When teaching history becomes dangerous
A recent piece about Sarah Hurwitz, a former senior speechwriter to top U.S. politicians, reveals something unsettling about how historical memory is now being framed. According to her, Holocaust education has “backfired” because young people, especially those exposed to real-time images of suffering in Gaza, are no longer absorbing a neat and unquestioned lesson of “never again.” Instead, they are making connections that challenge the dominant narrative.
What is being quietly suggested is not that history failed us, but that history works too well. That it builds empathy. That it exposes patterns. That it makes people notice when past atrocities start to resemble present ones. And that, apparently, is the problem.
So the familiar warning, “if we don’t learn history we are doomed to repeat it,” has warped into something far more cynical. Teaching history becomes dangerous when it shines a light on current violence and undermines our ability to look away while genocide continues.
Gaza, the West Bank, and the illusion of ceasefire
According to a recent statement from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the so-called ceasefire in Gaza is being repeatedly violated. Hundreds of documented breaches, ongoing attacks, and continued civilian deaths make clear that this is not peace. It is not safety. It is a pause in language only.
At the same time, violence in the West Bank continues to escalate. Displacement, raids, and systemic brutality remain constant. This is not a conflict winding down. It is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe wrapped in diplomatic euphemisms.
History, memory, and accountability at home
This is not just about what is happening overseas. It is also about what we choose to tolerate here.
In Oregon, we are pushing to divest from corporations and foreign governments that profit from genocide in Gaza and from the criminalization and surveillance of immigrants at home. The same systems that manufacture violence abroad are deeply entangled with the systems that police, detain, and dehumanize people in our own communities.
This is not hypothetical. These connections are documented in local advocacy work that outlines how Oregon’s public funds are tied to companies supporting ICE operations and Israeli militarization. The pipeline is real, and so is our responsibility to interrupt it.
Memory is not optional
When we allow history to be softened, sanitized, or reframed as inconvenient, we lose one of the few tools that makes accountability possible. Memory is not just about the past. It is about recognizing the present and refusing to pretend we do not see what is unfolding.
Teaching history is not the problem. Suppressing it is.
Because when empathy becomes threatening and truth becomes controversial, violence becomes policy. And silence becomes complicity.
Two Resources:
A local person’s testimony on Oregon’s investments (with links).
A Zionism and Anti-Zionism 101 resource (NOT FROM JVP NOR SPONSORED/ENDORSED BY JVP) that some Portland Jews are using to navigate the holidays with their families.
