ABSTRACT
This chapter examines attitudes of the Jewish community in Palestine and the Zionist Movement toward the massacre of the Armenians at the time of its occurrence and thereafter. It explores a particular case of general phenomenon that goes beyond the Armenian genocide and the Jewish attitude, and that is the reaction of the bystander who remains on sidelines while atrocities take place. In Israeli society, there are many people who would prefer not to know about the genocide of the Armenians and the genocide of the Gypsies. Arendt's important, original, and controversial book was rejected by Israeli intellectuals and by the Israeli academic community, which included some of Arendt's close friends. One of the formative influences on the historical consciousness of a society is the question of what society can and wishes to know about historical occurrence. In Israeli historical consciousness, the Holocaust plays a central role—becoming increasingly stronger over the years. This consciousness stresses the singularity of the Holocaust.
