We have watched numerous movies on the Holocaust and World War II about almost forgotten stories of the genocide committed against Jews. These movies depicted the harrowing experiences of German, Polish and Ukrainian Jews, who were systematically gathered, tortured and murdered in concentration camps. Additionally, we witnessed in such films the portrayal of Jews being transported on ships, displaced across multiple countries and expelled from the borders of various states.
A circle of friends produced a film titled "Passport," recounting the story of Jews in France targeted by the Nazis for capture and execution. The narrative unfolds the heroic role played by the deceased Turkish diplomat Necdet Kent, Muhtar Kent's father, in saving them by providing passports. Muhtar Kent is presently the CEO of Coca-Cola.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews were persecuted by Christians, subjected to deportations and exiles, and lived in ghettos. When the Spanish expelled Muslims and Jews, many Jews sought refuge in Ottoman lands. The Quincentennial Foundation commemorates the Jewish settlement in Turkish, hence Islamic lands, over 500 years ago.
On the other hand, the creation of many institutions, such as the United Nations and U.N. Security Council, and the introduction of immigration laws by European states were to prevent what happened to the Jews from happening again to the Jews or others. An entire world order was established especially for this purpose.
Later, Jews spread awareness about the concept of anti-Semitism or the idea of the Holocaust all over the world, ensuring that being against Jews, criticizing Jews or being anti-Semitic was considered a crime globally. One can understand all of these, taking into account the miseries Jews faced in World War II.
Yet, in Palestine, where they settled in 1948, Jews, who were subjected to all these tortures, deportations and genocide, have never treated the Palestinians any differently from the way Adolf Hitler treated them.
The oppressed-turned-oppressors
The science of psychology seeks an answer to the following question: When a human being is subjected to particular cruelty and torture in slavery, how could this slave one day turn into a tyrant?
In fact, this article should have been titled "Can slaves become tyrants?" I named it differently so as not to overshadow the suit in The Hague, where the Republic of South Africa sued Israel for genocide and presented the evidence.
First of all, the Israelis refer to the religious oral source, the Talmud, to justify killing the Palestinians. They consider Palestinians their historical enemies, Amaleks, who were described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch persecutor nation of the Israelites. Then, they claim that the Gazans they are fighting with are not human beings but animals. One official openly stated that they would not cure Palestinians they took as captives and would leave them to die.
Israeli officials are distributing weapons to civilians wearing military shirts. They are encouraged to shoot the child in the womb with the slogan "Two deaths with one bullet." They are rehearsing how they will slaughter Palestinians.
Hate drives genocides and massacres
They are destroying all civilian buildings one by one, with bombs more powerful than a nuclear weapon in total. They are destroying everything in a region with a population of 2 million, with large tonnage explosives, including phosphorus bombs. They shoot at every civilian in sight.
As a twist of fate, three Jewish prisoners who raised their hands to surrender, who did not have weapons nor looked like Hamas members at all, were arbitrarily killed by Israeli soldiers. Worst of all, the Israeli state assures its army of immunity from prosecution for their war crimes.
Genocide and atrocities are committed with a psychology of hatred. Probably, the court will notice this. Israeli soldiers repeatedly walk over the areas where Palestinian bodies are lying lifeless. In all religions and belief systems, there are principles of respect for the dead and rules regarding the treatment of prisoners and captives. By trampling the dead bodies with bulldozers, they are committing the gravest of hate crimes.
It is likely that when the court juxtaposes what the Nazis did with what the Jews are doing in Israel today, it will find that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more cruel than Adolf Hitler and that what is being done to the Gazans is more brutal and damaging than what was done to the Jews.
A Jewish child in a prison camp in the 1900s could never have imagined that they would be doing the same to someone else 75 years later – what Adolf Hitler did to them.