Controversies: Abusing the Holocaust Analogy?

In: Security studies, Volume 15, Issue 4, p. 706-712

Abstract

Critiques Michael Desch's "The Myth of Abandonment: The Use and Abuse of the Holocaust Analogy" (2006), rejecting his assertions that a false sense of guilt springing from the misuse of a "Holocaust analogy" has confounded US foreign policy making regarding Israel & genocide prevention. It is contended that Desch's portrayal of the Holocaust analogy is unsubstantiated & idiosyncratic & that demonstrating that debunking the myth of abandonment is insufficient grounds for changing US policy. Desch's neorealist perspective is then taken to task for ignoring key domestic factors that define the national interest, arguing that the concept of the national interest is vague & that Desch uses only the negative sense of Hans Morgenthau's conceptualization. The moral basis for Desch's neorealist position is questioned for eschewing the competing ethical imperatives acting to shape the US national interest. The neoconservative agenda in the Bush administration & charges of anti-Semitism leveled against critics of Israel & US Middle East policy are touched on in closing. Adapted from the source document.