An Israeli Arab lawmaker’s attendance at a Holocaust memorial ceremony at Auschwitz yesterday has drawn fierce criticism from both Arabs and some Jews, underscoring the deep divisions between the two sides over the legacy of the Nazi genocide.
The uproar over Mohammed Barakeh’s visit yesterday highlights the deep reluctance among many Arabs to acknowledge the Holocaust for fear of diminishing their own narrative of suffering at Israel’s hands.
Barakeh has come under criticism from Israeli Arabs who say his visit is inappropriate at a time of heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions — particularly amid Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The lawmaker’s visit is a rare Arab commemoration of the Holocaust, a step Israel has long encouraged, but Barakeh also says he intends to condemn Israel’s policies toward Palestinians during the visit to Poland, striking a profoundly sensitive chord. Many Jews say any attempt to equate the Palestinians’ plight to the genocide is offensive.
Barakeh was a member of an Israeli delegation, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that attended a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. More than 1 million of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II died at the two camps.
Barakeh frequently calls on his Arab brethren to recognize the Holocaust and understand its importance to Jews. Still, he is also deeply critical of Israel.
“The Jews, who are the victims of the Nazis, are now practicing oppression against the Palestinians,” Barakeh said. “I want to tell them: You must learn the real lesson, you must fight oppression and repression in all places and times.”
Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel’s 7 million citizens, and there are 13 Arab legislators in the 120-seat parliament.
The conflict over the Holocaust dates back to the founding of Israel in 1948.
About 200,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel among hundreds of thousands of their children and grandchildren. Israel provided a new home for the survivors and a measure of insurance that no future attempt to wipe out the Jewish people would succeed, but in the war surrounding Israel’s creation, about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes, leading to a widespread feeling that they were forced to pay the price of the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews in Europe.
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