"Ahmadinejad, in a wide-ranging news conference that included international journalists for only the second time since he took office in August, said anti-Semitism drove Jews out of Europe into Israel.
"We believe that Jews like any other human beings have the right to live in happiness and prosperity and to benefit from security," he said, according to a CNN translator. "Allow them to go back to their own fatherlands and countries."
The Palestinians and Germans, he said, are being "blackmailed" and forced to continue making amends for a war in which the present generation played no part.
And, as he has done in the past, he appeared to question whether the Holocaust took place. He called Israel's regime artificial, saying it was established in the late 1940s on a "story" and "to this day, it bloodies and kills defenseless people."
Here is what I know. Men like this are the reason why Africa burns and the world is silent. Men like this are the reason why mothers cry over the deaths of soldier sons. Men like this are the reason why we have to be vigilant so that we can continue to say never again.
As I write this I think about the relatives that I lost, the family memories that will never be shared and the senseless deaths of so many. There are others who suffered far greater than I, but this should never be about comparing who lost the most.We remember because the world doesn't change and human memory is short. We remember because genocide can still happen and it is our charge, our obligation and our responsibility to fight so that it does not happen.
We remember and because we do we know that we won't ever go silently into the night again.
Never again.
8 comments:
Yeah, thanks, Mahmoud, but we'd rather stay in the homeland from which we were exiled 2000 years ago rather than be driven by anti-Semitism back to the diaspora residences from which we fled or were taken 60 years ago by a catastrophic event you both recognize and dispute.
Thank you Jack. "Never again" indeed takes on greater meaning in the face of hateful leaders like this.
Jack,
You really don't like Mahmoud, do you? ;)
I understand he can be insulting to some, but i wouldn't consider his mental prowess to be within normal range, with all the 'light' he sees, the U.N delegates he hypnotizes and the history he denies.
He does however brings a change of pace in regular diplomatic conduct, in a 'village idiot' kinda way.
Great post.
Hi TRN,
It is a scary thing.
Zeruel,
If he was just an average Joe it would be one thing. But I with guys like him I err on the side of caution.
Stace,
Thanks.
A great post that reminds us that we have to be vigilant. Never forget!
We will never forget.
Do you ever get the urge to slap Mahmoud silly, while yelling "SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!!!" I know I do.
Seawitch,
Thanks.
Houston,
It is important for all of us, not just some of us. Thanks.
RR,
Yep, Mahmood needs to be slapped a time or two.
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