The Holocaust and the Nakba—the expulsion of Palestinians from historical Palestine, which has been ongoing since the end of 1947—are deeply intertwined. The Nakba is, among other things, a direct consequence of the Holocaust. Yet it is excluded from German collective memory, its relationship to German history only legible negatively in the representation of Israel as a safe haven for Jews. The nation’s once-lauded “memory culture” never links Israel’s self-conception as a Jewish state to the systematic expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians. The violence experienced by Palestinians must remain unspoken, taboo. When made visible, it becomes threatening—something that competes with the Holocaust and contaminates the German culture of remembrance. This is why the violence against Palestinians cannot be acknowledged as a continuation of European anti-Semitism. Doing so would force Germany—home to the largest Palestinian community in Europe—to confront the ongoing present of its history and to acknowledge that the nation’s moral rehabilitation is incomplete. 

Link:
https://cabinetmagazine.org/kiosk/el_bulbeisi_sarah_08_august_2024.php