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In 2025, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed that“ military pressure on Hamas will continue” and that Iran would be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons, directly linking current military objectives to the memory of genocide( Israel freezes in tribute to the victims of the Holocaust- L’ Orient-Le Jour, 2025). This instrumentalization of the Shoah blurs the memory of the Holocaust, turning it into a political tool to justify violence( Joseph Confavreux, Mathieu Dejean, 2023). Critics, such as historian Omer Bartov, point out that Israel“ hides behind the Shoah to justify the indefensible” and risks exhausting its“ moral credit” after the war in Gaza( Omer Bartov, Historien:“ Israël se cache derrière la Shoah pour...”, 2025).
Flashmag! Issue 162 July 2025
This perception of war as an existential necessity, rooted in a traumatic past, leads to a policy where Israel feels entitled to act without being judged guilty, exacerbating regional tensions and making peaceful conflict resolution difficult.
However, the 12-Day War seems to have opened a new page in the global paradigm. Clearly, without the cessation of hostilities, the destruction of Israel would have become a palpable reality. Not only has the myth of Zionist invincibility been destroyed, but the very perpetuation of the State of Israel has been called into question. The country which, within days of the conflict, began to be emptied of its population proves that the feeling of belonging to the Hebrew state does not extend to the supreme sacrifice of its citizens to defend the country. Historians and sociologists of our time should try to answer the question: doesn’ t the artificial creation of a state also create an artificial sense of belonging, especially in the face of the scabrous management of selfish politicians?
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