A new Holocaust
From Lucy Mandelstam
Sir: Melanie Phillips’s mention of the ‘annual hate-fest’ on the streets of London filled me with despair (‘Hezbollah cells await Iran’s orders’, 5 August). Last month I celebrated my 80th birthday. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to live so long. I survived four years in Vienna under Nazi rule, and three years in concentration camps. After the end of the war I was a refugee for three years, spending those years mostly in displaced persons’ camps in Europe and Cyprus, finally coming to Israel. I had hoped to live out the rest of my life in relative peace. It was not to be.
I have been in Israel now for 58 years and I have lived through another few wars, but a great part of the world still debates whether to recognise us or not. No other country’s right to exist is ever questioned; why ours?
I know there are many reasons that I could name, but I am sure that Melanie Phillips is right: hatred is the driving force.
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