When Gaza is Bombed in the Name of Victims' Memory: Zionism Does Not Represent Jews... It Harms Them

Author: بسام زكارنة

At a time when the world commemorates the Holocaust as one of the most heinous crimes against humanity, scenes are repeating in Gaza that remind us of what must never happen again: civilians under the rubble, children being pulled from the debris, hospitals being bombed, and cities being turned to ruins – all witnessed by the world not in darkness but under the light of cameras.

But more dangerous than the crime is that it is committed in the name of the victim.

How did the fear of repeating history become a justification for turning a deaf ear to its repetition in another form?

We must distinguish: Jews are not Zionism

Judaism is an ancient religion with diverse adherents – including Europeans, Americans, Asians, believers, and atheists, liberals and conservatives, some of whom courageously stand against what Israel is doing today.

Zionism is not Judaism; it is a nationalist political ideology that emerged in Europe in the 19th century, rooted in colonial and racist ideas to justify the establishment of a state at the expense of another people, the Palestinian people.

Many Jews have expressed their rejection of this dangerous conflation. At the anti-Zionist Jewish Conference (Vienna, June 2025), one speaker stated:

“Zionism does not represent us as Jews but threatens our security and exploits the memory of Holocaust victims.”

A Message to European Conscience

Europe fully understands what silence in the face of genocide means. The burden of historical guilt after the Holocaust should not be transformed into an excuse for silence again but into a moral commitment not to allow the tragedy to be repeated – in any form against any people. How can we accept that some also provide money and weapons to commit genocide in Gaza, while some countries participate practically by land, sea, air, and intelligence? If silence is complicity, what does support and action on the ground mean?!

Solidarity with yesterday's victims cannot justify today's suffering.

It is unacceptable to silence any voice criticizing Israel's practices with immediate accusations of anti-Semitism, especially when dozens of Jewish intellectuals – including survivors of the Holocaust – come out to clearly say: “Not in our name.”

What is truly surprising is how Western media portrays these voices. When Jews, Germans, Americans, Italians, Spaniards, and others from around the world demonstrate against the genocide in Gaza, the news is published under headlines like: “Anti-Semites Protest”... even when the demonstrators themselves are Jews.

This is not just biased coverage; it is a systematic washing of consciousness that drains the protest of its significance and distorts the truth.

Questions for Western Conscience:

    •    When does the memory of the victim become a cover for the perpetrator?
    •    When does silence on a crime become complicity in it?
    •    And does defending international law and human rights stop when the victim is "Palestinian" and the perpetrator is a “Western ally”?

Do not trample on the memory of the Holocaust... under the pretext of protecting it

What is happening in Gaza is not a “right to self-defense” but an expanded military operation documented moment by moment by cameras around the world, described by international law experts as a gross violation of the simplest humanitarian principles.

Supporting this reality or remaining silent about it does not honor the victims of the Holocaust; it empties their memory of its meaning.
Just as the new generations in Germany should not be held accountable for what their ancestors did, the Palestinians should not be forced to pay for a tragedy they did not create.

We demand something simple yet profound from Europe:

Do not repeat the mistake of silence, and do not close your eyes when children are killed because the victim does not carry a European passport.

And say – as they said after the Holocaust –: “Never Again”... for everyone.