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Justice for Holocaust Survivors’ Children! And What About Palestinian Refugees?

Is there a statue of limitations on Nazi crimes? According to Haaretz last Friday, thousands of children of Holocaust survivors were about to file suit in Israel against the German government, demanding payment for therapy:

So far, some 3,000 Israelis have joined the suit, including reputed [reputable?] academics and performing artists. "I
think it’s time to raise the cry of the second generation, who bear the
scars on their souls, and recognize them, too, as Holocaust
casualties," wrote attorney Gideon Fisher, whose parents were Holocaust
survivors, in the suit.

The suit describes, among others, the condition of five daughters of
survivors who are suffering from trauma, anxiety and depression. One
plaintiff, 55, is afraid of traveling on buses as they remind her of
the trains that took Jews to the extermination camps. She is subject to
panic attacks and takes tranquilizers.

Having met several children of Holocaust survivors, I accept that they suffer psychically from their parents’ experience. Still, I find the tort dubious. The Holocaust took place 60 years ago. I wonder if some of the problem is not lacrimae rerum–or the tears in life, all life.

More important, what does this suit say about the issue of the Right of Return? Palestinian refugees demand a right to return to the land on which they lived and from which they were expelled in 1947-48 when the state of Israel was created. I have met some of these people too and can tell you that they suffer. In that case, of 59-year-old injustice, pro-Israel voices tell the aggrieved to "get over it." I believe Hillary used such language just last year, in her tough voice.   

It is grotesque and selfish to insist on payment for psychic trauma, once removed from atrocities, and deny any cry of grievance by people who were forced to abandon their homes, often at gunpoint or fear of massacre.

(Thanks to Alex Chaihorsky for the tip.)

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