The Holocaust today 
International Herald Tribune
April 2, 2005

Along with the cynical use by Israeli officials of the opening of the renewed Holocaust museum at Yad Vashem in Israel, Uri Avnery's article proves once again that the Holocaust has become an event of all seasons that can be used by anybody for his or her personal - and often political - goals ("Remember what? Remember how? The meaning of the Holocaust," Views, March 26).
 
Avnery is right: The exclusivity of the Holocaust can lead to despicable perversions, but it does not necessarily have to. I do not need the Holocaust to know that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is wrong.
 
But claiming, as Avnery does, that the Shoah should propel us toward a universal struggle against all that is evil is as much a contemptuous exploitation of that period of Jewish history as are the ways in which some of the settlers have been defiling the memory of the millions of Holocaust victims.
 
Bert de Bruin, Nesher, Israel
 
Uri Avnery struck a resonant chord with a great many people. There is a sad irony that the fiery flames of enmity, intolerance and racism still continue to smolder amongst us, to consume mutual reconciliation.
 
We must remember that the appalling human suffering endured by the slain and survivors will not be in vain. The Holocaust stands as the eternal symbol of what happens when we forget.
 
Munjed Farid al-Qutob, London
 
The wrong ethics debate
 
Daniel Sokol's commentary ("Warning: This film may be bad for your soul," Views, March 19) sheds light on a task that I wish contemporary ethicists would tackle before asking me to hear them out on the more morally ambiguous aspects of Western - particularly American - culture today.
 
My problem is this: The language of ethics and morality has been so brutally seized and misappropriated by the fundamentalists of religion and of politics that rational, reality-based discussion has become virtually impossible.
 
America has a president whose misappropriation of the word "evil" has resulted in the very same kind of ethical lapsing that Sokol decries.
 
The leadership in Congress is doing similar damage to all forms of the word "moral." In the name of morality they boldly propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage that would, for the first time in history, create a class of American citizens to be excluded from the full benefits of the document.
 
That this proposal enjoys considerable popular support among the electorate suggests that much greater harm has been done by the hijacking of the national discourse on ethics and morality by the fundamentalist extremists than any number of violent films could ever hope to accomplish.
 
Stuart Lindley Laird, Málaga, Spain
 
Malaysia's old ways
 
What are Malaysians to expect from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi? ("Leader underwhelms Malaysians," March 29).
 
We were so used to Mahathir bin Mohamad's autocratic, nanny-state ways and were so easily satisfied by his grand-scaled national projects. When Mahathir approved a mega-project, magically and mysteriously the country's economy would show signs of improvement.
 
Now Abdullah, the new prime minister, is stuck with what he calls "first world infrastructure run by a third world mentality." The Potemkin Village needs repair and it isn't going to happen overnight.
 
It's going to take a long time for the prime minister to change the rules of the game. The feudal system continues to thrive today and won't be taken down easily.
 
Wu Sher-Lin, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

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