My physics teacher Mr. Stimson said a wise thing: a fight turns to punches when the two sides run out of words. Thus to cut off all words is to ensure that there will be punches.
It took a long time for Hitler to condition Germans to hate Jews. Because Germans and Jews lived and worked together side by side, since the enlightenment allowed equal rights to all Jews, Germans now considered Jews to be as one of them and for conditioning to dehumanize had to take a long time and a lot of effort.
First and foremost was to create an other-ness. You can’t just take away jobs and livelihood from people unless you make them less than. A prolonged propaganda war to repeat something until every one thought it was true: Jews were evil and they were responsible for all problems in Germany. To do that however would be hard if Jews had ability to answer. This is why anti-Jewish laws were passed. This was easy at a time when everyone was under siege. An attack on Jews felt like a reprieve for most Germans who were as much at risk of beatings by Brown Shirts as anyone. These laws are very specific to disallow Jews from ability to break the disinformation and break their ability to humanize themselves. This is why books were burned, inter-marriage banned, public speaking and all forms of expression and dialogue forbidden. This was followed by expulsion of Jews from Universities, public jobs and boycott of purchasing goods. By creating this cultural rift between Germans of Jewish and non-Jewish decent, it was possible isolate Jews entirely from the society at large such that by the end Germans had no idea the effect of the policies on Jews.
This pattern has been repeated over and over from the killings in Turkey of Armenians to those of Yazidis in Iraq and Tutsis in Rwanda. Such is the case today with Boycott. All attempts to converse with BDS are impossible because it is one of their prime directives of non-communication with anyone opposed to BDS. This lack of communication, as well end of cultural, academic and economic ties on top of the continuous vilification and dehumanization of Israel and Jews is perfect Hitler playbook to return to the mentality of 1930’s Germany. By many accounts, it has worked across Europe. Attacks on Charlie Hebdo were a tragedy and an attack on France but Jewish supermarket and French men and women killed there was a non-event. The recent playing of a Jewish American Matisyahu in Spain cancelled, the academic boycott by South Africa of Israel and multiple concerts cancelled in Israel by many prominent artists is part of the non-dialogue, dehumanization and separation that is necessary to wipe out a human race.
We are witnessing a large amount of good people acting silent. However the difference between 1930’s Germany and today, is that those who are silent are not under threat from Hitler’s Brown Shirts or even economically hard hit the way Germany was with crippling inflation and
The attacks on Jews brought about 15 million dead get in Germany and over 50 million dead in Russia. The path of this kind of hateful rhetoric coming out of Middle East and Iran will effect everyone. So the only possible way for Jews to avoid the fate before is to write and express themselves for that is the number one path to ending the mis-information. The web gives an unlimited path to self-expression. While the filters in Middle East block all but the hateful rhetoric about Jews and Israel, Europe and United States are still up in the air. The job of each Jew to prevent their own demise is to fight the mis-information to give those who do not know better a chance at seeing that there is some debate on the issue and ability to make up their mind.
In the end, one can de-humanize that which stays quiet, the human who voices their opposition is a human and a human hearing words from another person just like him or her must at some point ask themselves: what is truth and is my right to freedom taken with theirs and is my right to reality hijacked for some other cause for which I do not stand?