Comment: The two crimes Europe has yet to atone for
Comment: The two crimes Europe has yet to atone for
The statement by Iranian President Ahmedinejad on the holocaust has brought into focus the historic crime committed against Jews in Europe as well the crimes of colonialism by European states within the Muslim world.
Jews have been persecuted in Europe for many centuries and this was continued by Nazi Germany before and during the Second World War during which many millions were systematically rounded up and killed. Moreover, many historians have also documented the complicity of the Western European allies in the 1930’s and 1940’s in allowing Nazi atrocities to continue for so long.
Yet, in the hysteria generated around President Ahmedinejad’s comments one question has not been considered. What exactly has Europe done to atone for its guilt in the Holocaust? What was the price that they paid in its aftermath? Surely, if somebody acknowledges their guilt then they have to pay the penalty for their crime in full, unless of course the victim shows mercy and forgoes their right to compensation. This is a fundamentally recognised principle. The perpetrator has to give up something that it possesses and cherishes.
However, the guilt felt by Europe in its treatment of Jews after the second world war manifested itself, not in atonement and reparation for its sins, but in actually committing a further crime-this time against another people who had no involvement in this. Britain and France committed Europe’s second crime in forcibly taking Palestinian land and repatriating Jews from Europe into the Middle East. The creation of the State of Israel can in no way be considered atonement for the treatment of Jews in Europe. It was a monumental act of injustice to deprive Palestinians of their land as well as to inadequately compensate Jews for the crime of the holocaust.
More: khilafah.com
