:17  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  75.   Holocaust begins at home - to Burston 20:18  |  Sharonelle 16/04/07
  76.   #74 Gabe 1 - no problem 20:46  |  Yonatan 16/04/07
  77.   Yonatan #62 20:54  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  78.   Sharonelle # 73 20:55  |  ChanahS 16/04/07
  79.   Yonatan #76 21:17  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  80.   Nazi murderers and Islamist murderers 21:19  |  Briton 16/04/07
  81.   Wrong place right theme 22:23  |  danite 16/04/07
  82.   FOX you have some issues dude 22:28  |  Danite 16/04/07
  83.   Prejudice 22:59  |  EU 16/04/07
  84.   Haaretz 23:04  |  Sarah 16/04/07
  85.   Danite #81 23:20  |  Sarah 16/04/07
  86.   # 42 Khalid 23:45  |  Abushanab 16/04/07
  87.   Danite #82 23:48  |  GABE1 16/04/07
  88.   #36, Kath* 23:51  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/04/07
  89.   # 78 ChanahS. AND THE MURDERER SAID: 00:03  |  Kath` 17/04/07
  90.   conspiracy theories.... "G-d" in Beirut 00:24  |  zahara 17/04/07
  91.   what people fail to realize... 00:35  |  citizen zero 17/04/07
  92.   Bradley`s Remarks 00:46  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  93.   #28 Indrajaya, Bradley 01:07  |  Bill 17/04/07
  94.   Indrajaya #7 01:17  |  schafe82 17/04/07
  95.   Danite (#82) 01:48  |  christoph 17/04/07
  96.   Briton: The Difference 02:11  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  97.   # 64 Human...ARE YOU HUMAN?DOUBT IT... 02:13  |  Kath` 17/04/07
  98.   Not unique, not the worst 02:21  |  W 17/04/07
  99.   To Michael re 69 - Jews have to decide whether Holocaust is unive 03:19  |  Lee 17/04/07
  100.   To AK - "Jews became callous after the Holocaust" 03:27  |  Lee 17/04/07
  101.   To Christian in Israel 9 03:32  |  Lee 17/04/07
  102.   Meir Weinstein, Israel is a Wonderful Country. 04:35  |  Johnny Weintraub 17/04/07
  103.   brave 04:39  |  rebeca 17/04/07
  104.   Danite re: Our Anglo-Saxon Nations 05:03  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  105.   Johnny Weintraub: Ellis Island 05:25  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  106.   Who exactly censures talkback responses? 05:56  |  Bill 17/04/07
  107.   ak 06:54  |  Connie 17/04/07
  108.   Meir Weinstein: Defend this statement please 06:56  |  Jonathan 17/04/07
  109.   CHGODMK 07:06  |  Danite 17/04/07
  110.   Johnny Weintraub: Also 07:19  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  111.   # 31, CHANAHS 07:23  |  indrajaya 17/04/07
  112.   Danite re: UK 07:29  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  113.   Danite 07:31  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  114.   Schafe82 07:38  |  CHGODMK 17/04/07
  115.   WHEN JEWS MILK IT 08:08  |  SAMI 17/04/07
  116.   # to the so-called Christian in Israel 08:31  |  Paul Henzen 17/04/07
  117.   Khalid Amayreh (aka AK, aka Khalid): You are wrong. 08:56  |  People of the World 17/04/07
  118.   Bill #106 and others - on haaretz censors aka slowman 09:25  |  dana 17/04/07
  119.   #108 they ARE SO CLOSELY CONNECTED 09:28  |  paul harris 17/04/07
  120.   comparing Islam and national socialism (addendum to #95) 11:03  |  christoph 17/04/07
  121.   I agree Boris 12:42  |  Alon Fisher 17/04/07
  122.   #88 Cipora Julianna Kohn.--I STAND CORRECTED... 15:50  |  Kath` 17/04/07
  123.   Dana 17:33  |  Bill 17/04/07
  124.   To Sami - Jews Milking It 17:55  |  Lee 17/04/07
  125.   Indrajaya - Daniel Pearl was killed because he was a Jew 18:06  |  Lee 17/04/07
  126.   To Khalid re 42 19:10  |  Lee 17/04/07
  127.   The Holocaust stands on its own 03:53  |  AngryJewGirl 18/04/07
  128.   68 The Holocaust is not universal, it is Jewish 04:04  |  AngryJewGirl 18/04/07
