"Israel has still not learned the lessons from the Holocaust. Had it taken the meaning to heart, it would stop the ongoing atrocities in Syria."

We've been inundated with such messages every since the Syrian bloodbath commenced in 2011. While these vacuous statements are heard constantly,  they reach a fever constantly pitch when Yom Hashoah season rolls around.

According to this view, Israel is betraying its Jewish heritage by letting Assad butcher his people unopposed.

I've always hated hearing people say this because it's the worst kind of virtue signaling. Imagine you were handed the keys: What would you do?

Would you invade Syria and fight Bashar Assad alongside ISIS? Would you fight ISIS side by side with Hezbollah? What happens when Putin gets mad that Israel rushed hell-bent into his sphere of influence?

Should Israel call up 40,000 reservists and start an all-out war between Israel, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Russia? What will you tell a mother whose son in the IDF was killed fighting to save Syrian civilians in Douma? What will you say when Assad flattens Tel Aviv with missiles?

And if you were prepared to pay such a price, how would it work tactically? Should the IDF capture all of Syria? Should Nahal and Kfir Brigade soldiers patrol Homs as a kind of peacekeeping force?

In addition, the entire paradigm that Israel needs to become the world's social worker because of what Hitler did to us is fundamentally wrong. If suffering genocide gives you a special moral task then why don't the Armenians have this responsibility? After all, almost 3 million of them were killed by Turkey in the early 20th century.

What about the American Indians? They also suffered a bloodbath. Why do they get off scot free? Stalin systematically starved 3.5 million Ukrainians to death from 1933 to 1935. Maybe they should fight Syria as well?

Anyone can take what they want out of the Holocaust. Some say that being on the receiving end of Hitler's savagery entrusted us with a special mission to protect the downtrodden.

I disagree. I believe that the Holocaust teaches us that we are always at risk of being destroyed and need to remain strong to protect ourselves. Nothing would make us weaker than starting an all-out Middle Eastern war for the lofty ideals of 'Tikkun Olam.'