Spaceship Columbia disintegrated into thin air en route to spaceship earth, killing all seven crew members onboard. One of them was the decorated Israeli astronaut-soldier, Ilan Ramon. What a tragic loss, that the National Authority of President Yasser Arafat wired its personal condolences to the people of Israel via CNN.
CNN also made salient that Ilan Ramon’s mother was a “holocaust survivor.” It just tears your heart apart in sympathy with the wretched fellow and his persecuted fellow Jews. How tragic? 6,000.000.00 Jews died in the holocaust. Sorry, make that Holocaust, lest the small letter connote a devaluation of Jewish suffering.
This heroic son of the holocaust survivor personally took part in the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981. But, hey, it was “preemptive.” After all, all the holocaust survivors of Israel have no way of asserting that Iraq would not one day attack them. Hence, they did it for “security reasons,” don’t you get it?
Ramon, also reportedly fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and in the 1982 barbaric invasion of Lebanon, which left some 17,500 civilians dead. He was a true Zionist soldier. This holocaust survivor.
Nothing shameful about being a holocaust survivor of course. Au contraire.
But think about it: who is a holocaust survivor exactly? Anyone who is alive today can technically claim he is a holocaust survivor, right? Well, he is still alive isn’t he? So, he survived and he is a survivor! The chances are, out of three Israelis you meet, 2.5 are holocaust survivors (statistically speaking!).
What I find fascinating is how they have to brush it up on you day in day out, lest you forget the tragic Jewish history. I despise the propagandists who see death of victims as a suitable marketing tool for a Zionist-colonialist movement, or any other ominous agenda. Shame on you people. Let the holocaust victims rest in peace.
Given that some sixty million Chinese died during the (Red) communist era, I wonder how many Chinese today are “Mao survivors.” What about the millions dead in Russia, close to seven million if not more died in the Stalin/Lenin era. What are the prospects of meeting a “Russian survivor” one of these days? Some 100%?
How may Palestinians do you meet are likely to be “Zionist-movement survivors”? 100%? Sabra and Shatila survivors? Qibya? Qana, etc.? Intifada survivors?
Mr. Baha Abushaqra is a Media Activist with Palestine Media Watch.
