Syria and the Holocaust: Putting 'Never Again' to the Test

As our nation's leaders gather under the Capitol Rotunda for the annual remembrance of the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah, we should find room in our observance for a discussion of Syria, the setting of one of the greatest humanitarian crises since World War II. While casualty numbers are not definitive, Bashar al-Assad's regime bears the bulk of responsibility for more than 300,000 dead, about one-third of them civilians, and the creation of more than 11 million refugees and internally displaced persons since 2011 -- more than half the country's prewar population. Other actors -- notably, the Islamic State -- have killed wantonly, but the Assad regime and its partners are responsible for far more deaths than all other groups combined.

Some historical perspective is in order. As shocking as these numbers are, they do not begin to approach the enormity of the Holocaust. But does the death toll in Syria really have to approach the incomprehensible level of the Holocaust for it to tug on our consciousness and trigger effective action?...

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