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UN remembers 6 million dead Jews as Ban Ki Moon’s words endanger 6 million live Jews

Then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once acknowledged that the United Nations “rose from the ashes of the Holocaust” to save the remnants of European Jewry and provide the Jewish people with an opportunity to fulfill their age-old aspirations through the new nation state of Israel.
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January 27, 2016

Then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once acknowledged that the United Nations “rose from the ashes of the Holocaust” to save the remnants of European Jewry and provide the Jewish people with an opportunity to fulfill their age-old aspirations through the new nation state of Israel.

This year the UN explicitly linked International Holocaust Remembrance Day to its own mission by solemnly invoking the theme of “The Holocaust and Human Dignity:”

[WATCH: FULL UN SPECIAL EVENT ON THE HOLOCAUST]

“The theme links Holocaust remembrance with the founding principles of the United Nations and reaffirms faith in the dignity and worth of every person that is highlighted in the United Nations Charter, as well as the right to live free from discrimination and with equal protection under the law that is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Holocaust, which resulted in the destruction of nearly two thirds of European Jewry, remains one of the most painful reminders of the international community’s failure to protect them.”

Unfortunately, what the UN declared about Holocaust Remembrance was mocked by the words uttered by the United Nations’ current Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. Even as Israelis were burying the latest victim of Palestinian terrorism- a beautiful 23 year old who was stabbed to death in a market as she bought groceries for her grandparents, Mr. Ban declared that the current knife/gun/vehicle Intifada “is a reaction to the fear, disparity and lack of trust the Palestinians are experiencing.”  He went on to ‘explain’ “Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process,” he said, blaming “the occupation” for causing “hatred and extremism.”

The subtext here, was that killings on the streets of Paris or in San Bernardino must be denounced by the international community as terrorism, but the heinous murders of Jews—among them family members of Holocaust survivors on the streets of Jerusalem—was essentially the fault of the Jews, that cold-blooded killers of Israelis didn’t merit powerful condemnation but rather needed to be “understood”.

The Secretary General’s words were splashed across the front pages of Israeli newspapers and outrage was expressed from Prime Minister Netanyahu to an incensed Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, who lamented, “Instead of trying to rationalize Palestinian terrorism, the United Nations should demand that the Palestinian Authority eradicate incitement, which is coming from its highest echelons.”

The timing and thrust of Mr. Ban’s statement is especially deplorable as he missed an historical opportunity to deliver to the Palestinians and all others embracing a culture of death, a crucial lesson from the Shoah itself.

Ban lectured Israelis that, “As oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”

He invoked powerful words and imagery in making his case: The Palestinians he said suffered from fear, lack of trust, frustration, and humiliation.

He should have told them, “instead of embracing the culture of death of ISIS, Al Qaeda and Al Shabab, why not invite survivors of Auschwitz to al Quds University to discover how they dealt with fear, frustration and humiliation”. They would have heard from people who witnessed and experienced the Nazi Genocide, how and why they were able to embrace life and keep hope alive for a better future.

They would have seen someone, who despite having seen their world and families destroyed, who saw their own lives reduced to a number tattooed on their arms, who themselves were at death’s door when liberation finally came, despite it all, they rejected hatred and terrorism and chose Life.

Instead, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, Mr. Ban defaulted to a politically expedient mantra, one that never helped a single Palestinian. Whatever his motivation, the effect of his words was to tell Palestinians and by extension anyone with a gripe against Israel, that he understood the pain of terrorist murderers, if the target are Israelis.

What a disgrace.

So on the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Ban Ki Moon did manage to teach us something new. We learn there is something worse than forgetting 6 million dead Jews. It is deploying a cynical double standard that emboldens those who would destroy 6 million live Jews.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper is Associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance. Dr. Harold Brackman is a consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center

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