The other night I was having dinner with a very good friend of mine. He’s lovely. And educated. In fact, he’s head of a university department.
We were talking about the power of story and how those of us who have a cultural story to belong to, have a stronger sense of identity.
It was a great chat.
I then said something like: I believe that most people empathise with Jewish people because they have a connection and understanding of their story.
Firstly, because of the Bible and then of course because of the Holocaust.
My friend instantly disagreed with me.
“Holocaust?? Most people don’t know about the Holocaust.”
Now, normally I would have completely dismissed him. But it’s pretty much word for word what someone else told me earlier in the week. And that person is
also well educated, and heavily involved in social justice circles.
How was it possible that two people in such a short amount of time could repeat the same thing to me that seems so obviously incorrect?
I have lived in Australia for almost thirty years, and when Aussies hear that I grew up in Israel they almost always mention the Holocaust to me. Well, first they ask if I grew up
on a kibbutz, and then they say something about the Holocaust.
And that has only amplified since moving to Melbourne 12 years ago.
To hear twice in a week that most Aussies don’t know about the Holocaust made my mind implode.
Me: Australians know about the Holocaust. From school as well as from movies and books. I think it would be hard to find an Australian that grew up here that doesn’t know about the Holocaust.
My friend: I’m teaching a uni class tomorrow. If I was to start the class with asking who here knows about the Holocaust, most wouldn’t put their hand up.
Me: Whaaaaaat???
My friend: And those who do, wouldn’t be able to give five facts about the Holocaust.
Me: Five facts?
My friend: Even five simple facts.
Me: They might not know exact dates and numbers….but I’m sure they would know five things about the Holocaust because it’s taught at school.
My friend: Veronica, people have no idea about the Holocaust. And the school curriculum isn’t necessarily followed by teachers. Most wouldn’t see the importance of teaching it.
So I drive home with my head swirling. How could I be so wrong?
It was late at night, but I couldn’t wait, so I decide to ask people on Facebook and Instagram.
I didn’t give any context. I just wrote:
Very strange question…and this is just for those of you growing up in Australia…
1. Do you know what the Holocaust is?
2. Do you think you know five facts about the Holocaust?
(Can be any type of fact)
I had sooooooo many people respond.
Many more than normal.
And it continued the next day.
Now, I know that those who see my posts are not a reflection of all of society.
But remember that my friend said that most of his university class wouldn’t know about the Holocaust.
Everyone who responded confirmed that they know about the Holocaust. And most then provided either five facts…or went into detail about the books and movies they have read and watched…and most mentioned learning about the Holocaust in school.
So why am I sharing this with you?
In both the conversations I had with these two men, they insisted that not much is known about the Jewish story. But the conversation didn’t end there.
I went on to say: Okay, let me re-frame it. Do you think that most Aussies know more about the Jewish story than the Palestinian story?
Both men: Palestinian story???
Me: Yes, do you think most Aussies would know about the Nakba?
Both men: The what?
Me: The Nakba.
Both men: Sorry, I don’t know what that is.
Me: It’s okay. I didn’t either.
With the first guy there wasn’t time to go into it. But with my friend, I spent the next few minutes reading out from Wikipedia what the Nakba is.
My friend was shocked. I think mostly shocked because he had literally never heard of it. At all.
I had known bits of it, but it had been explained in such a way to completely wipe out a huge part of the story.
It would be the equivalent of an Aussie saying something like this:
Isn’t Australia wonderful? What started as a colony of British convicts, is now a thriving multi-cultural country with citizens from around the globe.
I mean, yes, that’s true. But it’s not the full story. They forgot to mention the first chapter. The bit about the people who lived on this continent for thousands of years and the horror they went through when the British arrived.
And that’s what’s happening with the Jewish story. Only part of it gets told. It normally ends with the Jews being given a land where they will finally be safe and not persecuted.
It’s a wonderful story. I grew up hearing it, and repeating it. And I loved being part of the storyline.
Just like millions of others, I thought that was the full story. And I wore my Israeli citizenship proudly.
It was only a few years ago that I found out about the missing chapter. The Nakba. The Catastrophe. Where almost a million people were forced out of their homes to make room for Jews arriving from distant lands. Men were killed. Women were raped. Orchards destroyed. Water wells poisoned. Ancient trees chopped down. Families herded into refugee camps.
Without knowing that important chapter of the story, it’s impossible to look at the current situation with true understanding.
I recently asked a woman who is very involved in social justice groups here in Brunswick, if she could spread the word about money I was raising to help pay for workers to harvest olives in Palestine. Without helpers the farmer would lose his crop. Which is his livelihood, as well as their olive oil for a whole year. Since October 2023 he hasn’t been able to have volunteers come and help at his bio-dynamic farm.
“Oh, I’d love to share, but I just don’t want to offend my Jewish friends.”
And that was EXACTLY what the guy I spoke to earlier in the week said, when I asked him if he could tell his social justice groups know about the money I’m raising for families sheltering in a church in Gaza.
Offending Jewish friends has the highest currency right now. Or as I tried to explain, the risk of being perceived as anti-semitic in a country that has been indoctrinated with the story that Jews are victims.
Don’t get me wrong.
Jews were the victims in the context of the Holocaust. But that does not translate to turning a blind eye to what the Israeli government is doing right now, in this current chapter of history.
For starters, the two are not the same thing. Being Jewish is not the same thing as being Israeli. It’s completely reasonable to condemn the Israeli government and military. And it should not feel
like a threat to someone who is Jewish.
And whenever someone thinks something like: “I don’t want to say anything bad about Israel because that is being anti-semitic.”
Firstly, it shows their lack of understanding, because as I highlighted above, being Jewish is not being Israeli.
Secondly, it’s also like refusing to speak out against an abuser because they happened to be a victim to abuse when they were younger.
This is going to sound controversial, but I honestly believe that “progressive Aussies” (like my friend and the two people heavily involved in social justice) have been brainwashed into believing that Jews are forever the victims. They are so hyper-focused on not wanting to be perceived as anti-semitic that they are willing to turn a blind eye to the horror that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians right now. And this brainwashing means that they assume that no one knows about the Holocaust, or cares. While reality is that most Aussies do know about the Holocaust and can easily list more than five facts about it.
Probably the one Holocaust fact that gets overlooked the most, is how ironic the Jewish slogan is:
NEVER AGAIN
Because if we actually believed it, we wouldn’t be justifying the slaughter of men, women and children, as we go about our day to day lives.
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