  129.   RE42 Khalid 06:10  |  JewGirl 18/04/07
  130.   #125, LEE 08:09  |  indrajaya 18/04/07
  131.   daniel pearl #3 15:28  |  albert paul ortiz 18/04/07
  132.   To Indrajaya 130 16:54  |  Lee 18/04/07
  133.   the narrowness 18:12  |  drew 18/04/07
  134.   Comparison is not that far off 18:54  |  MichaelF 18/04/07
  135.   the Holcaust is Historical fact 21:02  |  Dave Schwep 18/04/07
  136.   Surely there are other examples 23:21  |  Pssd Off American 18/04/07
  137.   crashing bore 02:13  |  Edward 19/04/07
  138.   holocaust is a religion 03:17  |  roy 19/04/07
  139.   Roy #138 04:55  |  Tim R 19/04/07
  140.   #132, LEE 06:27  |  indrajaya 19/04/07
  141.   Tosefta #32 on cheapening 10:24  |  sh 19/04/07
  142.   May God bless most graciously the family of Liviu Librescu 17:53  |  Prof. @ VA Tech 19/04/07
  143.   Holocaust is...A mirrored image of man without God (the murders) 18:01  |  And then to learn of 19/04/07
  144.   Danite, I am disgusted 18:34  |  FOX 19/04/07
  145.   AK and Lee # 100 20:57  |  David Israel 19/04/07
  146.   roy #138 21:08  |  David Israel 19/04/07
  147.   To Indrajaya re 140 23:51  |  Lee 19/04/07
  148.   Calls for a New Holocaust 03:25  |  Efox 20/04/07
  149.   re: Christian in Israel 03:31  |  Efox 20/04/07
  150.   Re: #7 And Thank You Indrajaya! 07:00  |  Yosemite 20/04/07
  151.   Anyway, If You Read Pearl You`ll See That... 07:15  |  Yosemite 20/04/07
  152.   Holocaust Denial 14:21  |  montag46 05/05/07
 Today Online
Israel worried PA will harden its stance ahead of Int'l summit
Responses: 175
Levy: Why must Israel destroy the homes of Palestinian families?
Responses: 135
Rightists attempting to erect five illegal West Bank outposts
Responses: 57
FM lauds cancellation of U.K. academics' planned boycott
Responses: 42
Rosner's guest: Ruth Wisse discusses the politics of Jews
Responses: 104
Rosner's Domain
* WTR: Majority says Iran is an enemy
* The Israel Factor: On Senator Chris Dodd and Arab democratization
* Wisse: The Nobel Peace Prize belongs to the IDF
* Rosner's Mailbox: Why are the protesters against Ahmadinejad rightwing?


More Headlines
18:59 Rightists begin erecting five new illegal West Bank outposts
18:39 Hamas renews call for cease-fire with Israel
17:30 Eilat beaches reopened one day after closure due to sewage leak
19:15 Spain hosts its first international conference on the Holocaust
17:40 Five IDF soldiers convicted of dealing firearms, narcotics
18:12 Israel worried PA will harden its stance ahead of peace summit
18:52 Police arrest 19-year-old suspect in Haifa Sukkah arson case
14:21 Indian Jews outraged after local company labels product 'NAZI'
15:21 Four people killed and three injured in Arava road accident
13:33 Yom Kippur road crash that killed girl to be probed as a murder
14:05 Pensioners' Party to be probed for financial irregularities
12:37 Hamas forces arrest influential Fatah member in Gaza Strip
Previous Editions
Special Offers
Advertisement
Invest in Macedonia
New Business Heaven in Europe
Long-term Israel programs
MASA is your gateway. More programs. More grants.
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
JOIN FREE AT JDATE.COM
The most popular online Jewish dating community in the world! Explore the possibilities! Click Here!
Dead Sea Salt
Beauty and skin care from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 10% off!
Israeli History Documentaries.
Own a piece of Israel?s treasured past.
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt.
Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza Israel
Lowest internet rate Guaranteed at ichotelsgroup.com !
Home| TV| Print Edition| Diplomacy| Opinion| Arts & Leisure| Sports| Jewish World| Underground| Site rules|
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved