"I will tell you something about the Holocaust.

 "I will tell you something about the Holocaust. It would be nice to believe that people who have undergone suffering have been purified by suffering. But it's the opposite, it makes them worse. It corrupts. There is something in suffering that creates a kind of egoism. Herzog [the Israeli president at the time] was speaking at the site of the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen but he spoke only about the Jews. How could he not mention that others – many others – had suffered there? Sick people, when they are in pain, cannot speak about anyone but themselves. And when such monstrous things have happened to your people, you feel nothing can be compared to it. You get a moral "power of attorney", a permit to do anything you want – because nothing can compare to what has happened to us. This is a moral immunity which is very clearly felt in Israel."

Uri Avnery had been born in Germany but his family emigrated to Brisih Mandate Palestine in 1933 after the Nazis came to power. He had been a member of the Irgun paramilitary (Zionist terrorist group) form age 15-19. He had fought in the Israeli army in the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. He had been a journalist, writer, politician (Knesset member), and peace activist. The standout quote from the article is the following, which I don't recall reading previously, and which seems extremely relevant to today's situation: