A Voice against Israeli 'terror'
A holocaust survivor talks about Israel's atrocities in the Middle East
Susan Kozma, a Hungarian holocaust survivor, explains Israel's reign of terror in Palestine and beyond.
Susan Kozma witnessed one of history's largest genocidal attempts. But having seen and lived through the terror of the holocaust, she hopes that no one would ever have to go through that torment ever again. Unfortunately though, she does not think it is over yet and history continues to be repeated-in Rwanda and in a different way, in Israel as well.
"The holocaust was a terrible thing, but it is not a reason for me to behave the same way," she said.
Kozma was sent to a concentration camp at the age of 18, but was lucky enough to leave alive a year later. Her parents and siblings did not survive the holocaust, and she lost 34 members to the massacre. But she said having lived through the holocaust, she does not understand how any Jew would do the same to anyone else.
"If the Israeli government let everyone live in peace, then the danger that both sides feel in their life would not be there...You can't make peace with arms," she said.
Kozma, 82, is a Hungarian immigrant to Canada and has spent more than 30 years here, but as she looks outward into the situation in the Middle East, she feels nothing but sorrow.
She said she understands the reason for the establishment of a Jewish state, but does not understand the reason to implement unequal and discriminatory policies in the state-dividing two nations, Jews and Arabs that lived together in peace for centuries.
"As a Jew, I know that Israel was established on the one hand because Europe was very guilty since no body did anything to stop the holocaust and the other thing is that Europe was happy to get rid of as many Jews as possible," she explained.
Kozma said the instability in the Middle East is due to the detrimental mentality that the early leaders of the Israeli state, including the British who helped establish the state, held during that time. She said the view among both was that the Arabs were not a problem in the equation and that they did not count or even exist. She said this mentality and rejection has led to the sorrowful situation in the Middle East and explains the expanding phenomenon of violence in the region--which now threatens to spread its wings into Iran and Syria.
"It is horrible to reject a nation that has been living there for centuries, just as long as the Jews have lived there. But now to go back 60 years, that is like thinking ' what would it have been like if my family would not have been killed'? It is over now-that time is passed. But they have to try to pick up the threads now and find a solution."
Kozma described Israel as a state that is no less of a terrorist than how it views Hezbollah and Hamas. She said Hezbollah is not a "terrorist organization," but instead is a social organization in the region, helping the refugees from Palestine in Lebanon as well as the Lebanese Shi'ia population in the south.
She said hatred and adolescence is the reason for the daily violence in Israel. But she said that if there was no killing of the Arabs, then there would not be any suicide bombings or other attacks. She said these bombings are a reaction from the population that has been treated so poorly by the Jewish population.
"To understand the violence by the Palestinians is one thing, but to justify it is another. I am a pacifist, so I don't like violence at any cost. But people are very angry there and they have a reason to be," she explained.
She said that the sentiment among most Jews in Israel is that Arabs are not people and that they need not bother with them.
"A homeland is important for the Jewish people, but I feel that what Israel is doing is digging their own grave and the existence of Israel can't be based on what they are doing to the Palestinians...Israel can defend itself, but it does not have to kill others and demolish houses in order to do that. That is not self-defense," she said.
Kozma, also a Canadian, found herself troubled with the way the current prime minister, Stephen Harper has stationed himself in the global arena. In her words, he has "no humanity."
"His whole attitude is horrible, and I know Canada as a peacekeeping force and Canada has always been balanced in its views, but now that is gone with this new prime minister.... Harper is not stupid unfortunately, he just has no morality, you can see it in his eyes...he has empty eyes," she said.
But Kozma said one of the several reasons why Harper and the rest of the West is now in support of the state of Israel and continues to ignore its atrocities against the Arabs is due to guilt. She said it is the guilt that the Europeans have for not stopping the holocaust, and on the part of the U.S. there is the guilt of not getting involved soon enough as well as not allowing ships of Jews to land in their country. This, she said, has led to unconditional support for Israel. In sum, the West she said, which views itself as the pioneer of human rights, does not want to risk being called anti-Semitic by the Jewish people, who believe that when they were persecuted, Europe nor the U.S. did enough to stop it.
But Kozma said regardless of the holocaust, its occurence does not justify doing the same to anyone else, and the international community should stop history from being repeated once again.
"Whether you are shot dead or you are killed in a concentration camp, the end result is the same. You are dead. There is no difference between the two."
