Sunday apparently was Israel's annual remembrance day for the six million jews who died in the holocaust (just the jews??? Well, I'll let it pass...). Anyway, we should probably all think back to this tragedy that occured and remember what we learned from it. So, please take a few moments and do so. And when you're done, please see below to see what the Israelis seemed to have learned from it.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel had learned the lessons of the past and would never again tolerate attacks on Jews.
"We shall never allow the murderers of today or those of tomorrow to harm our people," Sharon said in his address. "Anyone who dares to do that will be struck down."
So, there you have it folks. You'd think maybe Israel would have learned something about compassion and understanding of other peoples. But, noooooooooo, it seems they just learned the obvious lesson of might makes right. Right on guys, you have it all figured out now.
Well, at least that's what Sharon has learned. Maybe I should give the benefit of the doubt to other people living in Israel. Unfortunately they seem to agree with him since they elected him in a landslide. Furthermore, Israel's policies for years are certainly in line with that stupid form of thinking.
It seems things have come full circle. Instead of learning from the experience of being persecuted, Israel learned that it's ok to oppress weaker groups. This is like how many abuse victims grows up to become abusers, except on a national scale.
I feel bad for the people killed in the holocaust, jew and non-jew alike (it wasn't all jews, even if they made up a majority), but I have no sympathy for Israel today. Their actions thus far don't make them anywhere near as bad as the Nazis, but at the same time that doesn't make them civilized or commendable.
This underlying belief does shed a lot of light on the whole mentality behind the Isreali-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately, it makes me doubt even more that there will ever be peace there.