Michael Novak, the U.S. delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, delivered an impassioned defense of Israel today and accused those who attack it of forgetting the Holocaust. He was replying to a speech by the Syrian delegate who attacked both Israel and the U.S. in a manner “beyond the bounds of courtesy, decency and truth.”
Novak declared that “In the past, those who desire to annihilate Israel avoided the dreadful story of the death camps in which the Nazis a generation ago attempted to annihilate the Jews in Europe. Today, some try the most perverse tactics. First they describe the desire of the Jews for a homeland as racism. Now they call it Nazism. In this absurd and contemptible way, they have revealed their own passion. They wish to destroy and they defame their victims.”
About Israel, Novak said. “The people of the United States deeply admire the Israelis because of their shining example of an open society.”
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.
