viewpoint: by ben cohen

Time to rethink Holocaust Remembrance Day?

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Do we need Holocaust Remembrance Day?

Since some of you may be incredulous that I even asked that question, let me first explain why I am doing so.

Over the last week, a scandal erupted in Ireland regarding whether or not Israel can be mentioned at the forthcoming official Holocaust commemoration on Sunday, Jan. 25. (The official international remembrance day follows two days later.) It was Yanky Fachler, the avuncular Irish-Jewish broadcaster who has been master of ceremonies of the event for several years now, who alerted the outside world to this development when he released a letter from Peter Cassells, chair of Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland (HETI), informing him that he could not say the words “Israel” or “Jewish state” in any of his remarks.

After a subsequent tussle with HETI, Fachler was informed that his services as MC would no longer be needed. At the same time, Jewish leaders around the world, along with such leading Irish personalities as Alan Shatter, a Jew who until recently served as Minister of Justice, condemned the decision on uttering the word “Israel” in no uncertain terms. Ironically, at this year’s ceremony in Dublin, Shatter underlined the centrality of Israel to our understanding of the legacy of the Holocaust when he said, “Holocaust denial is the favorite sport of some, in particular in Europe and in the Middle East. It is the first cousin of those who still see Jews, for no reason other than they are Jewish, as legitimate targets for hate speech and random violence and of extremists who would, if they could, bring about a second Holocaust by the extermination of the 6 million Jews who today are citizens of the state of Israel.”

In other words, to prevent another Holocaust, Jews need to be able to defend themselves from outside persecutors — and to do that properly, they need a state.

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