After October 7, ‘never again’ has become an empty promise

At Holocaust remembrance events held around the world last week, Western governments again expressed their firm commitment to “never again” - a promise that such a slaughter never again be allowed to befall the Jewish people. But even as they state that commitment, they contradict it, according to the Chief Rabbi of South Africa Warren Goldstein.

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However, the rabbi maintained that this is in no way accurate.

"That did not happen because three years after the Holocaust, with Divine blessings, the Jewish people established a sovereign Jewish state protected by a sovereign army – which we thank God for this week as we celebrate Yom Haatzmaut," he added. 

According to Goldstein, it is crucial to highlight that the war in Gaza is not one of retribution for October 7, but rather it aims to prevent the next October 7.

"The war in Gaza is part of a regional war with Iran to prevent the next Holocaust," he said. "In their crushing pressure on the IDF, and in withholding the weaponry Israel needs to fight enemies that pledge its destruction, Western governments are repeating their sins during the Holocaust, when they stood by as six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis."

"In their misguided pressure on the IDF, Western governments are repeating their sins during the Holocaust when they stood by as six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis," Goldstein further said. "The British government blocked Jewish immigration into what was then called Palestine. And the Allied Forces and the US in particular ignored pleas from Jewish organizations to bomb the railroads to Auschwitz to save Jews from their death."

The Talmud says that the definition of repentance for a past sin is that when you find yourself in a similar situation with the opportunity and temptation to do the same sin again, you desist, the rabbi explained.

"The Western powers are now in a similar situation with another holocaust threatened against the Jewish people," he noted. "They will be judged by history, but ultimately by God, as to whether they repented for their sins of the Holocaust, and helped prevent a second Holocaust."

"This time, thanks to God's blessings, they do not need to actually defend the Jewish people," he added. "We can do that for ourselves. But they do need to offer political and financial support, weapons and ammunition, to the IDF in its mission to protect Jews from another genocide, and the civilized world from the forces of barbarism."

However, according to the rabbi, the politicians of the West should not think that they hold the fate of Israel in their hands.

"As Mordechai said to Queen Esther when the Jews of that time faced a threatened holocaust of their own," he emphasized, quoting the Biblical book of Esther. "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether it was just for this moment that you attained royal position.”

Goldstein suggested that the lesson for Israel is that its Western allies are unreliable and that it needs to diversify its sources of military support, and look to its domestic industry to supply as much as possible of the defense needs that it currently relies on the US for. 

"The days of Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut are bound together in a covenant of blood," Goldstein said. "On Yom Hazikaron, we remember the sacrifice and bravery of IDF soldiers who have given their lives defending the Jewish people. On Yom Haatzmaut, we give thanks to God for the blessing of a sovereign Jewish State. And together, with God’s help, they ensure we will not have another Yom HaShoah."

"May God protect Israel, and bring the peace and redemption He promised through His prophets, to all of humanity," he concluded in his address.