International Holocaust Remembrance Day Still Matters

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual observance on the anniversary of the Soviet army's Jan. 27, 1945 liberation of Auschwitz, which is marked now by the United Nations and more than two dozen individual countries.

Each year, hundreds of events take place on or near that date. Britain, Italy and Germany have particularly extensive programs.

While most Holocaust Memorial Day initiatives are linked directly to the memory and impact of the Nazi genocide against the Jews, there is increasing emphasis on what the experience of the Holocaust can teach in the face of other genocides and persecution, such as those in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia and Darfur. World War II-era persecution of Roma (Gypsies) and gays also is examined...

At the same time, pro-Palestinian groups are trying to transform the international day of remembrance into an opportunity to criticize Israel. (lifted from JTA.org)

It's hard to blame them for criticizing Israel, as the political/religious elite remain fervent in their refusal to recognize a sovereign Palestine, even as Hamas weakens its anti-Israel stance. (If you don't believe me, read The Nation.) However, two wrongs rarely make a right -- and this is no exception. The State of Israel was, after the Holocaust, an absolute necessity. More than 6-million Jews were killed, and this was nearly the worst in a series of atrocities against Jews that spanned thousands of years. "The Wandering Jew" is the result of a diaspora that has left us homeless all over the world. Medieval European paintings depict us with horns and devil tails... And anti-Semitism persists today, in the 21st Century. A recent report by the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism (CFCA) found that 2009 was a record year for the number of recorded anti-Semitic incidents since World War II.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE TITLE SONG FROM MY SOLO DEBUT "SEE THE LIGHT", ON THE HISTORY OF JEWISH PERSECUTION (AND SURVIVAL), AS PLAYED ON ISRAEL NATIONAL RADIO.

And, for an alternative history of the Holocaust, be sure to rent Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds!