When Victims Rule (pdf)

THE HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE (PT. 2)
wrote Nahum Goldmann, “and therefore no formula acceptable to all can be
found to cover all the aspects of this phenomenon and to define it in a way satisfactory
to the different shades of opinion within Jewish life.” [GITTLESOHN,
R., 1964, p. 26]
In the influential Zionist journal Midstream titles of articles over the last
decade and a half have included The Ineluctable Uniqueness of Judaism, A
Unique Feminism (about early Jewish pioneers in Israel), and Is Polish Anti-
Semitism Special? Joel Carmichael began another article with the declaration
that “Xenophobia is commonplace, anti-Semitism unique.” [MAMLAK,
GRYNBERG, FURSTENBERG] Later, he overlooked the millions of Russian
dead in World War II to amazingly comment that “Hitler … utilized … the war
in Russia for the sole purpose of destroying the Jews.” [CARMICHAEL, J.,
p. 16] Monford Harris entitled an article Israel: The Uniqueness of Jewish History.
[HARRIS, M., 1965, p. 77]
World Zionist Organization president Nahum Goldmann noted his own
thoughts about the Judaism’s “chosen people” concept, the origin of where
declared Jewish “uniqueness” always comes from: “In spite of my attachment to
the Jewish religion I do not like to talk about ‘the chosen people’ … Rather than
‘chosen’ I prefer the notion of a ‘unique people.’” [GOLDMANN, N., 1978,
p. 14] Elsewhere he argued that “the Zionist political idea is absolutely unique
and fantastic. You may claim that it is senseless or that it is magnificent, but in
either case it remains unique.” [GOLDMANN, N., 1978, p. 89] Holocaust theologians,
notes Marc Ellis, “argue that the 1967 [Israeli-Arab] war represents a
‘unique’ type of victory. This uniqueness is seen in a number of factors, beginning
with the particularity of Jewish existence and history, a return to the land
of Jewish ancestry, and, especially, renewed access to the old city of Jerusalem
and the Temple Wall.” [ELLIS, M., 1990, p. 4] “It’s hard to compare anything to
the horror of the Holocaust,” says “America’s best-known commentator on religious
life,” Martin Marty, “It is a unique event, in so many ways.” Marty’s comments
were in consequence of members of the Religious Newswriter
Association of America voting for the Holocaust as the “major religious event”
of the century. [MATTINGLY, T., 12-18-99]
“Christians must regard Jews as special,” says Richard L. Rubenstein, “and,
at least in areas pertaining to God’s salvation, apart from humanity in general.”
[RUBENSTEIN, R., p. 12] “All other revolts, both past and future,” proclaimed
Israeli Prime Minister Ben Gurion, “were uprisings against a system, against a
political, social, or economic structure. Our [Zionist] revolution is directed not
against a system, but against destiny, against the unique destiny of a unique
people.” [GURION, in BIALE, Power, p. 4-5] “It has often been observed,”
asserts Etan Levine, “that in all the annals of recorded history, there is no chapter
more romantic, more inspiring, yet more complex and more inexplicable
than the 2,000 year episode of the Jewish people in exile.” [LEVINE, E., 1983,
p. 1-11] “I accept the idea,” says Marie Syrkin, “that their special experience has
given Jews a unique understanding of the role of a minority in a given society.”
[SYRIN, M., 1967, p. 118] “Hatred of the Jews has many parallels,” adds Ber-
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