Israel & Russia at the Auschwitz Anniversary

It has been a strange and ironic 
International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Just a couple of decades ago,
it would have been unthinkable that 
-- on any major anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz -- 
neither the Prime Minister of Israel 
nor the President of Russia*
(*the bulk of the Soviet Union, which liberated Auschwitz)
would dare to appear there
for the 80th commemoration of that pivotal, historic event,

And, yet, as it stands today,
it is perfectly logical.

Both Putin and Netanyahu are widely accused of 
-- and are even the subjects of arrest warrants for -- 
war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Were they to appear in Auschwitz,
they could be forced to face the same trials
that Russia and Israel once meted out
to the criminals who created, 
commanded and operated Auschwitz,
and the rest of the genocidal Nazi regime.

And with good reason.
----

Under Vladimir Putin's leadership,
Russia has sought to deny the very legitimacy 
of Ukraine as a sovereign country,
and its people as a unique culture, 
entitled to exist independently.

Utterly without cause, except ruthless conquest and confiscation,
(with antique historic claims to a "Greater Russia"),
he has made brutal, cruel war upon all of Ukraine
-- bombing civilians, hospitals, even schools
-- and even killing Ukrainian children by the HUNDREDS
or kidnapping and dragging them to Russia 
for "re-education" from Ukrainians into Russians.
Nearly a million Ukrainians have been taken into Russia.
----

Under Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership,
Israel has sought to deny the very legitimacy 
of Gaza as a sovereign country,
and its people as a unique culture, 
entitled to exist independently.

With a significant excuse -- retaliation for almost 1,500 Israeli lives lost, 
and ostensibly to recover 251 hostages taken -- 
but also with dreams of conquest and confiscation,
(with the excuse of ancient historic claims to a "Greater Israel"),
he has made brutal, cruel war upon all of Gaza,
killing at least 30 Palestinians for every Israeli lost 
(the guilty minority and innocent majority alike) 
-- bombing civilians, hospitals, even schools
-- and even starving Palestinian children by the TENS of THOUSANDS
or killing them outright with reckless mass bombing,
and uprooting the Palestinian survivors, 
while seeking a way to expel them from Palestine, 
in hopes of a massive crime of ethnic cleansing.
Over a million Palestinians have been forced from their Gaza homes.
----

There is a grim lie uttered in rememberance of the Holocaust:
"Never again."
It's most ironic that it's been made into a lie
by the leaders of the nations
that once most symbolized the end 
of the genocide at Auschwitz.

This year,
their absence from Auschwitz is reasonable,
because unrepentant genocidal thieves and killers 
are not suitable representatives
for any nation, 
at Auschwitz, 
ever, again.

------------------------------
~RH