The Nike Theory of Genocide Response

Anybody can come up with reasons for Israel to turn away the Darfur refugees. Anybody could have (and did) come up with reasons to turn back Jewish refugees in the Holocaust. Avoiding one’s responsibilities to the victims of genocide is easy, and easier to justify. But Jews have always been insistent that nation’s were wrong to do so. We’ve staked a significant amount of moral credibility on the issue. It’s time to put our money where our mouth is.

And I guarantee you, if we don’t–nobody will be there for us in our hour of need either. If even the past victims of genocide can justify turning away their contemporary peers, the precedent set for another “again” will be virtually unassailable. We cannot set the table for the next generation of bystanders. Ours is a people of rescuers, not watchers.