Never Again means nothing if we are not willing to stand up to today’s Jew haters Stephen Pollard
Monday is Holocaust Memorial Day – and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This year, as every year, the phrase Never Again will be at the centre of the commemorations. But more than at any time since 1945, it will be meaningless.
In the 80 years since the end of the Holocaust, Never Again has been uttered as if it is some kind of benediction. Merely to say the words shows you to be a caring, thoughtful and, above all, decent human being. You have seen the previously unimaginable evil of the Holocaust and you are revolted. So, never again.
But rarely has there been a clearer example of how actions speak far louder than words. For most of the past 80 years Never Again has been no more than an abstract expression of goodness. It has carried no real, practical, living meaning because it didn’t need to. Anti-Semitism was almost a historical curiosity – a hatred that had been buried after the Holocaust showed where it could lead.
Today, however, when the threat to Jews is real and clear, Never Again is exposed as a platitude.
Israel has had to fight many existential wars since its creation in 1948. But here in Britain, there was no serious threat to the Jewish community – but a new and worrying wave of Jew hatred started emerging at around the time of the arrival of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015.
In the past fifteen months, however, anti-Semitism has skyrocketed. Naked and unashamed Jew hate is now a regular feature on the streets of London and elsewhere as hundreds of thousands assemble to demonstrate their loathing of “Zionists” – in other words, of Jews.
If Never Again is to be more than the platitude it has become, it means allowing Jews to defend themselves from those who seek to kill them. In that sense, Holocaust Memorial Day is far more than an annual commemoration of the Shoah. It is a reminder of what happens when the world turns its back on the quest to murder Jews. That is now an urgent reminder.
The threat to Israel from Iran and its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, has always been clear. What has only really become obvious since October 7 is the deep hold that Jew hate still has even in Britain.
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