HOW SOON WE FORGET THE LESSONS OF OUR RECENT PAST

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

When the gates of Mauthausen were opened in May 1945 – a mere 80 years ago – prisoners staggered into the open air like shadows reborn. Among them was a boy no older than 14, his striped uniform hanging from him like rags. He looked up at the American soldiers with a mixture of fear and disbelief, too weak to speak. (Bottom left)

One soldier, shaken to see a child in such a place, opened his pack and pulled out a piece of bread. He knelt down, offering it carefully. The boy reached for it, but stopped hesitant, as though expecting a blow for daring to take food. The soldier pressed it gently into his hands, whispering: “It’s yours now. Eat.”

The boy bit into it, crumbs falling from trembling fingers. Tears filled his eyes, not only for the bread, but for the human kindness he thought the world had forgotten.

That crust of bread was more than food – it was proof of life returning, proof that compassion could survive even in the ashes of cruelty.

And yet, now that the shoe is on the other foot, we see the Israeli-induced famine leading the people of Gaza to starvation among the population, with the most vulnerable being children the same age as the young Jewish boy in the Nazi death camp. A hungry child is the same as a hungry child any where.

Even more shameful are the documented instances of Israelis settlers destroying food donated by the world and meant to feed the starving Palestinians. The weaponization of food by Netanyahu's war administration has ben condemned by the nations of the world. Yet, the practice continues as if no one remembers the lessons of the past.