The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Act was passed by Congress in 2018 to focus national resources and attention on genocidal conflicts around the world. My father survived the Holocaust and made it his life’s work to give voice to the voiceless. From Kosovo to Rwanda to Darfur, he fought oppression tirelessly.
Last week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) weaponized the Elie Wiesel Genocide Act against Israel. The text of her proposed bill claims that Israeli aggression is the root cause of the issues that divide Israel and the Palestinian people today. It further suggests that Israel is subjecting the Palestinian people to an ongoing genocide. Democratic leaders who truly believe in the values my father stood for should speak out forcefully against this cynical accusation.
Genocide is the intended destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. To suggest that Israel must be monitored lest it effect a genocide against Palestinians or their culture is an affront not only to decency but to the 6 million victims of the Holocaust, the 3 million Cambodians murdered by the Khmer Rouge, and to the million Tutsis killed in Rwanda.
Do genocidal regimes repeatedly offer territory for peace? Do nations committing atrocities drop leaflets or send text messages warning nearby civilians before they fire rockets at terrorist cells? Did 4 million Muslims not just observe Ramadan at Al-Aqsa last month in Jerusalem?
These false charges of genocide against Israel are smears long used by critics who apply classical anti-Semitic tropes to the Jewish state. And they have consequences. These forms of blood libel fan the flames of hatred towards Jews as surely as the medieval claims once did that we murdered Jesus or were killing Christian infants. To utilize my father’s name in such vile accusations is so far beyond the pale that I am staggered by the silence in response.
I cannot figure out why some within the progressive movement are so unfailingly obsessed with attacking Israel, to the point that prominent politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn nearly brought Britain’s Labor Party down over it. Why would they do this, when it distracts their energy from causes that are worthy and which they might just win?
I remember my father telling me: We have always been hated.
The root cause of the conflict is not Israel’s aggression. It is Israel’s existence. It is our existence.
Rabbi Leo Dee lost his wife and two daughters last month to cold-blooded murderers. He spoke recently about his desire to understand their killers. “I want to meet the parents and siblings of the terrorists and ask them two questions: What did they think they would accomplish with what they did and what is their vision for the future — what do they want for their grandchildren?”
The mother of one of the terrorists gave her answer in a televised interview. “Praise be to Allah for granting him [martyrdom]. We should fight them with our children, with our money, with our families, with our fingernails. We should devour the Jews with our teeth.”
We know what it means to be devoured.
This week, almost 80 years ago, my family boarded the transports to Auschwitz. They posed no military or other threat to the Nazis. Those who can work, to the left. Old, infirm and children to the right. And my aunt, grandmother, and great-grandparents were gone.
The Elie Wiesel Genocide Act is needed now more than ever. No help has come yet for the Rohingya in Myanmar. And it will take incredible community building by Americans of all faiths and parties to advocate effectively for the Chinese Communist Party to turn away from genocide against the 1 million Muslim Uyghurs estimated to be imprisoned in concentration camps in Xinjiang.
My father spoke for those who had no voice. Now my father is gone, and his life’s work is being obscenely, needlessly cheapened, distracting from the real work ahead of us.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and all members of Congress who respect the beliefs my father stood for: my father is no longer here to thank you, but gratitude was one of his core values.
Thank you for defending Holocaust memory, and thank you for standing with the Jewish State of Israel, when both are attacked by activist members within your own party. Thank you for letting the world know the United States stands firmly against genocide now and forever. And in so doing, thank you for defending his name.
Elisha Wiesel is an activist and the son of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.