https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-weak-apology/

Carson’s weak apology

By Jennifer Rubin October 14 at 4:45 PM

In an odd venue for a U.S. presidential candidate, Ben Carson, after repeatedly insisting otherwise, finally walked back his comments on the Holocaust. In the Jerusalem Post (why not in a widely read U.S. paper?) he writes:

In recent days I suggested that things might have unfolded in a very different manner in Europe had the Jewish people been armed and better able to defend themselves. What would have been the impact on Hitler’s war machine if his victims had had more access to guns? It is something that we will never know for sure.

What I do know however, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is that I never intended for my words to diminish the enormity of the tragedy or in any way to cause any pain for Holocaust survivors or their families.

This is the sort of “I am sorry you were offended” non-apology that evinces no remorse.

He then turns to a series of platitudes trying to demonstrate his support for Israel. That is beside the point. We don’t doubt his fondness for the Jewish state, which in case he did not know was not merely a “make good” as Arabs claim for the Holocaust. What we question is his judgment and knowledge.

Moreover, non-apology still suggests it is possible armed Jews would have survived the Nazi military might. This is balderdash plain and simple. Next time he is in Israel he might make another trip to Yad Vashem (he says he has visited but apparently did not fully absorb the material presented), which documents the heroic but fruitless effort to hold off the Nazi death machine:

On July 22, 1942, on the eve of the Ninth of Av in the Jewish calendar, the Germans began the mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto. By the time they ended on September 21, Yom Kippur, some 260,000 inhabitants of the ghetto had been deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. . . .

The first attempts to establish an armed resistance organization within the ghetto took place even before the deportations. The “anti-Fascist bloc” was established between March-April 1942, based on a communist cell in the ghetto. However, the Gestapo discovered its leader in May 1942, who was arrested and murdered.

Representatives of three Zionist youth movements (“Hashomer Hatzair,” “Dror,” and “Akiva”) established the first cell of the new organization. Members of the “Poalei Tzion” party joined them in October. . . .

On January 18, 1943, the Germans launched another Aktion [deportation of Jews to concentration camps]. The underground leadership, believing it to be the onset of the final deportation, ordered its forces to respond with arms. Upon discovering the resistance the Germans decided to halt the Aktion. This incident marked a turning point for most of the ghetto population, which from then on prepared for mass resistance and for hiding in underground bunkers in the cellars of homes.

The final Aktion began on April 19, 1943, the eve of Passover. The fighting groups and ghetto inhabitants barricaded themselves in bunkers and hideouts, their demonstrations of resistance taking the Germans by surprise. The ZOB scattered its positions throughout the ghetto; the ZZW did most of its fighting at Muranowska Square, impeding the Germans’ attempts to penetrate their defenses. In response, the Germans began to systematically burn down the buildings, turning the ghetto into a firetrap. The Jews fought valiantly for a month until the Germans took over the focal points of resistance. It was the first popular uprising in a city in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Noble, courageous and ultimately ineffective.

Carson tried to use the Holocaust in a morally offensive manner, to justify his own position on the Second Amendment. It is not the first time he’s missed the boat. He’s also compared the United States with Nazi Germany. Invoking the Holocaust is the worst sort of argument, demonstrating Carson’s lack of proportion and rhetorical skills. It only underscores his inability to make himself into a plausible candidate.

He should have flat-out said he was wrong, and then sworn off flippant use of the Holocaust as a rhetorical gimmick. As for those on the right who have been defending him — as they do whenever he makes a bizarre or ignorant utterance — Carson seems to have left them holding the bag. Maybe they should think twice about defending the indefensible.