Reply #17: I can see why Yad Vashem isn't interested in backing this statement. [View All]

[Shaktimaan]

Yad Vashem fills a role in Israeli and Jewish culture that is dedicated to a single cause. As the Holocaust is such a watershed event that profoundly affected Jews everywhere and permamently reshaped so many significant aspects of Jewish life I can understand that they may not want to make political judgements that would alienate or anger members of the Jewish community. It's not their role.

But I am sure that if they did decide to comment on settler violence against Palestinians in Hebron, they would refrain from drawing even a shadow of a comparison between the settlers and the anti-semites of pre-war europe. When a place like Yad Vashem makes any kind of allusion to the idea that one could find similarities between Nazis and Jewish settlers it immediately gives that notion an incredible amount of credibility, ensuring it would be repeated on a million blogs, radio shows and articles, many of them simplifying (and distorting) the charge into "Yad Vashem says Zionists are the equivalent of Nazis."

While I personally believe that Yad Vashem's mission is such that it really transcends any immediate political issues to avoid clouding their message, if they did choose to comment on the settlers of Hebron I'm sure they would choose a statement that could not be so easily misunderstood or purposefully misinterpreted by dishonest "reporters."

Besides all that, it's just an innappropriate comparison for anyone other than a Holocaust survivor speaking from personal experience to consider making. It is incredibly offensive regardless and skirts around dangerous territory for someone who would be unable to speak from a position of direct experience.