NEVER AGAIN

We're probably all familiar with this term, but Caroline Glick gives it appropriate perspective - a perspective that is desperately needed at this time on earth:

Competing visions of 'Never Again'

In the end, the Holocaust raged until the Allied powers won the war. It didn’t have to be that way. If the Jews had been permitted to leave Europe, the Holocaust could have been averted. But the only place that wanted us wasn’t allowed to take us. The nations of the world closed their gates. Only the Jews in the Land of Israel wanted the Jews of Europe. But the British barred their arrival.

Britain was required by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine to facilitate Jewish immigration to the Jewish national homeland in order to advance the cause of Jewish sovereignty. But legal obligations couldn’t compete with Britain’s belief that its national interests lay with the Arabs. So from 1939 on, the British closed the doors of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. In so doing, they effectively sealed the fate of six million Jews.

Now we see the roots of "Never Again":

AFTER THE war, world Jewry adopted “Never Again,” as our rallying cry. But “Never Again,” is just a slogan. It fell to the leaders of the Jewish people to conceive the means to prevent a recurrence of the Holocaust.

But unfortunately, many people believed that "Never Again" could be achieved by applying "human rights" across the world equally, and such a world-wide view, if adopted by the nations would necessarily protect the Jews as well. This hasn't worked out so well.

Like old-fashioned Jew-hatred, anti-Zionism inverts the reality of Jewish vulnerability and victimization in order to justify irrational hatred of Jews and deny basic rights of self-defense to Jewish victims.

The anti-Semites’ corruption of the human-rights paradigm in the service of their Jew-hating agendas is certainly a major reason the human rights model for genocide prevention has failed. But it is not the only cause of the failure. The other reason the model has failed is because it is premised on a naïve and incorrect understanding of statecraft.

Champions of human rights and humanitarian law believed that if laws were placed on the books, if international conventions were ratified by democracies, then the world would abide by them. But this is not the case.

And this takes us to what we see happening in today's world:

Just as the British ignored their international legal obligations to facilitate Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel when they felt it served their interests to favor the Arabs, so today governments routinely ignore their international legal obligations if abiding by them runs contrary to their perception of their interests.

This truth was laid bare last December, with the Nixon Library’s release of a taped March 1973 conversation between then-president Richard Nixon and then-secretary of state Henry Kissinger regarding the prospect of a Soviet genocide of Soviet Jews.

Kissinger opined: “If they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” Nixon responded, “I know. We can’t blow up the world because of it

Their views were not merely testament to the two men’s indifference toward the fate of Soviet Jews. They are instructive because they show how leaders prioritize their policies.

Israel is the target of an anti-Semitic, genocidal political campaign that employs the language of human rights to justify itself . And otherwise moral men and women simply ignore evil when they believe their interests are best served by not standing up to it.

She closes with some hard truths:

Zionism doesn’t concern itself with how people ought to behave, but with what they are capable of doing. Zionists understand that people are an amalgamation of passions and interests. The Holocaust was able to occur because the only people with a permanent passion and interest in defending the Jews are the Jews. And when the Nazis rose to power, the Jews were homeless and powerless.

Only those who deter aggressors are capable of attracting allies. No one will stand with a nation that will not stand up for itself.

Jews who embrace the human-rights approach criticize Zionism’s vision as lonely and militaristic. What they fail to recognize is that every successful nation depends on itself, and lives by the sword.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, which we marked on Monday, is nestled between Pessah and Independence Day for a reason. In both ancient and modern times, the only way for Jews – or anyone else – to protect their freedom and their lives is by being capable of defending them, in their own land.

The pseudo human-rights campaign against Israel being carried out in the name of fashionable anti-Zionist anti-Semitism represents a complete vindication of the Zionist model. Zionism is the only way to ensure Jewish survival. It is the only way to ensure that in the face of growing threats, “Never Again” will mean never again.

Anti-semitism is clearly on the rise world-wide, and it parallels the growing persecution against the Church. Its just more stepping stones leading into the Tribulation; the kind of world we would expect to see as we approach the last days. We really shouldn't be surprised.

There was one important element which was, however, missing from this commentary. Fortunately, the nation of Israel has one very important ally - a permanent ally who watches Israel very closely and who watches how the nations treat Israel: God Himself. And He will come to Israel's rescue just when things appear bleakest -and when He does come through, it will be dramatic - causing all the people of all nations to take notice.

When God protects Israel, He will not be subtle:

"And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 38:23)

"...and all the people of the earth will tremble at my presence." (Ezekiel 38:20)

And what makes this even more amazing is the fact that this appears to be coming very soon. If true, even more amazing is the fact that the Rapture can't be far away either - a fact that gives us great hope and encouragement, just as stated by the apostle Paul.

Our Blessed Hope.