On Oct. 7, the Hamas terrorist regime launched a brutal and genocidal attack on the State of Israel, its savage bands first targeting the communities near Gaza. Shocking, heartbreaking reports began flooding both conventional and social media, documenting families hiding in their own homes from assassins who were hunting them down. Toddlers had to be silenced to prevent entire families from being discovered and massacred. The immediate thought on the minds of virtually every Israeli and many Jews around the world was clear: the horrors of the Holocaust are back. The stories we had heard from survivors so many times are repeating themselves.
Despite these disturbing similarities, the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas in southern Israel is not a direct continuation of the Holocaust. There are important differences. One key distinction must be emphasized. Today, the Jewish people have their own state and a manifestly proficient defense force. We are no longer at the mercy of others, and we can and will exact a heavy toll on those who seek our annihilation. Nonetheless, even without equating Hamas and the atrocities it perpetrated to the Nazis and the Holocaust, they pose a stark moral challenge to humanity, especially to world leaders.
Countless dignitaries from around the world have stood solemnly at Yad Vashem and declared, "Never Again!" Every time I hear these words spoken by a world leader, I can't help but ask myself, "Are they sincere, or have these two words, punctuated with an exclamation point, become a hollow cliché?" My litmus test to answer that question is simple: Do these leaders have a clear and actionable plan to educate their citizens about the Holocaust and to combat and defeat the rising tide of antisemitism? And are they actually implementing their plan? If not, their declarations are mere hypocrisy.
During the June 2022 visit of President Joe Biden to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, I had the privilege of escorting him upon arrival from his motorcade to the Hall of Remembrance. During that brief walk, I had less than one minute alone with him. I used that precious time to convey a profound truth: "Mr. President, Israel wasn't created because of the Holocaust but rather in spite of it. We would be a much stronger state if 6,000,000 Jews and their descendants were alive. However, it's impossible to truly understand Israel and its people without recognizing the enduring impact the Holocaust has on us."
The Holocaust was unparalleled in history; such an atrocity had never occurred before. We aspire to sustain recognition of its uniqueness so that never should such an evil ever again recur. However, if our efforts fail, the results won't be an exact re-occurrence of the Holocaust we've seen in the black and white photos. It might involve instruments of mass murder and destruction different from those devised and used by Nazi Germany, and it might be perpetrated by rogue terrorists and not by a state or government.
Let's be clear: While circumstances might change, the root cause, venomous antisemitism, remains the same. Any action plan to combat and defeat antisemitism must encompass all facets of this dreadful plague, including the alarming calls for the annihilation of the State of Israel as well as threats to the physical security and communal well-being of Jews worldwide.
We're currently witnessing more and more antisemitism in mainstream society. It is seen and heard on the streets of many major cities from New York to London to Paris, from Warsaw to Sydney and Buenos Aires. Jews no longer feel free to visibly identify themselves as Jews. Calls to eradicate the Jewish State are no longer confined to places like Tehran, Damascus, and Beirut. They now emanate from some of the most prestigious university campuses.
If we have learned anything from the pain and suffering of the Jews during the previous century it is that antisemitism must be forcefully confronted the moment it shows its first ominous signs; otherwise, it can metastasize into monstrous dimensions. We are already past the point where clichés and empty promises can make a difference. Those who genuinely mean "Never Again!" must act now. Inaction is now equatable with complicity.
This op-ed was written by Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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