Kelly McParland: The 21st century scores an F in history

National Post

a day ago

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Like Japan, Russia suffered horrendously from the Second World War: 25 million dead, a fact of which Putin is unquestionably aware but shows no inclination to respect. Maybe 'learning' from history has a different connotation in Moscow, a synonym, perhaps, for 'dismiss,' or 'ignore.' In any case, Putin has single-mindedly prosecuted a conflict responsible for an estimated 1.5 million casualties, a million of them Russian, and appears determined to press on regardless, scouring remote villages and emptying prisons in search of new bodies to feed into the grinder.
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Israel's government, too, shows a willingness to blind itself to the recent past. Repeated invasions of Lebanon over the decades have done little to eradicate the threat of Hezbollah terrorism, while a 38-year occupation of Gaza failed to prevent Hamas from gaining control within a year of Israel's 2005 departure. Yet the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now proposes a renewed takeover of a region reduced to rubble, despite doubts it will produce the return of hostages still held by Hamas, or the long-term security Israel seeks.
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Netanyahu has little to show for the 22 months since Hamas triggered the conflict. Antisemitism has surged in much of the world. Attacks on Jews, on synagogues, on Jewish institutions have proliferated. Sympathy for Palestinians and the Palestinian cause has risen in tandem, a de facto victory for Hamas despite the horrific level of death and destruction it's brought to Gazans. Far from affirming Israel's unquestionable right to defend itself from attack, it's driven away sympathizers, long-time friends and reliable allies, and opened Israelis to accusations of brutality.
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Which, then, is the proper lesson to take from the horrendous sufferings of war? Japan committed itself to disarmament and nonaggression and now finds itself feeling weakened and vulnerable as a result. Moscow blithely continues piling up Russian corpses as if yesterday's dead never happened, or didn't matter. Israel, determined to 'never again' expose itself to the hatred of bigots and terrorists, finds itself increasingly isolated, divided and at odds with once-reliable friends and allies.
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