April 22, 2009

Victimhood and the Holocaust

Some on the Left claim that Jews wrap themselves in the Holocaust as a blanket of perpetual victimhood which insulates them from criticism.

But as Sara notes in her essay about her grandmother and Holocaust Remembrance Day, those that survived the Nazi genocide moved on with their lives to become productive citizens. The same can be said about many Palestinians displaced by the wars that ensued after the founding of the state of Israel -- many of whom emigrated and moved on becoming Americans, Canadians, etc.

But unfortunately generation after generation of Palestinians have been raised to think of themselves as "refugees" and as helpless victims of some vast Jewish conspiracy. The cult of victimhood is on display at Durban II.

I would tell Arabs of the Palestinian diaspora to grow up, but I don't think that would do much good. Most living in the U.S. have grown up and go about their daily lives as productive citizens. Palestinians living here are as blessed as any number of dozens of ethnic groups that came to this country under less than pleasant circumstances. The potato famine was no picnic, either.

The real victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict are Palestinians living in Arab countries. The best thing the international community could do for them would be to take away their special "refugee" status so they could get past their victimhood and start acting like adults. But many Arab countries don't want this to happen as the Palestinian issue gives them cover for a plethora of abuses against their own populations.

If Palestinians are, indeed, victims, then the international community has identified the wrong perpetrators. The real culprits here are other Arabs. But I doubt if Durban II will condemn Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria for their "racist" policies of treating the grandchildren of real refugees from Palestine as anything other than second-class citizens.