Does it though? Seems like it produces a weird emotional response and lots of hot air. Guilt doesn’t seem healthy nor useful nor effective in stoping future genocides.
Otherwise we would have seen a better response from the German government who should have felt guilty enough about the holocaust to prevent one from happening in Gaza. Instead, they pledge support to Israel. Cool. Very “guilty” indeed.
Yes it does. It creates awareness for antisemitism and fascism. It makes you feel responsible for political changes as an individual, which is important for a functioning democracy.
A Nazi party is currently on the rise here, they’re called AfD. Obviously, it doesn’t work for those people, but it can’t be expected to work for everyone. There have been mass protests against that party though (I’m talking multiple millions of people all across Germany were protesting) under the motto “Nie wieder ist jetzt” (Never again is now). I think that shows how the knowledge about the Holocaust mobilizes people to act against right wing extremists.
I’m not happy with the official reactions of the German government to Israel. You need to understand, however, that after Germany tried to eradicate Jews, we’ve made it a priority to defend their right for a safe home. I agree that they currently abuse this right in many ways. There has certainly also been criticism among German highly ranked politicians of Israel’s actions, albeit probably not enough. You need to understand though that antisemitism is still rooted in German society, and it is important not to fuel it. That’s a fine line to walk on there. I agree that it’s probably not handled optimally currently, but it’s also not as easy as you make it out to be.
Maybe in the way you define it, it does, but not in the way I see I being used.
How would I be feeling anti-Semitism? I think not funding a genocide and taking. a strong human rights stance is easy and doable.
It is fueling it because criticism of Israeli politics is constantly mixed with antisemitic narratives. That’s the fault of antisemites of course, but the problem is there and cannot be denied. As I said, I don’t agree with how it’s handled, but it needs to be acknowledged that it’s a hard problem to solve. Believe me, I wish all this was easier. I wish I could protest Israels actions without being seen as an antisemite but I can’t because of the dynamics of the public discourse which is driven by extremists of all sides. The discourse here has been poisoned by antisemites, racists and islamophobes to an extent where expressing a nuanced and/or pure-hearted opinion on the matter is almost impossible.
