This week, in what was described as an historic event, the people of the world represented by the United Nations held a special meeting to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post , the event marked “the first time that the United Nations [had dedicated] a session to memorializing the victims of the Holocaust.”

The theme of Monday’s special session was: "The evil which murdered six million Jews in the death camps still threatens us today."

Us?

It never murdered “us” in the death camps. It never rounded up and mass murdered any of the civilian nationals whose representatives sit in the General Assembly, nor does it threaten genocide against any of those nationals today.

The theme should have read:“The evil which murdered six million Jews in the death camps still threatens the Jews today."

For the hatred that drove men to incite against the Jews, demonize them, mark them for “special treatment,” round them up in ghettos, herd them into trains and drive millions of them through the doors of the gas chambers, is alive and well in our 21st Century world.

And many UN member states are infested with this unique hatred; this most enduring form of hatred — hatred of the Jew.

The spirit which 65 years ago possessed one man and his nation to carry out the genocide of Europe’s Jews did not perish with Hitler in his bunker, nor has it been purged from the planet in the years since the survivors of Auschwitz were set free.

Today that spirit prevails in the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout the Middle East — people who regard Hitler as a hero and who, just as he did, publicly proclaim their intention to complete what he began.

There are member states of the UN whose leaders and citizens would welcome the destruction of world Jewry, beginning with the eradication of the Jewish state.

Some of these nations are actively arming themselves to be the instruments of that destruction:

Iran is pursuing an aggressive nuclear program, has expressed its determination to produce its own atomic weapons of mass destruction within the next few years, and has warned that, should Jerusalem try to sabotage this effort, it will immediately move to obliterate the State of Israel.

This week the chief of Israel’s Mossad warned that Iran’s program was nearly past the point of no return.

Syria, widely suspected of squirreling away Saddam Hussein’s non-conventional weapons, is manufacturing its own VX Gas warheads to mount on its arsenal of SCUD missiles.

Lebanon’s Hizballah has around 20,000 missiles aimed into northern Israel. Last July, the Syria-supported group took delivery of extended range missiles together with non-conventional warheads for some of its rockets

Saudi Arabia is bristling with the most advanced weapons systems in the world, and has refused to redeploy its US-made warplanes away from positions from which they can easily strike Israel, while the House of Saud is under constant threat of being overthrown in a coup that would see Islamic radicals taking control of its military machine.

And Egypt, a country that has a peace treaty with Israel, and which is not militarily threatened by any of its neighbors, is upgrading its armed forces to the tune of billions of dollars, and holding war-games in which Israel is the enemy. A former Egyptian Minister of War has stated publicly that in the next Arab-Israeli war, Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel will go into the trash can, and his country will join its Arab brothers against the Jews.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are all in various stages of the development of nuclear weapons.

As these preparations for Holocaust II are underway, instead of exposing, confronting and dealing with them, while lining up to solidly defend Israel against them, the same nations whose leaders regularly vow that “never again” will they allow it to happen, are weakening Israel through their land-for-peace policies, and helping to prepare the way for just such a Holocaust.

For 15 years I have watched as this road has been paved. Against the roar of the world’s approval and support of the “peace process” a few people have tried to sound warnings — not about another Holocaust per se , but about the grave dangers posed by the diplomatic process (known variously as Madrid, Oslo, the Road Map and Geneva), and where it is leading to.

At what point, when you see approaching danger, should you alert those in its path? If you holler too early, and they see no evidence of the threat, they’ll dismiss you like the boy who cried “wolf,” and disregard your warning.

If you leave it too late, you restrict the intended victim’s ability to respond by either combating the danger, or fleeing from it.

Since 1991, Israel has been under unrelenting pressure to relinquish control over strategic and historic central parts of its tiny land, in exchange for which it has been repeatedly promised peace.

It is the determined intention of the entire world today, led by the United States, that Israel will let go of that land and allow on it the creation of another Arab state whose citizens are fully aligned in purpose with the rest of their Arab brothers to destroy what would be left of Israel.

The world expects Israel to agree to withdraw behind a border that, at its waist, is just nine miles wide; with 75 percent of its population living in this narrow coastal plain beneath the looming high ground of what would be Palestine.

So dearly does the world want to see peace come to the Middle East that Israel must be willing to risk its existence for it.

