Declaring that one of the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust is that “words have consequences,” Jeane Kirkpatrick, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, warned here last night of the danger presented to Israel as a result of the “systematic totalitarian assault on language and its meanings” in the United Nations.
Creating a parallel between the rise of Nazism and its efforts to discredit European Jews “as subhuman,” to the sometimes vitriolic debates in the halls of the UN, Kirkpatrick noted that Palestinian Arabs are now termed the “Jews of the Arab world,” living in a diaspora and that Israelis are “redefined as Nazis.” She also noted that enemies of Israel in the UN describe Israeli policy on the West Bank and Gaza Strip as acts of “genocide.”
Kirkpatrick said she has sometimes been “chided” for her objections to the use of such inflammatory language at the UN. “But be assured, that as representative of the United States in the United Nations, I do mind and will go on minding,” she declared to thunderous applause.
Kirkpatrick addressed some 500 persons attending the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Laureate Award dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. She was presented with the award for her actions as “a steadfast and loyal friend of the Jewish people committed to the security of the State of Israel, and to the causes held sacred by freedom loving people everywhere.”
The Ambassador pointed out three significant lessons which should be learned from the rise of Nazism and World War II. First, she said, the Nazi plans against the Jews were written “in black and white for all the world to see” and were issued some eight years prior to the outset of the war. Kirkpatrick said this should have presented a “clear warning of the impending disaster.” She noted that part of the plans for the extermination of European Jewry was to create the “myth” of the Jewish people as being “subhuman.”
A second lesson to be drawn from the Holocaust, Kirkpatrick added, was that “totalitarians test the grounds for more sustained aggression and persecution by beginning with minor suppression and calculated violence.” She noted that the first regulations against the Jews consisted sometimes of actions such as limiting their travel.
She said that the actions by the Nazis against the Jewish population was partially a test of the world community’s resolve and said that when it remained silent about the persecution of the Jews, the Nazis proceeded to embark with their broader plans for conquering Western Europe.
The third lesson, Kirkpatrick said, is the need now for concerted action between the United States and its allies “to ensure that the totalitarian forces of anti-freedom and dehumanization do not prevail.” She said, however, that the lessons and implications of the Holocaust are not necessarily universally shared.
CONSEQUENCES OF WORDS
Referring to the United Nations, Kirkpatrick said that if anyone remains doubtful as to the consequences of words, those doubts should be dispelled in view of the efforts in the past year to have Israel expelled from the United Nations, where the Jewish State was labeled by the UN General Assembly “as a non-peace loving nation.” The chapter of the UN calls for membership of all nations which are peace-loving, and this action by the General Assembly could have paved the way for Israel’s expulsion from the UN.
Kirkpatrick said that to use the term “genocide” against Israel “is the worst possible outrage” and a “sacrilege” to the victims of the Holocaust. She pointed out that collective violence against a people is used as a means to scapegoat, while genocide “aims to eliminate .. is calculated, planned purposefully (and) total in intent.”
AWARD SPARKS PROTEST
The award presented to Kirkpatrick created some dispute. Members and supporters of the New Jewish Agenda, a national organization claiming a membership of 2,500, picketed outside the hotel where the dinner was held. The Agenda issued a statement calling Kirkpatrick “an apologist for rightwing dictatorships” and saying that “her support of Israel can never eradicate her collaboration with these murderous dictatorships.” The Agenda said it was “disappointed and angered” with the Simon Wiesenthal Center for bestowing the award upon Kirkpatrick.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
