Palestinians’ New Method Of Encroaching On Israeli Land: B&Bs
September 21, 2023
The Regavim watchdog reports a systematic expansion of these vacation accommodations.
Menu
Popular Articles
Read More »
Anti-Israel Activists Promote Israel’s Destruction And Antisemitism
September 21, 2023
Prominent Canadian Anti-Israel Activists Spread Hatred on Media Platforms
Nazism’s Legacy In The Arab World
September 21, 2023
A new book shows that Arab antisemitism is not a backlash but the cause of the conflict with Israel.
A Renewed Call For UNRWA Policy Change: From Incitement To Peace
September 21, 2023
As Yom Kippur approaches, we reflect on our efforts to expose and change UNRWA’s policies.
An Armenian Leader’s False Holocaust Analogy
September 21, 2023
The American Jewish community must condemn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s comparison of the situation in Karabakh to Hitler’s ghettos.
Ben Ezra Synagogue In Cairo Reopens After Significant Restoration
September 21, 2023
The current building dates to the late 19th century, though the synagogue’s origins trace all the way back to Maimonides and the Middle Ages.
Israeli-American Council (IAC) Appoints Elan Carr As CEO
September 21, 2023
Former U.S. Special Envoy Takes the Helm of Prominent Israeli-American Organization
Making Investments, Collecting Dividends
September 21, 2023
Reflecting on Life’s Investments and Dividends
World’s Largest Sukkah Returns To Jerusalem
September 21, 2023
The structure outside city hall will have a capacity of 650 people.
JCC Chicago Honors Outstanding Early Childhood Educators With Spirit Of Sheva Awards
September 21, 2023
Eight dedicated educators recognized for their commitment to nurturing young learners and fostering excellence in early childhood education.
“Rights violations, no matter how grave, rarely take priority when diplomats do business with their counterparts”
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
President Biden criticized the cutting of oil production but “said nothing about the Saudi massacres. Apparently there are no consequences for mass murder.” (Photo: HRW.org)
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
The horrifying news that Saudi Arabian border guards have been massacring African migrants is now compounded by the revelation that the Biden administration has been aware of the mass murder for at least a year, and yet has said nothing about it.
According to human rights groups, the Saudi security forces have slaughtered “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of unarmed African civilians. The migrants had approached the Saudi border in the hope of finding work or receiving asylum from persecution; the Saudis responded with gunfire, mutilations, and sexual atrocities.
The New York Times reported on August 28 that as early as the autumn of 2022, “American diplomats received grim news that border guards in Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. partner in the Middle East, were using lethal force against African migrants.” Yet throughout this past year, the Biden administration has never criticized the Saudi massacres.
The most any U.S. official has said was, as the Times noted, “an oblique reference” to the issue: the deputy American representative to the United Nations said during a UN briefing last January that the Biden administration is “concerned” by “alleged abuses against migrants on the border with Saudi Arabia.” He called on “all parties” to permit an outside investigation.
That was it. No reference to the killings and no identification of the perpetrators, even though Washington had already received ample information about the mass murder.
The Times pointed out that in late 2022, President Biden publicly criticized Saudi Arabia for cutting oil production, because it might “lead to a rise in global oil prices before the midterm elections.” He even threatened there would be “consequences” for oil cuts. But the president said nothing about the Saudi massacres. Apparently there are no consequences for mass murder.
During the Holocaust, too, the U.S. government received information about mass murder but chose to look away.
Beginning in the autumn of 1941, Washington received increasingly detailed reports about the Nazis’ machine-gun massacres of tens of thousands of European Jews in occupied Russia. One eyewitness account described freshly-covered mass graves “heaving like the sea” from the movement of victims who were not yet dead.
A report smuggled from Poland in June 1942 disclosed that the Germans had “embarked on the physical extermination of the Jewish population on Polish soil,” and had already murdered at least 700,000 Polish Jews. The World Jewish Congress publicized the news. The Roosevelt administration had no comment.
In August, a telegram to Washington from the World Jewish Congress representative in Geneva, Gerhart Riegner, reported that the Germans intended “to exterminate all Jews from German and German-controlled areas in Europe after they have been concentrated in the east (presumably Poland).”
The State Department refused Riegner’s request to forward the telegram to American Jewish leaders, because of—as one U.S. official put it—“the fantastic nature of the allegation and the impossibility of our being of any assistance.”
In fact, there were many ways the U.S. could have been of assistance, but it would have meant taking steps that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was unwilling to consider, such as admitting more refugees to the United States or urging the British to open the doors of Palestine.
Get thej.ca a Pro Israel Voice by Email. Never miss a top story that effects you, your family & your community
Finally, three months later, the accumulation of evidence compelled Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles to acknowledge that “there is no exaggeration. These documents [from Riegner and others] are evidently correct.” But when the British Foreign Office proposed that the Allies issue a joint statement about the killings, Roosevelt administration officials resisted, fearing that—as one senior official put it—“the various Governments of the United Nations [as the Allies were informally known] would expose themselves to increased pressure from all sides to do something more specific in order to aid these people.”
The U.S. eventually went along with issuing the statement, but only after watering down some of the language. For example, the proposed phrase “reports from Europe which leave no doubt” (that mass murder was underway) was whittled down to just “numerous reports from Europe.”
The final version, released on December 17, 1942, was signed by the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the governments-in-exile of eight German-occupied countries. It condemned the Nazis’ “bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination.” But it did not propose any steps to rescue Jews from Hitler. The idea of offering asylum for Jewish refugees was left out of the statement because, as one British official explained, it would mean making an offer “which would dog our footsteps forever.”
How much have attitudes changed since the 1940s? Eighty years later, “rights violations, no matter how grave, rarely take priority when diplomats do business with their counterparts from rich partners like Saudi Arabia,” the Times noted.
But “rich” mass murderers should not be given a pass. The Biden administration has promised to take international human rights seriously. It has a moral obligation to speak out against mass murder, even when it may be politically or financially inconvenient to do so.
As published in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles – Aug. 30, 2023
https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/362257/ignoring-mass-murder-then-and-now/
Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is America and the Holocaust: A Documentary History, published by the Jewish Publication Society & University of Nebraska Press.
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Read More
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Sponsored Content
cOMING SOON…….
Breaking News
Recent
Features
News
Current Events
Opinions
Politics
Religion
Culture
Memoriam and Obituaries
PodcastS
Subscribe Now
Receive the latest in community & international Jewish news direct to your inbox