THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

is compared to the Shoah, dwarfed by the Shoah, and therefore all is allowed—be itfences, sieges, crowns, curfews, food and water deprivation, or unexplained killings.All is permitted because we have been through the Shoah and you will not tell us howto behave. Everything seems dangerous to us, and our normal development as a newpeople, society, and state is arrested. Yet despite the terrible dimensions of theShoah, it was not terminal, and it is a fact that we are here, after it, after all. Insteadof developing an alternative to the Holocaustic soul, we are bogged down in it andfail to reach the riverbank of optimism that is necessary for our rescue and survival.We must realize that, while it was the tragedy of all tragedies, it is not and should notbecome our final path.One of the paradoxical outcomes of the trauma’s omnipresence is the relationshipswe share with Germany and the Middle East today. The hasty reconciliation withGermany is one paradox of the perpetual trauma of remembrance, which worsensour hostile relations with our immediate Middle Eastern neighbors. A great portion ofour alienation and generationwide embarrassment regarding modern Jewish identity isdue to forgiving Germany much too soon. The negotiations, agreements, anddiplomatic relations were decided on for cold and practical reasons and stateinterests, but they brought about emotional acceptance. Today we hear the Germanlanguage everywhere. As Knesset speaker, I allowed the late German presidentJohannes Rau to speak in German from the Knesset podium, for the first time in theHouse’s history. German cars are coveted status symbols in Israel. German productsare considered superior to other products, and even Germany’s soccer championshiphas many fans and followers in Israel.Yet we will never forgive the Arabs, for they are allegedly just like the Nazis, worsethan the Germans. We have displaced our anger and revenge from one people toanother, from an old foe to a new adversary, and so we allow ourselves to livecomfortably with the heirs of the German enemy— representing convenience, wealthand high quality—while treating the Palestinians as whipping boys to release ouraggression, anger, and hysteria, of which we have plenty. I witnessed this in person ata school in Jerusalem.Shortly before resigning from the Knesset, I went to a meeting with high school