Re Joachim Martillo and the ‘Heinous’ Issue

I don’t share Joachim Martillo’s view of the Holocaust. The Nazi crimes define the word heinous. I don’t see the expulsion of Arabs from Palestine in ’47-’48 as comparable to the Holocaust. I’m also not going to be blocking Martillo from commenting here because I feel it is important to have an open discussion, including about the sacralization of the Holocaust in American Jewish life in the 70s. Before that period, in my family, it was "the 6 million." Then it became the Holocaust; and obviously this is not just a spiritual recognition but a politicization (just go to Yad Vashem, which has its own very Zionist interpretation). One of my themes here is that Jews are strong enough and well-situated enough, and the principle of free speech is strong enough, for us to have an open discussion about these things, with everyone participating, without a pogrom starting.