Stop genocide as it develops in Sudan

Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
September 13, 2004 Monday FIFTH EDITION

Adolph Hitler was the epitome of human evil and the epitome of
indifference to human life. And yet, he may have understood human
nature far better than any of us would want to admit. In reference to
the West tolerating the destruction of European Jewry, Hitler is
reported to have said before World War II: “Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

Who, indeed? At least hundreds of thousands, probably over a million,
Armenians died at the hands of the Turks. Hitler and the Nazis
murdered 6 million Jews. The world then reflected on genocide and
affirmed “never again.”

And yet, since that time, there have been many attempts at genocide.
Scholars currently investigating mass graves in Cambodia now estimate
Pol Pot’s more than 3-year reign led to the deaths of approximately
two million people.

According to Amnesty International: “In 1994, close to 1 million
people were killed in a planned and systematic genocide in the
central African country of Rwanda.” Most of us will remember the
attempt at “ethnic cleansing” that occurred in the former Yugoslavia
only a few years ago. In all these atrocities, torture, mutilation
and rape of the victim populations were standard procedure.

According to The Save Darfur Coalition, at this very moment, a
government supported militia “is deliberately killing, raping and
terrorizing civilians in Darfur As many as 100,000 civilians have
been killed and 1.2 million people have been driven from their
homes.”

These events in western Sudan are a genocide in the making. Let us
not allow, by our silence, indifference or ignorance, the people of
Darfur to be added to a list already far too long. Let us press both
our government and our media to prevent a larger catastrophe than
already has occurred.

Rabbi Allen Juda
Bethlehem