PJ: It would be nice to think that hatred and bigotry that allowed the Holocaust would never happen again. It would have been nice if nearly fifty years after WWII it hadn't happened again by the government sanctioned ethnic cleansing in the Balkens. But it did happen again...and it can happen again.
It would be nice if Sarah Palin had never insisted that then Senator Barrack Obama had been "pallin' around with terrorist", inflaming her audience to yell "kill him!" at her rallies. Equally, if would have been nice if she hadn't claimed that newly elected President Obama was "hellbent on destroying America". It would be nice if there had been no "crosshairs", no claims of "death panels", and no calls to "reload" vs "retreat". But sadly, there was lots of incendiary and inflammatory remarks made and there still are.
It would have been nice if there had never been a gunman by the name of Anders Behring Breivik who killed more than 70 people in Norway in 2011. Inflammed by extreme right-wing ideology and his hatred of ethnic diversity he has no remorse for those killings and claims that he would do it all again because of his political beliefs.
It would be nice if hate-filled rhetoric against Muslims like that uttered by Pamela Geller in the US did not exist or, at least, that she didn't have more than 150,000 new visitors to her blog each month.
It would have been nice if Florida Congressman Allen West hadn't claimed that about 80 of his congressional collegues were 'members of the communist party'; it would have been nice if his political party had chastised him for his incendiary remarks. It would even be nice if he backed away from his remarks instead of doubling-down.
It would be nice if US rocker Ted Nugent wasn't given a national platform to tell his fans to "chop off..." the heads of those with whom he politically disagrees. It would have been nice if those of his political affiliation would demand that he apologize for his remarks which they have not done.
It would be nice if people decided that disagreement was part of life. It would be nice if civilizations, especially one as "God fearing" as the US claims to be, would never again let hate rule a country.
Haaretz
Obama: We must prove that 'never again' is not an empty slogan
In statement released for Holocaust Remembrance Day, U.S. President says: We stand in awe of those who fought back against overwhelming odds; Panetta: No horror like the Holocaust can ever happens again.
The United States must resolve that "never again" is not just an empty slogan, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday, in a statement marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Obama's comments came after, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the crowd gathered at Yad Vashem that Israel's "enemies tried to bury the Jewish future but our future was born again in the land of our forefathers, here we built a base, and a new beginning of freedom, and hope and action.”
Netanyahu went on to say that today’s generation “faces calls to exterminate the Jewish State,” and that lessons of the past must not be forgotten. He focused on Iran, calling it an existential threat to Israel, and to world peace, said "It is the world’s responsibility to stop Iran securing nuclear weapons."
Obama, in his statement released on Thursday, said that on this "day, and all days, we must do more than remember. We must resolve that 'never again' is more than an empty slogan."
"As individuals, we must guard against indifference in our hearts and recognize ourselves in our fellow human beings," the American president said, adding that, as "societies, we must stand against ignorance and anti-Semitism, including those who try to deny the Holocaust. As nations, we must do everything we can to prevent and end atrocities in our time."
Obama began his statement by saying: "We honor the memory of six million innocent men, women and children who were sent to their deaths simply because of their Jewish faith. We stand in awe of those who fought back, in the ghettos and in the camps, against overwhelming odds."
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, also speaking to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, said during a ceremony at the Department of Defense, attended by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, that: “Today we pause to remember and honor 6 million souls who were murdered not because of anything they had done, but because of who they were."
Referring to guest speaker Charlotte Schiff, the sole member of her family who survived the Holocaust, Panetta said that it was "our honor to affirm to you that we will never stop fighting in the memory of those who perished – fighting for a better future, [and] fighting for a world safe from aggression, from tyranny and from injustice."
Holocaust Remembrance Day, Panetta added, was also a day to mark the Jewish people, “who overcame this tragedy and built a strong and vibrant Jewish state in Israel."
Addressing Barak, the U.S. defense secretary said: “Ehud, I am proud to be your partner, I’m proud to be your friend, and I’m proud to work with you in continuing to strengthen the U.S.-Israel defense relationship."
“To defeat Hitler,” he said, “we mobilized all of the strength that we could muster, and in that effort we witnessed many of our finest hours as a military and, indeed, as a country,” Panetta said, adding that, in spite of allied efforts during in World War II, “we must always remember that we were unable to save the 6 million Jews who perished under Hitler’s cruel reign.”
That burden, he added, according to a Department of Defense statement, must be carried forward as a determination that no horror like the Holocaust ever happens again.
“Today we renew that commitment, and we do so by coming together to bear witness, just as our service members did more than 65 years ago,” Panetta said.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/obama-we-must-prove-that-never-again-is-not-an-empty-slogan-1.425528
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