Enzo Traverso
We need to be very clear here: I don’t compare Gaza with the Holocaust. I don’t claim that what is happening in Gaza today is a repetition of the Holocaust. I simply say that what is happening in Gaza today is genocide.
The Holocaust was a genocide. The extermination of the Armenians was a genocide. The extermination of the Hereros was also a genocide. Genocides can vary greatly in their phenomenology, the means of destruction, and the populations targeted.
Of course, we have to acknowledge the existence of antisemitic tropes, which claim that Jews have always portrayed themselves as victims and now are acting exactly like the Nazis. This is a typical antisemitic argument, as well as an apologetic one. The genocide in Gaza, for example, is often used to trivialize Nazism and its crimes. We must reject such demagoguery.
We have to acknowledge the existence of antisemitic tropes, which claim that Jews have always portrayed themselves as victims and now are acting exactly like the Nazis.
However, we cannot censor or overlook the genocide in Gaza simply because we fear this kind of reaction. This is unacceptable. We cannot say to the Palestinians: we regret, but we cannot act against, the violence and oppression you are suffering because this could become the pretext for exhuming an old antisemitic tropes. The struggle against antisemitism is not incompatible with the struggle against the colonial oppression of Palestine.
Israel is part of the international community and must be judged according to the same political and legal criteria applied to all states and members of that community. If we fail to do this, we risk creating a perverse situation where antisemitism is indirectly legitimized. If Europeans, especially Germans, feel their duty is to defend Israel unconditionally to fight antisemitism and racism, the conclusion many people…
Auteur: Enzo Traverso
