The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise from Its Ashes

by Avraham Burg

Book Overview

Modern day Israel, and the Jewish community, is strongly influenced by the memory and horrors of Hitler and the Holocaust. Burg argues that the Jewish nation has been traumatized and has lost the ability to trust itself, its neighbors or the world around it. He shows that this is one of the causes for the growing nationalism and violence that are plaguing Israeli society and reverberating through Jewish communities worldwide. Burg uses his own family...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0230607527
• ISBN13: 9780230607521
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A Cri de Coeur for Troubled Times

Burg, whose Jewish and Israeli pedigrees are impeccable asks Zionists and his country to put aside the Shoah industry and become less like the Nazis and more like univeralist, humanitarian people of the Book. Burg's father served on the first Knesset, Avraham served more that once in the Israeli Cabinet and in the Knesset. This presents an opportunity to hear this modern prophet give permission to rational people to disagree with the colonial character of the new Israel...and not be labeled Anti-Semites.

An Important Message

Burg's central thesis is that Israel has changed, and become like some of the nations it abhors - specifically through its constant abuse of Palestinians and increasing belief the Israelis are "God's people" (racism), all the while using the Holocaust as cover. Doing so continues to victimize current generations of Jews. "The Holocaust is Over" can be seen as a plea for Israelis to stop seeing themselves as victims. Hopefully it will also lead to American politicians ceasing their non-stop slathering over Israel.

The grand alibi for Israeli crimes is finally demolished

During the 2008 US presidential campaign, candidates loudly professed that they would not allow Israelis to undergo "another Holocaust." This is the hysterical preoccupation of American politicians, first and foremost with the contretemps of the chosen seed and the possibility of their imminent annihilation; all other peoples, especially the Palestinians, are secondary in terms of a possible apocalyptic destiny. No matter how egregious the war crime Israelis perpetrate against Arab civilians (for example in Qana and Jenin), all is forgiven if the atrocity can be explained as a prophylactic against "another Holocaust." The famous Israeli Yad Vashem "Holocaust" Museum is within sight of the remains of the village of Deir Yassin, where Palestinian civilians were massacred by Judaic Irgun terrorists in April, 1948, for whom Elie Wiesel labored as a publicist. There is no marker commemorating the Israeli atrocity at Deir Yassin despite the fact that it is in the shadow of Yad Vashem. Wiesel, the "Holocaust" conscience-of-the world, is utterly silent about Deir Yassin. The Israelis have used the suffering of Judaic people during World War II (categorized under the recently minted "Holocaust" Newspeak) as a means of immunizing themselves against the slow-motion genocide they have perpetrated against the Palestinians. This book, "The Holocaust is Over" is a long overdue corrective by an unimpeachable source. Unfortunately, publicity for it is minimal, relative to the latest deluge of often risible and wildly exaggerated "Holocaust" movies. --Michael Hoffman, author of "Judaism Discovered" and co-author of "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians."

The rare voice of dissent in Israel

This book starts a debate among Israelis that should have taken place decades ago. It sheds an honest light on the situation Israel got itself stuck in through occupation, racism and the cruel subjection of the Palestinians; through the favoring of religious fanaticism over democracy, and through the use of the Holocaust as an excuse for many-many horrific crimes against humanity that are ultimately be self-defeating.