At a conference on preventing genocide held at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Holocaust denial and Israel criticism that crossed into anti-Semitism required vigilance. “We must remain vigilant against those deniers and against anti-Semitism, because when heads of state and religious leaders deny the Holocaust from their bully pulpits, we cannot let their lies go unanswered. When we hear Holocaust glorification and public calls to, quote, 'finish the job,' we need to make clear that violence, bigotry will not be tolerated," she said in her speech. "And, yes, when criticism of Israeli government policies crosses over into demonization of Israel and Jews, we must push back."
Clinton outlined policies that she said were aimed at genocide prevention, including training officials in detecting warning signs, the use of technology to enhance monitoring, pressuring oppressive regimes and making clear that perpetrators will be held accountable. She also emphasized limits, suggesting that some well-intentioned efforts could worsen the situation. “We have to approach this work with a large dose of humility and understanding," she said.
"Despite all we have learned and accomplished in the last 70 years, ‘never again’ remains an unmet, urgent goal – at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, we have seen campaigns of harassment and violence against groups of people because of their ethnic, racial, religious or political backgrounds, and even some which aimed at the destruction of a particular group of people, fitting the definition of genocide,” Clinton told the gathering.
The museum has released a poll, timed for the symposium, showing that substantial majorities of Americans believe that genocide is still possible and favoring intervention to stop it. The survey showed that 94 percent of Americans believe genocide "is still very much a concern and could occur today." It also showed that 69 percent "think the US should prevent or stop genocide or mass atrocities from occurring in another part of the world.
Read the full text of Secretary Clinton's speech here.
