Never Again
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts
This is my first substack column as a new member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. More about me at the end of the column
The death toll among Jews from the October 7 Saturday night massacre in an area of Southern Israel adjacent to the Gaza Strip was about 1,300.
In a country of 9.2 million residents, that is the equivalent of more than 46,000 deaths in the United States, which means it also is the equivalent of fifteen or sixteen 9/11 attacks in the U.S.
It is the kind of death rate that is characteristic of a full-scale, years-long war. The three-year war in Korea claimed 36,000 American lives. More than 58,000 Americans died in the 10-year war in Vietnam.
Fewer than 200 of the deaths on that Saturday night in Israel were Israeli soldiers. More than 1,000 were civilians – the elderly, young children, vibrant teenagers, babies, entire young families. The photos of these victims in better times make grown men – and women -- fight back tears. I know.
The atrocities that occurred would be unspeakable, except that they must be spoken about. The Jewish religion reminds us every year at Passover that Jews must remember those who died in the Holocaust. We are told that if we do not, they will die a second time.
Hamas – I will mention the name of this evil cult only once – the perpetrator of the October 7 massacre, was engaged in an effort to fulfill the dream that led its founding in 1987 – the annihilation of the Jews in Israel, now 7 million in number.
The organizational charter of this cult makes several references to this goal. One of the most telling:
The cult “strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” The time will not come until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!”
Noa Tishby, in a book I highly recommend, Israel -- A Simple guide to the most misunderstood country on Earth, wrote that the cult’s charter “is very clear: no land for peace, no Israel, Sharia law, and death as the only way to accomplish this most noble of causes.”
The world has been trying to kill the Jews for two thousand years, since the Catholic church labeled them – incorrectly -- as the killers of Jesus Christ.
* * *
The night of the attack in Israel was exactly one month and two days prior to the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht in Germany, the night of broken glass, a night that would mark the opening volley in Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the 10 million Jews of Eastern Europe.
The effort got off to a slow start. The standards of weaponry were much more limited in 1938. There were no missiles, no automatic or semi-automatic rifles, and explosives were primitive. Ninety-one Jews died in Germany that night, although several hundred of the 30,000 Jewish men arrested that night died of injuries sustained in prisons, and hundreds more were psychologically injured during their imprisonment to such a degree that they later committed suicide.
It was not long, however, before the Nazis invented the means of mass murder. First, they began locking masses of Jews in synagogues and setting them afire. Then, they marched large groups of Jews into the wilderness with shovels, forced them to dig a large ditch, forced them to strip to their underwear, lined them up along the edge of the ditch, and called a firing squad into action. Finally, they created the horrendous labor camps and gas chambers. Six million Jews died in about five years.
The Great Synagogue in Bialystok, Poland as it looked in 1920. On June 27, 1941, the Nazis pulled hundreds of Jewish families out of their homes. Hundreds were shot to death. At least 600 of the men and boys were locked into the Synagogue, and it was set on fire. At least 600 died; maybe as many as 800. The exact number could not be determined. Altogether, 2,000 Jews in Bialystok were murdered that day. Photo from a postcard.
It was not long, however, before the Nazis invented the means of mass murder. First, they began locking masses of Jews in synagogues and setting them afire. Then, they marched large groups of Jews into the wilderness with shovels, forced them to dig a large ditch, forced them to strip to their underwear, lined them up along the edge of the ditch, and called a firing squad into action. Finally, they created the horrendous labor camps and gas chambers. Six million Jews died in about five years.
Ultimately, however, the Jews not only survived the extermination attempt, they learned from it.
They developed a rallying cry: Never Again!
Today, this rallying cry is being put into action in Gaza, the home of the Palestinian cult that launched the October 7 attack on Israel and the Jews.
Palestinians roam the ruins of a mosque in Gaza City after an Israeli air attack. Mosques were a high priority target for Israel because the evil cult that controls Gaza used them for gathering places and planning meetings for the attack on Israel. Photo from The Atlantic by Muhmud Hams /AFP/Getty Images.
Israel responded quickly. Cities in Gaza, where the cult is based, are crumbling as the Israeli bombing continues all night, every night. Israel, founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, will do whatever is necessary to eliminate the cult that threatens its existence before that cult can annihilate the Jews. It has learned, the Jews have learned, that this is the only way to assure their own survival.
They are guided by a simple and clear creed.
Never Again!
About Arnold Garson
I am a semi-retired journalist and newspaper executive. I worked for 46 years in the newspaper industry, including almost 20 years at The Des Moines Register, where assignments included covering the Iowa Senate, investigative reporting for The Sunday Register, and managing editor. My career also took me to The San Bernardino County Sun in Southern California, as editor of the newspaper; I also wrote a weekly column, and was recognized for the best column in a large newspaper one year by the California-Nevada Associated Press. (I may repurpose that column here at some point.). Later assignments were in Sioux Falls, South Dakota as president and publisher of the Argus Leader, and a corporate news executive overseeing other Gannett newspapers in the West; also in Louisville, Kentucky, where I concluded my career as president and publisher of The Courier-Journal.
The Des Moines Register stint, mentioned above, was the beginning of my connection to Julie Gammack and her husband, Richard Gilbert. Julie’s father, Gordon Gammack, was a legendary war correspondent and columnist for The Des Moines Register and The Tribune. Julie joined The Register as a columnist while I was managing editor. I met Richard while I was covering the Iowa Senate and he was working as press secretary for Gov. Robert Ray. So these connections go back more than 50 years.
My wife, Lynne, and I now live in Sioux Falls and Okoboji, Iowa. We have grown children and grandchildren in Omaha, the Iowa City area, and Columbia, Missouri. I am a founding director of South Dakota News Watch, and I operate a writing business, Family Stories by Arnold Garson, through which I research and write family histories and other specialized histories for clients. I have been among the presenters as the Okoboji Writers’ Workshop since its creation, three years ago.
I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where my family roots go back to the 1880s. I mention this because I may write about it occasionally. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism from both the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and a master’s degree in journalism from UCLA. My first job after college was as a reporter at the Omaha World Herald.
For Substack, I will write periodic columns on a wide range of subjects including:
Okoboji history, where my wife’s family roots go back to the 1890s.
Family history, which I have been researching and writing for more than 20 years — with many surprising discoveries.
Observations relating to current events.
Whatever else may strike my fancy.
If you have ideas or thoughts about my work and subject matter, please let me know.
Thank you for reading today.
Excellent piece! Great to read you again.
Welcome aboard, Arnie!