Israel has been taking “risks-for-peace” since 1993; incrementally handing over more and more land to the Palestinian Arabs, and in exchange burying more and more of its Jews. There is not one jot of evidence to support the belief that Israel will ever receive peace in exchange for trading its land.

With the weapons being acquired and developed by the Arab states today, another surprise attack like the one that took place on Yom Kippur in 1973 would result in a war that would be over, not in six days, but in six hours. A dozen non-conventional warheads launched against the strip of land between Jaffa and Netanya — and Israel would be no more.

Israel’s enemies declare their intentions, pray for their success, and fan the flames of hatred towards the Jewish state as they prepare to inflict “Allah’s will” upon them.

Most Jews refuse to see it. To them, the Holocaust was unique, incomparable, the blackest moment in their 4000-year history. They simply cannot imagine it happening again.

The Western world doesn’t, or won’t, see it, and pursues it policies of pressuring Israel to appease the Arabs, while mouthing the meaningless words:“Never again.”

The Holocaust was not an aberration that took place in the depths of the Dark Ages. It happened just the other day, a mere 65 years ago, in the lifetime of people who are still with us today. Nor did it come out of the blue, sprung suddenly, without warning, on an unsuspecting world.

We knew it was coming. In the years before he came to power, Hitler had openly articulated his hatred of Jews and his belief that it would be a service to mankind to annihilate them.

Top secret documents declassified in recent years have revealed that senior US and British officials knew what the Fuhrer was planning for Europe’s Jews, but did nothing to stop him. As the menace of Nazism loomed, instead of dealing with it, Western powers sought to pacify it by sacrificing other small nations in their stead.

These nations knew that the Jews were in Hitler’s sights. An international conference was convened in France in 1936 to discuss which countries would help to save Jews by enabling them to immigrate. Nation after nation offered all manner of excuses, and slammed their doors shut to the Jews.

The defense that “we never knew” has been exposed as a lie.

If, God forbid, the Middle Eastern Islamic states achieve their goal of waging a successful genocidal war against Israel’s nearly six million Jews with their combined weapons of mass destruction, today’s nations and superpowers will not be able to say that they never knew.

They know. And while mouthing their meaningless mantra, they are doing nothing to prevent it.

No wonder the Bible says, that when the Messiah comes in majesty and in power, He will also come in terrible fury, enraged with the nations of the world who have scattered His Chosen People and divided up their land.

The Day of the LORD is near. It will be a terrible day of vengeance for the controversy of Zion. He is coming to deliver His ancient people from the hands of the gentiles, to comfort those who mourn in Zion.

On January 24, 2005, for the first time in its history, the United Nations convened in a special session to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust. The occasion marked the 60th anniversary of the Allies’ liberation of the Jews who survived in Auschwitz. Those who spoke included UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, and US Congressman Tom Lantos.

No doubt for reasons of etiquette set according to the rank of the national officials in attendance (mostly foreign ministers) US President George W. Bush was not present. It is a pity. As the head of the nation that played a major role in the war to end the Holocaust, we would have liked to see him there. And given the purpose of the event — which provided nations with a public platform from which to reaffirm their oath to never again allow another Holocaust to take place, we would have liked to hear him make a speech along the following lines:

“Today, as we gather to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz and the other Nazi death camps, and as we consider the high price paid by those imprisoned in the camps, and by those who laid down their lives to liberate them, that perennial, unavoidable question confronts us once again:

“How could it happen? How could something of such horrendous magnitude occur in the heart of the enlightened world? How could civilized, Christianized nations either participate in such a thing, or permit it to take place?

“It is a question we are duty bound to answer if we are truly to prevent it from happening again. But even as we stand here grappling with its dimensions and ramifications, the answer is staring us right in the face. For there are nations in our 21st century world, many of whom are represented in this United Nations, who applaud what Nazi Germany did to Europe’s Jews, and who see themselves as Hitler’s heirs — destined to complete the final solution that he began.

“This gathering, this commemoration, will prove to be a farce, an empty gesture that will make no enduring impact on the world, and will do nothing to prevent another act of genocide against the Jews, unless we are finally prepared to acknowledge this truth.

“The time for emotion-laden speeches and dramatic declarations is past. Verbal commitments couched in painfully poignant phrases fade into meaninglessness against the realities that surround us.

