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Why should we get involved in Darfur awareness? With the Holocaust only 60 years behind us, it is hard to imagine that we are forgetting that we begged the world to stand up for us. As the grandchildren of victims of genocide, how could we not stand up for other genocide victims? Doesn’t Israel already have enough problems to deal with? Israel does have many internal and external threats. However if I were to say that we shouldn’t drink water because we are too busy eating food, you would think I was crazy. You can stand up for two things at once. Also as we are raising the voice of moral conscience is Israel we are realigning our moral compass, so that we do not become callous. Why does our silence show that we think genocide is OK? If you can stop something wrong and you don’t try to stop it, it is pretty obvious you agree with the act being committed. We see that in our history with Avraham standing up for Sdom and Amorah lest it be said that Avraham thought destruction was good. Our voices really do count; if we do not raise our voices we could as well be telling Sudan that we think genocide is OK. As Eli Wiesel said: “What have we all learned, if not that to be indifferent or neutral to other people’s suffering is to help tormentors inflict on their victims more and more pain and fear, such that these tormentors can continue to do so with impunity?” Is it a problem to make a comparison to the Holocaust? Yes. What is going on in Darfur is not another holocaust. As Eli Wiesel said :“As a Jew who does not compare any event to the Holocaust, I feel concerned and challenged by the Sudanese tragedy. We must be involved. How can we reproach the indifference of non-Jews to Jewish suffering if we remain indifferent to another people’s plight?” ▲ Back to Top Isn’t this just another one of those problems in Africa? No. This is genocide. This is not just the problems of poverty. We are talking about a campaign of wholesale destruction of an entire ethnic group through calculated measures. This is not business as usual, even in Africa. ▲ Back to Top Aren’t Human Rights Organizations Anti-Zionist or Antisemitic? While some Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have been tainted by anti-Israel bias, we make sure that we deal with NGOs that have a positive record. We deal with the American Jewish World Service and the Save Darfur coalition which do not have these problems. ▲ Back to Top Aren’t UN peacekeeping forces useless as we have seen from UNIFIL not stopping Hizboullah? People especially in Israel ask: Why are we trying to get UN peacekeepers on the ground After our experience with UNIFIL, this may seem like a good question. However, although the UN has not afforded Israel with any useful protection against threats such as Hizboullah, the African Union troops in Darfur now are even more useless. The African Union force does not have enough money to run its operations which don’t even officially mandate protection of Darfuri civilians. A UN peacekeeping force under chapter VII would give safety to millions of Darfuri men, women and children who currently face death. ▲ Back to Top Is There a Halachik obligation for us to help Darfur? Yes. The Rabbinical Council of America (the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the world) thinks there is. If you are interested in shiurim or Meqorot on how this is so, email HAeDarfur@gmail.com ▲ Back to Top |