The Holocaust’s uniqueness framing can render slower forms of mass elimination invisible.

Evidence

Given the global discourse of progressive modernity, in which the Holocaust appears as an exception (one that, among other things, is designed to enhance the acuteness of anti-Semitism and thus render its singularity serviceable in garnering support for Israel), and given the role of Israeli propaganda in nurturing this discourse, the Holocaust, as Wolfe aptly notes, emerged as the “non-paradigmatic paradigm.” Thus, like structural genocide, other forms of mass elimination would not, so Israel’s leaders in effect appear to think, be detectable, precisely because of a piecemeal approach. In this approach no artificially constructed concentration camps, or an explicit bureaucratic machinery, or gas chambers are involved. What is involved instead is a semblance of traditional warfare, cast in the form of reprisals against militant groups who are perceived to threaten the security of the Jewish state. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 433

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to arguments about how atrocity framing shapes recognition, echoing debate about uniqueness vs comparability in genocide scholarship. — connects to: The Holocaust’s uniqueness does not make it incomparable to other genocides — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 516