The Holocaust Is Being Used Against the Jews

The challenges to meaningful reflection on the lessons of the Shoah continue to grow. As has been increasingly noted over the years, the combination of distance from World War II, the passing of most survivors who testified to what took place, and the lack of connection — particularly among young people — to what happened then pose immense challenges to educating future generations about the tragedy of the Shoah.

However, the last two years have seen a new element in how the Shoah is presented that places further pressure on the Jewish world.

It is no accident that the main charges coming against the Jewish state and its Jewish supporters are directly related to the elements surrounding the Holocaust.

It starts with the term “genocide,” which came into being as an international phrase out of the Holocaust experience. Even though Israel’s war to defend itself against the horrors of October 7 bears no resemblance to genocide, it is no accident how quickly critics rush to that judgment...

Too often, lazy journalism pulls false accusations into the mainstream: shoddy reporting, selective framing, and a readiness to take Hamas at its word let inflammatory claims replace evidence — supercharged by faux social-media activism that rewards outrage over verification...

What all these examples intend to do is delegitimize the Jewish state and, in effect, the vast majority of Jews around the world who take pride in that state, while also impacting understanding of and learning from the Holocaust by psychologically canceling out the moral uniqueness of what the Jewish people experienced. Now we have an additional challenge that will make the task even harder — and make the necessity of exposing what this is about even more urgent.

Read Ken’s full op-ed here, on the Times of Israel website.