Here is a "must reading" editorial regarding Israel

Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, is a businessman and author, most recently, of "The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes," published this month by Palgrave Macmillan.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burg16-2008nov16,0,4227786.story

snip

The Shoah is so pervasive that a study conducted a few years ago in a Tel Aviv school for teachers found that more than 90% of those questioned view it as the most important experience of Jewish history. That means it is more important than the creation of the world, the exodus from Egypt, the delivering of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, the ruin of both Holy Temples, the exile, the birth of Zionism, the founding of the state or the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Shoah is woven, to varying degrees, into almost all of Israel's political arguments; over time, we have taken the Shoah from its position of sanctity and turned it into an instrument of common and even trite politics. It represents a past that is present, maintained, monitored, heard and represented. Our dead do not rest in peace. They are busy, active, always a part of our sad lives.

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This opinion piece is absolute "must reading," for all who care about faith, hope, politics, society, peace in the world, and peace of mind. I pray that more and more people will understand and believe what Mr. Burg is saying. I've seen too much reflexive denial toward the few who have dared to speak as clearly and lovingly the truth, as Mr. Burg has done here. Pray this is a time of change of hearts and perceptions.