The Different Evils of Complacency Versus Celebration

Eisenhower viewing charred bodies in a Nazi death camp (archive)

Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. Don’t know the actual source of that quote. But it was apparently not eighteenth-century Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, to whom it is often attributed. 

Be that as it may, I believe in that sentiment. When horrendous acts of barbarism are committed by evil men, and no one does anything to stop them, the evil they do will succeed. This sentiment surely applies to the civilian population in Germany (and many other European countries) during the Holocaust. The German people knew their government was mistreating the Jewish people and knew it was wrong. But they just looked the other way and went on with their lives. .

It may be the case that they did not know the extent of their Nazi government's barbarism. But they surely knew that their Jewish citizens weren’t being treated to a luxury vacation. They knew about Kristallnacht. They knew about the virulent Jew hatred of their Fuerer and his cronies that were running their government. They knew that Jews were being rounded up all over Germany and placed – at first in squalid overcrowded ghettos and then to concentration camps. 

Even if they didn’t realize the extent of their government’s evil, they had to know it was evil. And yet they with went on with their lives as though nothing was happening. And 6 million Jews were killed.

After the US army liberated one of those death camps, General Dwight D. Eisenhower took a tour of that camp and was sickened. He was appalled that the civilians living near that camp must have known something was way off with smell of burning flesh they experienced every single day and the continuous smoke they saw coming out of Nazi crematories. Which they basically shrugged off. 

So indignant was Eisenhower that he forced the people of that town to march over to that death camp and declared, ‘Look at what your government did!’ He then forced them to personally bury all of the Jewish corpses that were lying and decaying  all over the camp. Because the ‘good people’ of that German town and the rest of the civilian German population let evil prevail.  

(Yes, there were many exceptions - righteous gentiles that refused to do nothing and let evil prevail. They - not only risked their own lives but even the lives of their families to save Jews. There were actually more righteous gentiles like that than was originally thought. Nonetheless, they were by far still in the minority.)

Palestinians in Ramallah cheer Hamas (TOI)

And yet, when comparing the civilian German population of then to the civilian Palestinian population of today, Germans were saints!  

Why do I say that?  Because they don't just do nothing while their government, Hamas, committed their atrocities against us. They celebrate it! They celebrate when one of their own children are killed inadvertently by Israel  - calling them martyrs! 

Now that Hamas broke the limited cease fire, Israel has resumed their air attack. This time in southern Gaza. As would be expected, the media is again focusing on Gaza Palestinian suffering. Palestinins are now reaping the 'rewards' of their government's atrocities against us. 

Please do not misunderstand. I do not believe innocent Palestinians civilians should be harmed even if they hate us. Israel should – and probably does take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties. That is the way a just and moral nation like Israel conducts wars. But forgive me if I don’t have the same sympathy for someone would celebrate my death at the hands of terrorist government as I would for the death of one of our own. 

My only regret is that there are some truly innocent Palestinians that do not want to see me dead. For them, I do have great sympathy for the suffering they go through. They do not deserve it. Unfortunately this is what happens in war. There are always innocent civilian casualties. This is especially true when their leaders make sure there are as many civilian martyrs as possible.

One more thing. Now that the war has resumed, it appears that the remaining hostages will  remain in captivity for the time being. If anyone deserves sympathy it is them. And their families! They are the ones that are truly innocent. None of them celebrate the death of any Palestinian. I suggest our focus first be on the suffering of the Jewish captives. That in my view is the far more righteous position to have than is the moral equivalency suggested by the media between Hamas atrocities and Israel's response to it.