When Victims Rule (pdf)

THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE (PT. 1)
Even more troubling, the Old Testament asserts that “the Lord will be at war
with Amalek throughout the ages.” [EXODUS 17:16] “Amalekites,” notes the
Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, “were regarded as Israel’s inveterate
foes, whose annihilation became a sacred obligation … Only after the final
destruction of the Amalekites will God and his throne be complete.” [WER-
BLOWSKY, R., p. 41] The Old Testament commands Jews to literally “blot out
the memory of Amalek,” an order that, as part of continuous religious review,
ironically ensures that it can never be forgotten. On the contrary, such a religious
sanction secures, notes Joshua Cohen, “the enduring presence of bigotry
in [Jewish] sacred teachings.” [COHEN, p. 299]
A disturbing modern perspective on the Amalekites is their reinvention in
some Orthodox and Zionist Jewish minds as Arabs (and any other non-Jews,
or even Jews, that are understood to want to “destroy” Israel. Michael Asheri’s
Amalek, for instance, is generic Germans.) [ASHERI, M., 1983, p. 340]
Rabbi Avraham Weiss (who we will meet again later in this chapter assaulting
a convent in Poland) explains that:
“The affirmative Torah commandment is to destroy those who bear
the seed of Amalek. Since the halakha has ruled that Amalek does not
exist today, the commandment cannot be carried out. Rav [Rabbi]
Haim Soloveitchik, however, maintained that there are two forms of
Amalek. There is the genetic Amalek, and there is the figurative Amalek,
which constitutes any nation willing to destroy Israel. Basing themselves
on this position, Kahanists [the followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane]
argue that Arabs are figurative Amalek. Thus, when Arabs were indiscriminately
killed, the classic Kahanist response was, “We were not involved,
but we applaud the action.” Thus, after Ami Popper murdered
seven Arabs, Rabbi Kahane suggested that a street be named after him.
Thus, the Hevron massacre [Baruch Goldstein’s murder of 29 Arabs at
prayer in a mosque] has been defended in some circles not on rounds of
national warfare, but on the grounds of fighting against Amalek. Rav Joseph
B. Soloveitch [says that] every individual who bears the genes of
Amalek must be wiped out. With regard to the figurative Amalek, on the
other hand, one is mandated to engage in warfare against any nation
that attempts to destroy the Jewish people.” [WEISS, p. 50]
Who then, one must inevitably be drawn to wonder, might be included as the
(figurative) enemies of (figurative) Israel who seeks to (figuratively) destroy it?
“The name Amalek,” observes Joshua Cohen, “has taken on a symbolic meaning
in Jewish tradition … To most Jews, Amalek represents the malign genius of anti-
Semitism.” [COHEN, J., p. 291] Amalek can hence be creatively interpreted to
mean virtually anybody. “Anyone who acts to deliberately provoke hatred of God
or Torah-fearing Jews,” decried an ultra-Orthodox newspaper in Israel, “can be
considered ‘children of Amalek.’” [JERUSALEM POST, 3-15-92] “Amalek is also
an ideology that denies Israel’s unique mission in perfecting the world,” wrote
Shlomo Riskin in 1996, “The spiritual heirs of Amalek include the Nazis, the
Soviet Communists and Moslem fundamentalists.” [RISKIN, S., 3-1-96]
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