The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47252   Message #706826
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
08-May-02 - 02:16 PM
Thread Name: BS: Who Are the Terrorists? Part 111
Subject: RE: BS: Who Are the Terrorists? Part 111
How big that group is is of course an interesting question, but it's not crucial. Maybe its just the two people who give their names, and whose photos are on the site. But it comes across as honest, and I note especially the links given to other Jewish peace groups, such as Not in my name. The section on the Holocaust - well, that doesn't set out to be an account of what happened, it's a collection of quotes, with two brief bits of editorial comment, indicating the basis on which the quote are selected. But there is no way in which this is any kind of Holocaust denial. It is material which can help people in reaching an opinion.

My feeling is that arguing about the past, and whether things could or should have been done differently, is often beside the point. People act as they feel forced to act in the circumstances in which they live, and very often that involves them in doing things which afterwards can be recognised as wrong.

To the extent that studying the past is a way of opening our eyes to the possibility that what we are doing in the present is also wrong, practically or morally, it's important to do so. But using the injustice of the past as a foundation on which to do further injustice to others can never be right.