(by Ian Macdonald)
June 28, 1996
Editor
The Globe and Mail
Toronto
Dear Sir:
Madam Justice Rosalie Abella whom you quote June 28, 1996 expresses the
noble sentiment that "you cannot be born in the shadow of the Holocaust
without an exaggerated commitment to the pursuit of justice".
Most of the Jews of Israel are Holocaust survivors or "born in its
shadow". Far from pursuing justice, they have been responsible for
its denial on a scale without parallel among the Western democracies, subjecting
the conquered Palestinians to loss of life and property, deportation, imprisonment
without trial, torture, collective punishment, religious discrimination
and racial segregation that would make even the most verkrampfte Afrikaner
blush.
As for the "war's six million martyrs to injustice", presumably
Madam Justice Abella refers to the Six Million Jews purported to have perished
in Nazi Gas-ovens. The Second World War indeed produced many martyrs but
the proportion of Jews in this category was relatively small, certainly
no more than a fraction of the widely promoted Six Million figure. Since
most serious Holocaust scholars acknowledge this reality, it was disingenuous
of Madam Justice Abella to have attempted to give the figure credence by
introducing it on a formal academic occasion. And unworthy of the Globe
& Mail knowingly to have published such rank hypocrisy.
As ever,
Your sincerely,
Ian Macdonald