Second Holocaust

The notion of a second Holocaust[a] is an assertion that the Holocaust or a similar event is recurring or will recur. It is often used to discuss perceived threats to the State of Israel, the Jewish people, or the Jewish way of life.

## Examples

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### Existential threats to the State of Israel

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Threats to Israel's security have often been described as a potential "second Holocaust".[1][2] During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it was feared that defeat in the war would mean a second genocide of Jews, this time at the hands of Arab armies. These fears were based on antisemitism in the Arab world, the fact that Arab leaders such as Amin al-Husseini were providing shelter to Nazi war criminals and had publicly supported the Holocaust during World War 2, many Israelis having lost relatives in the Holocaust, and the temporal proximity of the last genocide. The Arabs did not face a comparable existential threat, and the lack of motivation of Arab armies contributed to defeat in the war.[3][4][5] The Six-Day War also led Israelis to fear another Holocaust.[6][1]

Belief that Jews are threatened by another existential event, like the Holocaust, is an important element in support for the Israeli state and its military.[1][7] For example, in 1987, Yitzhak Rabin opined that "In every generation, they try to destroy us" (quoting from the Passover Haggadah) and therefore the Holocaust could happen again.[7] Before he came to power, Menachem Begin compared accepting reparations from Germany to allowing "another Holocaust".[8] Before the 1982 Lebanon war, Begin told his cabinet: "Believe me, the alternative to this is Treblinka, and we have decided that there will not be another Treblinka". He also justified Operation Opera, the 1981 bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, by stating that by ordering the strike he had prevented another Holocaust.[1][9]

Mike Pence, former Vice President of the United States, said in 2019 that "The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and seeks the means to achieve it", referring to the Iranian nuclear program.[10]

This tendency has been criticized by some Israelis.[7] For example, in 2017 President Reuven Rivlin said that he disagreed with Begin's invocation of "another Treblinka": "According to this approach, the justification for the existence of the State of Israel is the prevention of the next Holocaust. Every threat is a threat to survival, every Israel-hating leader is Hitler ... any criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism." He said that the approach was "fundamentally wrong" and "dangerous".[11]

The 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has been likened to events of the Holocaust by many Israeli Jews, including Holocaust survivors, as well as world leaders such as the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the American president Joe Biden.[12][13][14] The phenomenon of Israel's Holocaust survivors mourning much-younger soldiers lost on October 7 was described as a reversal of roles.[14]

Following Israel's strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure in June 2025, Netanyahu said on American television, "We will not have a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust”.[15]

### One-state solution

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Writing on Arutz Sheva, Steven Plaut referred to the one-state solution as the "Rwanda Solution", and wrote that the implementation of a one-state solution in which a Palestinian majority would rule over a Jewish minority would eventually lead to a "new Holocaust".[16]

### Antisemitism

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Some Holocaust survivors have expressed fear that rising antisemitism in the 21st century could lead to another Holocaust.[17] Israel Meir Lau, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and a Holocaust survivor, said that while another Holocaust was possible, "this time, the fact that we have a Jewish state that deters Israel's haters, the fact that we have the Israel Defense Forces, and the fact that we have won wars decisively, makes things starkly different".[18]

According to one survey, 58% of Americans believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.[17]

### Claims that Palestinians are committing genocide

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A 2009 law journal article by Israeli-American human rights lawyer Justus Weiner and Israeli-American law professor Avi Bell argued that Hamas attacks against Israelis met the definition of the crime of genocide in the Genocide Convention.[19] In 2023, a letter signed by over 100 international law experts argued that the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel "most probably constitute[s] an international crime of genocide, proscribed by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court".[20][21] Its signatories included Irwin Cotler, former Attorney-General of Canada; the organiser of the letter was Dan Eldad, former acting State Attorney of Israel.[20] The same argument was made by Jens David Ohlin, dean of Cornell Law School, in a post on the Opinio Juris group blog.[22]

In his 2009 book on genocide, Worse than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity, Harvard professor Daniel Goldhagen argues that Palestinian suicide attacks should be called "genocide bombings", and their perpetrators "genocide bombers".[23][24] The coining of the label "genocide bombing" is sometimes attributed to Irwin Cotler, in remarks he made in the Canadian Parliament in 2002;[25][26] however, the phrase was used by the UK's ambassador, Stephen Gommersall, during an April 1996 meeting of the UN Security Council.[27] Other supporters of the use of the "genocide bombing" phrase have included the American political scientist R. J. Rummel,[28] and Arnold Beichman.[29]

### Jewish intermarriage

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Main article: Jewish assimilation

See also: Silent Holocaust (Judaism)

In 2019, Israeli education minister Rafi Peretz compared Jewish intermarriage in the United States to a "second Holocaust".[30] At the time, fifty-eight percent of married American Jews had non-Jewish spouses. Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Peretz' remark "trivializes the Shoah [Holocaust]".[31]

