15^th May, 2005

Dear family and friends, Shalom!

57 is not a birthday which is overly celebrated. At 57  we are no longer young, or even youngish. At 57 we are well into middle age and creeping towards old age!!! At 57 we begin to look back and count our blessings. At 57 we balance our failures against our accomplishments.

The State of Israel turned 57 this week . Her friends are amazed at her accomplishments and dismayed by her failures but are fully aware that the former by far outweigh the latter. What other country in the world, 420 km (260 miles) from north to south, 50 km (31 miles) west to east at it widest point and 16 km (10 miles) across at its narrow waistline, with a population of nearly seven million, has

absorbed two million refugees in 57 years from Africa, Asia and Europe,

has made the desert bloom,

has increased the number of trees and forests by more than  a hundredfold,

has proportionately published more books, and in a seemingly dead language (Hebrew), than any developed nation,

has shared with the world the fruits of medical research which is among the finest in the world, helping Africa to almost eliminate blindness,   

has brought technology to third world countries, helping them to push back their deserts and cultivate barren land,  

has offered aid in disaster areas despite the host country's non-recognition of Israel.

The list is endless and modesty forces me to cut it short!!!

Ah, but what about her enemies? And they are many, both in Israel and throughout the world. And vociferous. And persuasive. And very often lacking in knowledge. For them there are no accomplishments. Nary a one. And if forced to admit at least to one tiny star, the black sky of failures blots out the light.

In their eyes, the State of Israel has no right to exist. But because that may sound harsh, they qualify it by adding "as a Jewish state".

The week prior to Israel's birthday is not a happy one. The day before we rejoice for being a year older, we mourn for all those who paid the price for that joy. Almost twenty seven thousand Israelis who lost their lives defending their country, whether in wartime or during periods of 'peace'. Even though they are remembered every day of the year, every minute of the day, by their beloved ones, on the day of remembrance we all remember them together.

As if that were not enough remembering, a week before that we remember those who perished during the Holocaust.

Which brings me to another birthday or anniversary. Sixty. (I have no idea why numbers ending with a zero seem to be more meaningful). This year, as we mourned as we do every year, for over six million Jews who were killed in Europe, for no other reason than that they were Jews, the world (or much of it) recalled that in May sixty years ago WWII in Europe came to an end, Auschwitz was liberated.

What a fest of remembering. And with it a rewriting of history by glossing over some details, by over-emphasizing others.

And as part of that fest, many leaders of those countries involved in WWII, together with the representative of an organisation born from its ashes, Kofi Annan of the UN, came to Israel to participate in the opening of the new and expanded Yad VeShem.

Some of my readers may recall being guided by me through the Holocaust museum during their visit to Israel. If so, they will recall that, apart from the factual details, there are three points I have always tried to make, three things I firmly believe.

1) The holocaust did not happen because of one evil man - Hitler. It did not happen because of the Nazis. It did not happen because of  the SS. It happened because the average German believed the Jews were sub-human. It happened because the people of all those countries occupied by the Germans, the Poles, the Ukrainians, the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the French, hated the Jews more than their occupiers and cooperated in every way with the massacre of their Jewish neighbours. 

It happened because, apart from two countries which offered to take Jewish refugees, the rest of the world stood by in silence, whether before the war even started or later, when the extent of what was happening was known. It happened because the courageous righteous among the nations, who proved again and again that it was possible to save Jews, were too few to stop the tide.

2) There is a difference between the scores of millions who died during WWII, both in Europe and in Asia, whether on the Allied side or the Axis, and the six million Jews. The former were killed in the course of a war started by Germany and not prevented by timid leaders who preferred appease the dictator rather than stand up to him. The latter were deliberately hunted and killed for one reason only - because they were Jews.

As horrific as the war was, no country lost more than a tiny percent of its population. The Jewish people lost over thirty percent of its people. One out of three Jews in the entire world was killed during the Holocaust.

3) There is a message to be learnt from the Holocaust, but all those who tell us "forget about the Holocaust, it happened sixty years ago" have yet to learn it. As long as the nations of the world do not examine their part in the Holocaust, whether by acquiescence or collaboration, we will continue to close our eyes to the deeds of tyrants and to witness mankind's indifference to the suffering of others whether in Ruanda, the Congo, the Sudan or other places in the third world. That is the unlearnt message of the Holocaust.

For me personally, I see a frightening parallel between the events then, over sixty years ago, and those of today. And I cannot convince myself that I am imagining things. Then, the Jews of the world were deligitimised and faced annihilation. Today, the State of Israel, the only place in the world where Jews are not only not the minutest minority but are an absolute majority, is being deligitimised and threatened with annihilation.

Anti-Semitism throughout the world is on the increase. It may be camouflaged as 'legitimate criticism of Israeli politics', be denied with the claim that anti-Zionism does not equal anti-Semitism or be shrugged off with the claim that Arabs are also Semites. It is on the increase in university campuses. It is on the increase in some Christian denominations and only partially off set by support in others. It is on the increase in counties were there are but a handful of Jews, if any. And in the Moslem world, where there is no room for increase, it has become more virulent, threatening and vicious. 

Can you convince me that I am imagining it?

And while on the subject of the rewriting of history by glossing over some details, by over-emphasizing others I have to give one example that absolutely stunned me. "The allied armies were no better than the Germans. Look how they destroyed (the German city) Dresden in bombing raids."

Maybe that seems fair enough IF we overlook that Germany began the war, sent her planes and V1 and V2 rockets to bomb England and caused the evacuation of thousands of children to escape the continual German bombing, and destruction, of London. Can we honestly overlook such facts in the name of rapprochement and political correctness?

I can't understand how  the British allow this one pass without even a hiccup. But it explains why young prince Harry thought nothing of wearing an SS uniform to a costume party.

And to end on a lighter note.

A lecturer at the Russian War College told an alarmed class of officers that Russia may have to fight China in WWIII.

"But Comrade General, we are 140 million people and they are 1.3 billion. How can we possibly win?' asked a  cadet.

"Well" answered the General, "in modern warfare it's not quantity but quality that counts. For example, in the Middle East five million Jews fight against 150 million Arabs and the Jews have won every time."

"But sir," asks the panicky cadet, "Do we have enough Jews?" 

15^th May, 2005.