"A Little Bit Nazi" was published in the Jewish Currents 5 YEARS ago:
“I think,” one of the [Israeli] students says, “that in order to survive we need to be a little bit Nazi, too..”
“What do you mean,” I ask
“That we have to be able to kill mercilessly,” he said. We don’t stand a chance if we’re too soft.”...
“But you’re talking about killing innocent people,” the principal clarified.
The boy thought for a moment, calculated, taking his time ... Then he said, “Sometimes there’s no choice but to hurt civilians, too. It’s hard to distinguish civilians from terrorists. A boy who’s just a boy today could become a terrorist tomorrow. This is, after all, a war of survival. It’s us or them. We won’t let this happen again.”
The reasoning is Nazi—literally the same reasoning to which the Nazis resorted to explain the slaughter of Jewish children. But by this point, the guide—once aghast at the children’s monstrosity—has grown accustomed to it, and finds himself neither horrified nor even disappointed. The students have received the message that was intended, the message that has become Israel’s:
Only power. No conscience, no manners, no second-guessing. Those only challenge the soul and harm functionality. We can’t allow ourselves even a moment of weakness, because everything will be taken away. We have to be a little bit Nazi. You’ve finally said it. You got the point, kids, well done."
