ROTHENBURGER – Any talk of who’s to blame for Gaza must include Oct. 7
(Image: Hosny Solah, Pixabay)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
I WASN’T SURPRISED at some of the reaction to my Remembrance Day column on my recent visit to Auschwitz and the current disturbing rise in antisemitism.
Somehow, a nation that was victimized by the most brutal possible of attacks on its citizens has become, in the eyes of some, the guilty party. Make no mistake — these have gone far beyond condemnation of civilian deaths in Gaza. “Gas the Jews,” an obvious call to return to the days of the Holocaust, has become a rallying cry for extremists.
I’m of the view that calling for the gassing of Jews is certainly not the way most people think but it does show how extremism can take over an issue, and demonstrates the need to be careful how we talk about it.
So let’s make a couple of important points. The Holocaust was fueled by hate. The current extreme antisemitism rhetoric is fueled by hate. Oct. 7 was fueled by hate.
Oct. 7 targeted innocents. It was designed to commit atrocities against families, kids, non-combatants, then brag about it. Israeli response is aimed at those who carried it out.
These are important distinctions.
It’s fair to ask how much revenge Israel is entitled to. In the immediate wake of the Oct. 7 outrage, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed what he called a “mighty vengeance.”
That mighty vengeance is targeted at Hamas, the group responsible for the Oct. 7 attack, but it has had tragic collateral consequences in the form of thousands of Gaza Strip civilians being killed.
An argument can be made that Israel has already wreaked sufficient retribution and should stop now.
But, please, let’s not indulge in false equivalencies when it comes to who started this war and who’s responsible for it. Playing the blame game without the context of Oct. 7 plays into the hands of the haters who really would like to see the return of Auschwitz.
I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Is it too early to have our Christmas wish list for the Middle East? If it could be as easy as sitting on Santa’s knee, what would we ask him to bring us this year?
No more suicide bombers?
No more rocket attacks on civilian areas?
No more hidden tunnels or human shields?
No more unrestrained retaliation?
No more swastikas?
No more death camps?
No more comparisons of rehabilitation centres for the homeless to a place such as Auschwitz?
A second chance for an Infant to be born in a stable at some small village, perhaps Bethlehem, and that Infant would one day grow into a man who would finally bring peace to such a troubled world?
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The problems didn’t just start on Oct. 7. One can argue all day about the justification for Israel’s heavy response. But are their actions ultimately going to make them more secure? I think one could make the case that they are worse off, and additionally, their actions have galvanized support for palestinians. In trying to wipe out Hamas, they have actually played into their hands.
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Conflict between Israel and Palestine over the decades has not primarily been about religion or hate. It’s about land and who gets to occupy it.
I condemn Hamas for its horrific Oct 7 action and I condemn Israel for killing 20,000 Palestinians since 1948 and continually and forcefully encroaching upon Palestinian land. There are no innocent parties here, except for the 4,000+ children killed by Israeli bombs in the past weeks.
Yes, there are a handful of extremists saying “gas the Jews” just as right now on LinkedIn there are comments from Jewish extremists calling for the annihilation of Palestine.
Regardless of “who started it” (which sounds like a child’s justification for hitting their sibling), the fact is that Israel has now killed over 11,000 people in this latest conflict, most of them civilians and almost half of them children. An equivalency would be if a person was found guilty of murder in a death-penalty state, not only the murderer is put to death, but all his relatives as well.
The vast majority of those calling for ceasefire in the current bombardment, including rabbis worldwide, thousands of Jews in the US and elsewhere, are not “haters” and cannot be labeled “anti-Semitic.”
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This war did not start on October 7th, Mel. You know that. You’re about 80 years too soon.
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Sane minds do not hate regardless of who and what. Sane minds also are aware that 1948 is the greater context for October 7.
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