Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the dire humanitarian crisis that it is causing has been the top story globally for the past two weeks. Prominent news organizations have covered fast-moving developments on the ground, along with their possible long-term geopolitical implications. Yet, a disconcerting trend has emerged: the use of Holocaust-related analogies and imagery in relation to the conflict.
The devastation being caused by Europe’s most severe military crisis since World War II is undeniably horrific.
But there is no genocide — such as the systematic extermination of some 6 million Jews by the Nazis — currently taking place in Ukraine.
Accordingly, media are, in most cases inadvertently, painting a distorted picture of the current situation, and thereby diminishing the magnitude, memory and lessons of the Holocaust by uncritically disseminating language being used by leaders worldwide.
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Consider the following quote included in a March 6 Washington Post article titled, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett says brokering between Ukraine and Russia is ‘moral obligation’:
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, went further… accusing [Israel] of forgetting Ukraine’s history of aiding Jews during the Holocaust.”
Another example is found in a March 5 CNN piece titled, Israel’s fraught Russia-Ukraine balancing act:
At the same time, Israel has other critical interests to protect. As a state created as a safe haven for world Jewry in the wake of the Holocaust, Israel pays a price for appearing to waffle in the face of a predatory power preying on a weaker state.”
Meanwhile, Business Insider on March 8 published Chuck Schumer says ‘there’s a Holocaust going on’ in Ukraine amid push to send billions in aid to the country:
The Ukrainians lack food, they lack clothing, they lack shelter, electricity, medicines — we must get them these things. There’s a Holocaust going on. When you see that people are lined up on buses to just leave a conflict zone, and Putin’s artillery shells those buses, that is just below humanity, below dignity.”
Moreover, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have both invoked the Holocaust. A February 23 New York Times piece uncritically cited as follows one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for launching the war:
‘I have taken the decision to carry out a special military operation,’ Mr. Putin said. ‘Its goal will be to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime. For this we will aim for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine…’”
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted in a March 2 Guardian article, titled Ukraine president asks Jewish people around world to speak against Russia, as saying:
I am now addressing all the Jews of the world – don’t you see what is happening? It is very important that right now, millions of Jews around the world do not remain silent. Nazism is born in silence…”
Why the Holocaust is Different
The humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine is disastrous and much of the world is rightfully doing its part to alleviate the widespread suffering.
Also, the International Criminal Court at the Hague has opened an investigation into possible Russian war crimes.
Be that as it may, the Holocaust was profoundly different: Nazi Germany’s murderous actions against the Jewish people were fueled by an annihiliationist ideology.
Hitler’s Final Solution sought to exterminate every Jew in every place.
So much so, that the term ‘genocide’ was coined in direct response to the Holocaust. A legal definition of the term was thereafter formulated and codified in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Related Reading: Success as CNN’s Amanpour Apologizes for Holocaust Distortion (VIDEO)
Why Holocaust Distortion is So Dangerous
According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), whose working definition of antisemitism has been adopted by dozens of countries including the United States, Holocaust denial and distortion are modern forms of Jew hatred. The severity of the issue has become especially acute in the context of rapidly rising antisemitism.
Accordingly, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem on February 27 condemned comparisons to the Holocaust for propaganda purposes in the context of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, made clear that the discourse related to the conflict is “saturated with irresponsible statements and completely inaccurate comparisons with Nazi ideology and actions before and during the Holocaust.”
The need to correctly describe and reference the Holocaust is particularly crucial today given that there exists a regime in Iran that is once again pursuing the complete eradication of more than 6 million Jews. Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has explicitly called for Israel’s destruction, and has promoted an official policy of Holocaust denial and distortion with a view to normalizing the notion.
To this end, Khamenei continues to fund and arm US-designated Palestinian and other terror groups that form an “axis or resistance” against the Jewish state.
Iran is working to obtain nuclear weapons, which would provide the Islamic Republic with the means to carry out another Holocaust.
Related Reading: How Fringe Jewish Group Neturei Karta is Used to Attack Israel
Media’s Role in Countering Holocaust Distortion
According to the US State Department, distorting the Holocaust “threatens our ability to understand and learn from [its] history.” In a step towards ensuring that no genocide is ever permitted to happen again, the United Nations in January adopted an Israeli-sponsored resolution that condemns denial and distortion of the Holocaust.
The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus — meaning it was approved without a country-by-country vote.
Only Iran objected.
Mass atrocities such as recently recognized genocides in, for example, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur accentuate the need to clearly identify and combat annihilationist regimes and doctrines.
By failing to counter the false narrative that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is somehow tantamount to a new Holocaust, news organizations are effectively manipulating the definition of genocide and thus diminishing the plight of those throughout history who have been targeted for total elimination.
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Featured Image: ARIS MESSINIS / Contributor