## See also

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* Calls for the destruction of Israel
* Allegations of genocide in the October 7 attacks
* Palestinian genocide accusation
* Gaza genocide
* Genocide prevention
* Never again
* Ongoing Nakba

## Notes

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1. ^ (Hebrew: השואה השנײה, romanized: HaShoah HaShniyah) or "Another Holocaust" (Hebrew: שואה נוספת, romanized: Shoah Nosephet)

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Lustick, Ian S. (2019). Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 43\. ISBN 978-0-8122-9681-5.
2. ^ Peleg, Ilan (2019). Victimhood Discourse in Contemporary Israel. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 63, 95–96\. ISBN 978-1-4985-5351-3.
3. ^ "Professor pens book on WWII veterans' efforts to prevent a second Holocaust | Penn State University". news.psu.edu. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
4. ^ Morris, Benny (2008). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 198\. ISBN 978-0-300-14524-3.
5. ^ Yablonka, Hanna (2016). Survivors of the Holocaust: Israel after the War. Springer. p. 122\. ISBN 978-1-349-14152-4.
6. ^ Brenner, Reeve Robert (2014). The Faith and Doubt of Holocaust Survivors. Transaction Publishers. pp. 8–9\. ISBN 978-1-4128-5315-6.
7. ^ a b c Levin, Irene (2016). The Holocaust as Active Memory: The Past in the Present. Routledge. pp. 97–98\. ISBN 978-1-317-02866-6.
8. ^ Segev, Tom (2019). The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-8090-8579-8.
9. ^ "PM: Israel ready to defend against another Holocaust". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
10. ^ "Pence accuses Iran of pursuing 'another Holocaust,' lashes out at allies". NBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
11. ^ "Tel Aviv Diary: Two very different takes on what the Holocaust means today". Newsweek. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
12. ^ "Hamas attack evokes memories of the Holocaust for many Jews". NBC News. 2023-10-20. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
13. ^ "A 'Zionist in my heart': Biden's devotion to Israel faces a new test". AP News. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
14. ^ a b Danan, Deborah (2025-04-30). "In tearful reversal, Holocaust survivors mourn beloved IDF soldiers killed since Oct. 7". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
15. ^ Odenheimer, Natan; Fassihi, Farnaz; Boxerman, Aaron; Nagourney, Eric (2025-06-15). "Israel and Iran Trade Attacks as Toll From Conflict Mounts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
16. ^ Steven Plaut, "One State Solution vs Two-State Solution?," Arutz Sheva (3/3/2008). Retrieved 2013-12-17.
17. ^ a b "Survivors, scholars say threat of another Holocaust is not to be ignored". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
18. ^ Greenwood, Hanan (23 January 2020). "Another Holocaust is possible, warns former chief rabbi". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
19. ^ Weiner, Justus Reid; Bell, Avi (2009–2010). "The Gaza War of 2009: Applying International Humanitarian Law to Israel and Hamas". San Diego International Law Journal. 11 (5): 5–42.
20. ^ a b Winer, Stuart (15 October 2023). "Hamas actions are war crimes, could constitute genocide – international law experts". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
21. ^ Sokol, Sam (Oct 16, 2023). "Deadly Hamas Rampage Constitutes 'International Crime of Genocide,' Hundreds of Legal Experts Say". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
22. ^ Ohlin, Jens David (2023-10-12). "International Criminal Law Analysis of the Situation in Israel". Opinio Juris. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
23. ^ Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah (2010-01-21). Worse Than War: Genocide, eliminationism and the ongoing assault on humanity. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-7481-1586-0.
24. ^ Pindar, Ian (2010-02-06). "Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
25. ^ Radler, Melissa (2002-09-25). "STATESIDE: News from Jewish America". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 2002-09-25.
26. ^ "Debates (Hansard) No. 208 - June 18, 2002 (37-1)". House of Commons of Canada. June 18, 2002. Retrieved 2023-10-18. "...this is not a suicide bombing as much as it is a genocidal bombing where the terrorists, by their own sacred covenant, intend the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews wherever they may be.

This is murder for the sake of murder, terrorism for the sake of terrorism, motivated by the notion that, as the terrorists themselves have put it, 'the weakness of the Jews is that they love life too much'. So that the terrorists celebrate the killing as they glorify the genocidal bombing..."
27. ^ "SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS IN RESPONSE TO SECURITY MEASURES IMPOSED BY ISRAEL ON WEST BANK, GAZA". press.un.org. 15 April 1996. Retrieved 2023-10-18. "[Israel] had the right to protect its citizens against Hamas genocide bombings."
28. ^ "Judaicide". The Forward. 2005-06-10. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
29. ^ Beichman, Arnold (April 23, 2004). "Targets". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
30. ^ "Israel's education minister: Intermarriage among US Jews 'like second Holocaust'". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
31. ^ Beauchamp, Zack (10 July 2019). "Israeli minister says US Jews marrying non-Jews is 'like a second Holocaust'". Vox. Retrieved 7 May 2020.