by Ram ben Ze'ev
A recent Daily Mail article reminds us all that a past forgotten or ignored is one to be repeated. While Jews around the world were preparing to remember the Holocaust, the Grosvenor Hotel in London played host to a group of Neo-Nazis, Nazi sympathisers and Holocaust deniers, who gathered in the Nation’s capital to share their hatred toward Jews.
The article finishes with the statement issued by hotel management that ‘the room booking was made online and hotel staff were unaware of the nature of the meeting,’ a comment reminiscent of the guards, military personnel and many of the German public who claimed not to know Hitler’s plans. I am reminded of the often repeated phrase of Sergeant Schultz (Hogan’s Heroes) – “I see nothing…” and while the programme was very humorous and while many of us may enjoy a laugh at Germany’s expense, the subject is anything but funny.
In my view, it is a short, baby-step, from meeting to promote shared hatred targeting a group of people who have repeatedly suffered unconscionable attacks and actually carrying out those attacks. Let’s not forget that Britain’s King Henry II casually asked about Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Result: Becket was assassinated by someone currying favour of the King.
But what can we do to prevent this type of behaviour? Is there anything we can do to prevent the past from repeating?
Yes, there is an example is our recent past, where one of our leaders took the necessary action.
Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on 17 March 1969. She was Israel’s first woman and the world’s fourth woman to hold such an office and was often described as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics years before the tag became associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In fact, Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir “the best man in the government“.
So it should be no surprise that in the autumn of 1972, following the attack during the ’72 Summer Olympics in Munich, Meir authorised Mossad to track down and kill those responsible for what became known as the Munich massacre.
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Operation “Wrath of God” (Mivtza Za’am Ha’el) was a very successful covert plan to assassinate those involved in the massacre in which 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed. The operation continued for over twenty years.
In my opinion, the Operation should be restarted and it should divide its focus on two groups of people: first, those who are currently carrying out acts of terror against Jews should be assassinated, not in vengeance, but in order to prevent the repeat of terrorist attacks; and second, we should remove from our society those who would support these ideas one way or the other. I am perfectly happy to imprison those who would promote hatred and incite others to repeat the acts of the past.
A famous lawyer in Texas said ‘They hang horse thieves and let murders go free’. You see there are no horses in Texas that need stealing, but some people need to be killed.
Of course, Liberals around the world excuse such meetings, like the recent one in London, with the ‘free speech’ argument, but it is safe to say that King Henry’s reckless (but very likely intentional) speech resulted in the death of Thomas Becket. These meetings and the Daily Mail‘s article, unfortunately, have a tendency of drawing out and congealing those in our society who would support these despicable ideas and encouraging many who would commit the acts.
We cannot change the way these people think. We should not forget what they are capable of and we most certainly will never forgive what has been done to us.
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Footnote: Several hours before each assassination, each target’s family received flowers with a condolence card reading: “A reminder we do not forget or forgive.”
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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue