After roughly a minute of presenting the dangerous combination of Iran’s aspirations towards nuclear enrichment with Tehran’s stated intention to destroy the State of Israel, the prime minister evoked the memory of the German Holocaust against the Jewish people.
“Eighty years ago, the Jewish people were victims of a Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazi regime,” he said.
“Today, the Jewish state refuses to be a victim of a nuclear Holocaust, especially one initiated by the Iranian regime.”
While it’s true that the memory of the Holocaust occupies a central place in the Zionist narrative and in the way Israelis understand Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the outside world is understandably tired of hearing about the Holocaust and generally interpret such rhetoric as Jews cynically using the a tragic event from nearly a century ago to justify controversial (at best) actions in the present.
While evoking the Holocaust might be appropriate and productive for internal Jewish conversations, our political leaders should know by now that it’s rarely ever effective when speaking to the outside world.
Using the Holocaust as justicification – tired excuse
No need to justify – you all knew this was coming – and you knew it was coming because we had to do it. And you all know why.
We felt threatened. You know why. So we took action.
