Rekindling the Fires of Auschwitz

by Cal Thomas
June 3, 2003
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/printct20030603.shtml

It was good that President George W. Bush visited the Auschwitz
crematory during his European trip. The Holocaust museums in
Washington and Jerusalem remind visitors of what happened 
60 years ago, but not until people set foot in places where 
history's greatest atrocity occurred can they fully know. 
The president said that good came to Europe because "there 
were people willing to take up arms against evil." In a guest 
book, the president wrote, "never forget."

Evil ceased being a concept, except when politically convenient,
sometime in the '60s. Some of the same theologians, politicians,
educators and pundits who dismissed evil as a proper metaphor 
for our "modern time" were quick to invoke the word when it 
came to policies (mostly Republican) they disliked. Words such 
as "racism" and "homophobe" have replaced evil in our contemporary 
lexicon. Those same people who reject evil (as well as its 
companion and even more "outmoded" word, "sin") ask us to accept 
that certain things they do not like are wrong, while rejecting 
a standard - other than opinion polls - by which right and wrong 
can be measured.

It is puzzling, therefore, that President Bush - fresh from his 
visit to Auschwitz - now asks Israel to trust its future to the 
ideological descendants of the architect of the death camps.

One might expect that a people so close to getting what they 
want would modify their rhetoric and mollify their deeds to 
show the world how they plan to conduct themselves in a Palestinian 
state. One might also expect Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
to think more clearly about the "final solution" that Hitler 
failed to achieve but that his Arab disciples see as their 
mandate. In both cases, one would be wrong to think this way.

On the eve of Mr. Bush's visit to the Middle East, Egyptian
government newspapers unloaded invective on the president. 
Some samples: "Bush is like Saddam, a murderer, tyrant and 
oppressor" (Muhammad Nafi', writing in Al-Gumhuriya); 
"Bush suffers from Oedipus Complex" (Anis Mansour in Al-Ahram, 
the main government daily); "The removal of sanctions against 
Iraq require the Iraqi people to fight the Americans" 
(Al-Ahram editorial). This is from a nation that has a peace 
treaty with Israel and is an "ally" of the United States.

The Palestinian Authority is not letting up on its high-octane
diatribes. The PA Education Ministry has announced the top 10 
winners among 1 million entries in a children's writing contest. ]
One searches in vain for sentiments expressed by the winners 
concerning peace, brotherhood and cooperation with Israel. 
They are all about war, hate and taking all of the land to 
the sea. The essays reflect what the next generation of 
Palestinian children is being taught. It is not a preparatory 
course for coexistence.

Last Sunday (June 1), Israel Television Channel Two showed 
a tape of Yasser Arafat speaking to a group of children in 
Ramallah to mark International Children's Day. Arafat's remarks 
were about "shahid" (die for the cause). He said one shahid 
who dies for the sake of Jerusalem has power equal to 40 of 
the enemy dying. Arafat said nothing about peace and 
reconciliation. Don't expect Arafat's sham prime minister, 
Abu Mazen, to denounce Arafat's remarks. 

The Bush administration and Sharon's government persist with 
the fiction that further concessions by Israel will satisfy 
her enemies and that Palestinian promises can be trusted. 
So, Sharon announces the imminent release of 100 terrorists, 
including Ahmed Jabara, who was sentenced to life for the 
1975 murder of 14 Israelis in a terror attack in Jerusalem. 
This is styled as a "confidence-building" measure, along with 
the decision by Sharon to withdraw soldiers from areas where 
they had been placed to thwart the movement of homicide
bombers. The confidence built by these actions will be that 
of Israel's enemies, who will rightly see them as another 
sign of weakness by Israel and America and confirm that 
terrorism works.

President Bush correctly said at Auschwitz that evil must be 
opposed, even to point of taking up arms against it. If that 
is true, why does American policy support the forcible 
dismantling of Saddam Hussein's evil regime, but pressure 
the democratically elected government of Israel to take 
steps that are suicidal in the face of evil?

Such a move guarantees the rekindling of the fires of Auschwitz.