“For the United States of America, when we today vow that never again will we allow another Holocaust of the Jews, our actions will solidly back up these words.

“The United States of America is no longer prepared to participate in policies that could in any way constitute, or contribute to, an existential danger to the State of Israel.

“Aware of the growing threat Israel faces from the nations all around it, and recognizing that the land-for-peace process has perilously weakened the Jewish state in the face of this mushrooming regional hatred — the United States is making a major shift in its foreign policy in the Middle East, with immediate effect.

“As of today, the United States of America supports Israel’s right to retain, and make permanent, its administration of all territory it took control of in 1967, with the exception of the lands which were returned to Egypt under the 1977 Camp David Agreement.

“Our position going forward is that the land known recently as occupied territories, but which for previous millennia were regarded as the heartland of Israel, is indeed Israel’s territory. The Israeli government has the right, if it so chooses, to extend its full and permanent sovereignty over those parts of the land, annexing them to the Jewish state.

“We will fully support such a move.

“Deeply concerned about the statelessness of the Palestinian Arab refugees, and sincerely seeking to bring an end to their suffering, the United States commits itself to helping relocate, house and settle these people in Arab states of their choosing.

“We invite the Arab world to co-sponsor and co-operate with us in this resettlement effort, confident that, with the resources jointly at our disposal, this decades-old blight on the conscience of mankind can finally be removed.

“The Arab nation is a great and proud nation with a rich history stretching over hundreds of years. It has been blessed with lands and natural resources in abundance. With their numerous states, the Arabs have more territory than we do in the United States. The oil lakes beneath those lands make them some of the wealthiest countries in the world.

“Israel, a small nation in a tiny land — a land that can fit 52 times into my home state of Texas — has repeatedly proven its willingness to take risks for peace — risks no nation that has barely survived should ever be asked to take.

“It is time for the Arab states to take the risks.

“Let us be clear in our reasoning, firm in our resolve. The Jewish people have endured more hatred and persecution than any other nation in history. Just a few years ago, a massive effort to annihilate them came perilously close to success. In 1947, those who survived the Holocaust were granted the right to establish a Jewish homeland in the land they had always loved and called their own.

“But while the State of Israel was meant to be a refuge, a haven for the remnant of that once great nation — its establishment promising the Jews a home in which they could finally live free from fear — from that day to this, the people of Israel have known no respite from those who remain determined to wipe them out.

“My predecessors and I have genuinely wanted peace and prosperity for all the peoples of the Middle East. The United States has spent billions of dollars and an enormous amount of political capital to help bring the parties together in a peaceful agreement that would give generations of future Jews and Arabs the chance to live out their lives in peace.

“But for too long, as we held out one hand of support and assistance to Israel, our other hand has been strengthening those meaning to destroy her.

“In our efforts to be an honest broker, we have tried to relate equally to both aggressor and victim.

“In fact we have been dishonest, because while we have effectively pushed the Israeli side to repeatedly compromise, to relinquish millennia-old claims to the cherished cradle of its nationhood, and to “take risks for peace,” the Arab side has never risked its security or been prepared to surrender any of its claims.

“We are here today to say:No more. Never again will we stand by as those who hate the Jews muster to destroy them. Truly we will never again allow another holocaust to take place; we will work actively and tirelessly to ensure it does not.

“To the people of Israel we say:The United States has always been your ally and your friend. We admit, however, that we have not always been loyal. Too often we have placed our own perceived needs and priorities above the security of your state and your people, leading you to pay a painful price for our sakes. Forgive us. We did not see what we were doing. From today we pledge to stand with you; not only side by side against your enemies, but between you and them.

“To any state that would seek to inflict pain and death upon the people of Israel we say:From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, the small Land of Israel belongs to the Nation of Israel, and to them alone. We will defend Israel’s right to that land. From now on, anyone aiming to hurt Israel will have to go through us. For whoever touches Israel touches the nation that gave us our faith — the apple of our God’s eye.

“As a nation, Israel, the United States wants to serve you and to stand with you. For in your miraculous preservation through the ages, and your glorious return to your homeland, we can see that God is with you. We want to enjoy His blessings as we seek to bless you.

“We are not doing this because it is easy. We are not doing this because we think it might help. We are doing this because it is the right thing to do, the only right thing to do.

“God bless America. God bless Israel.”

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