Syria isnâ€™t the Shoah - The Jewish Standard

Few would dispute that the gassing of 1,400 people is a despicable act (Editorial, September 6). But the Jewish Standard doesn’t just stop there, it goes on to conflate the 1,400 Syrian victims of chemical weapons with “our martyred Six Million.”

This is an emotionally charged proposition. But is it a correct one? Does the Jewish Standard really think that the gassing of 1,400 Syrians in what is essentially a civil war is any way comparable to the murder of six million Jews in an effort to eradicate and destroy the entirety of the Jewish people? Does the Jewish Standard really believe this to be the case? If so, it’s time for the editors to relearn the lessons of the Holocaust, because they’ve clearly forgotten them.

Or maybe it’s the use of poison gas that drives the editors to make this comparison; ignoring the fact that tens of thousands of Syrians already have been murdered by the Assad regime, albeit by more conventional means. If so, then, by extension of the same logic, the editor would conclude: Gas chambers – bad; Einsatzguppen – not so bad?

Or maybe the editor has a completely different motive – to bash Scott Garrett (one of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress) and others (also mainly Republicans) who argue for Congressional oversight? After all, Scott Garrett and company are labeled as “Obamaphobes” while later, almost as an afterthought, Bill Pascrell and Corey Booker, who also demur from military action, are only “fence-sitters.”

So, editors, which is? Does you misunderstand the Holocaust or are you just taking a journalistic liberty for political reasons? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Executive editor responds:

In no way does the Jewish Standard equate the martyrdom of six million Jews to the deaths in Syria. However, because no one came for the Armenians, Hitler felt free to kill the Jews. We have his word for it that this is so. If no one comes for the Syrian victims, who will be next?

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