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Jerusalem Address

Award-winning British novelist and columnist Howard Jacobson delivered the B’nai B’rith World Center ‘Jerusalem Address’ entitled “When will Jews be forgiven the Holocaust?” on October 7 in Jerusalem. The event was chaired by B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman, Dr. Haim V. Katz and concluding remarks were made by British Ambassador H.E. Matthew Gould.

In his address, Jacobson argued that anti-Semites sought to deny the Holocaust and hid behind criticism of Israel, to both disguise and excuse the guilt of their anti-Jewish sentiment. The 2010 Man Booker Prize winner stated that “The shocking psychological truth is that man rejects the burden of guilt by turning the tables on those we have wronged and portraying ourselves as the victims of their suffering. The Roman historian Tacitus spells it out.  ‘It is part of human life,’ he wrote,’ to hate the man you have hurt.’ Those we harm, we blame – mobilizing dislike and even hatred in order to justify, after the event, the harm we did.  From which it must follow that those who are harmed the most, as in the case of the Shoah – are blamed the most.” He said that, “Anyone who cannot bear to look at the reflection of his conscience in the mirror of a crime, has only to smash the mirror to feel innocent.”  (More of this story here).