Holocaust Remembrance Day didn’t used to be like this

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/yom-hashoah-didnt-used-to-be-like-this/68831/

The official explanation for this would be that the Holocaust survivors are dying of old age and soon there won’t be any of them left, so this is a way of hanging onto to them, or showing them respect at the end of their lives. But knowing how Israel has treated Holocaust survivors over the decades, especially when they first arrived, I’m not convinced. I think the reason for this counter-intuitively growing impact of the Holocaust, and by extension Yom Hashoah, is because it lends itself perfectly to the two reigning “isms” in this country – nationalism and emotionalism.

The connection between nationalism and the Holocaust isn’t new, of course, but with Bibi Netanyahu settling into his third term as prime minister, the association has become so much more raw and crude than ever before. Last night at Yad Vashem, Netanyahu delivered his annual Yom-Hashoah-bomb-Iran speech, and nobody raised an eyebrow – it’s become a ritual, like matza on Passover, and the idea of using the Holocaust to beat the drums for war with Iran has become so matter-of-fact around here, so embedded in the culture, that nobody notices it anymore.
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I actually think Israel should observe Yom Hashoah and there should be a siren during which everyone stands still and silent. The catastrophe and its victims shouldn’t be forgotten. But Yom Hashoah didn’t used to be like this – it didn’t used to be such a festival, such an affair. There wasn’t this built-in escalation, the determination that this year’s show has to be better than last year’s. There wasn’t such exploitation – neither for the sake of politics or entertainment.

[RedstDem]

1. in a way it's like shrub/chain'e exploiting 911

always to get what they want thru tragedy.
kind of dishonors those being honored IMO

[DollarBillHines]

2. What I don't understand

is where are the advocates for the gay people, the Roma and the mentally impaired?

Those are the long-forgotten victims of the Holocaust.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. There were many victims of the holocaust. I for one hope they are not forgotten.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_victims

Taking into account all of the victims of Nazi persecution, they systematically killed an estimated six million Jews and mass murdered an additional eleven million people during the war. Donald Niewyk suggests that the broadest definition, including Soviet civilian deaths would produce a death toll of 17 million.[4]

17 fucking million murdered.