THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

Finkielkraut, who is a professor at the École Polytechnique in Paris, assumes that heunderstands the source of criticism against Israel and then tries to cancel it, writing:“The Palestinian cause has provided Humanity, which is weary of apologizing forhaving abandoned six million Jews to their deaths, the unhoped-for opportunity torelieve itself of the burden of repentance.” 6It seems like a right-wing position in left-wing disguise. Indeed there is muchhypocrisy in comparing Israel and her deeds in the occupied territories to the ultimateevil, but to go all the way to granting Israel a clean bill of morality is going too far.There is a middle ground. The world is indeed hypocritical, shallow, and opportunisticin its attitude toward us, yet the criticism is justified simply because we are not right.We are not as bad as we are depicted by our critics, but we are not as good as wedescribe ourselves. The truth suffers because it is surrounded by lies. The Israelileaders and people delude themselves, and we all collude in an attempt to deceive theworld. But just because we no longer value truth, I cannot ignore Finkielkraut’sopinions. His temporary blindness when he defends us unequivocally does not dim hisinsight. I accept this piercing statement:What astonishes the Jew . . . is not that he is not accused of being aJew but the opposite, of his treason of Judaism . . . as if he wereexpelled from himself and was marked like Cain.Israel’s policy in the land of our patriarchs desecrates the heritage of our fathersAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob. True, we are no longer Abel, always being murdered byhis brother, because we now have power of our own and because internationalnorms have changed. Nor are we Cain, who kills just for the joy of killing. But canwe agree that Cainism has increased recently in the Jewish psyche? The Shoah andthe establishment of our state created a mechanism that necessitates force andobsessive defense at any cost for every Jew wherever he is. The three weeks ofanxiety before the Six-Day War intensified and the 1973 was perpetuated theobsession with the destruction of the temple, which we carry with us since the year70 a.d. When Abraham called out to God, “Far be it, shall the judge of all the landnot do justice,” 7 he was sounding not only a protest to save Sodom and Gomorrah,the cities of crime and evil, from destruction and annihilation by the furious Almighty.It was a testament for generations. Today we are not just judges of the land but alsoits masters, but our judgment is harsh, unjust and merciless. We still indulge ourselves