A group of 50 rabbis from the Rabbinical Center of Europe recently publicized a letter criticizing Armenian leaders for their use of “Holocaust terminology” to describe the current humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, inflicted upon them by Azerbaijan. “Expressions such as ‘ghetto,’ ‘genocide,’ ‘Holocaust,’ and others are (…) inappropriate to be part of the jargon used in any kind of political disagreement.” The letter called on them to stop “belittling the extent of the Jewish people’s suffering to further any political interest through incessantly using phrases associated with the Holocaust suffered by the Jewish people.” Subsequent letters by specific rabbinic signatories, reiterated the point with statements about the sanctity of Holocaust memory which is violated by comparing any other event to it, or using it “for political means”.

We write this response as, collectively, a genocide scholar and an Orthodox rabbi, to say in the clearest terms possible that in our eyes, this rabbinic letter misrepresents the facts, misunderstands the fundamental moral significance of the Holocaust, and misses a major pillar of Jewish ethics.

First, the factual errors of this statement bear correcting. The Jewish people and our suffering do not have a monopoly on the use of the terms ‘holocaust’ or ‘genocide’. As noted in the Encyclopedia of Genocide, the word ‘holocaust’ was used to refer to the Armenian Holocaust in 1909, and even earlier in other contexts, and the word ‘genocide’ was coined in 1942 by a Polish Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, to describe the crime that had been committed against the Armenian people by Turkey, and that was then being committed by Germany against the Jews. The entry on the topic in the encyclopedia ends with the following conclusion: “the word (holocaust) belongs historically to all people’s suffering, and certainly that it not become a basis for excluding the suffering of any other people.”

But our criticism of the European rabbis’ statement goes far deeper than inaccurate facts. The claim that any contemporary comparison of the suffering of people is a desecration of the holy memory of the Holocaust, and a belittling of the Jewish people’s suffering is itself an absurd desecration of Holocaust memory. Absurd, because it prevents the use of the memory of the Holocaust to prevent another Holocaust. Are we only allowed to start using holocaust terminology once 6 million people have been wiped out, that is, once it is far, far too late? Would we not have wanted to nations of the world to heed the cries of the Jewish people about the dangers of an impending Holocaust, and to intervene? If “Never Again” becomes an axiomatic statement of fact, a statement that this episode was so unique that it can never happen again, and nothing can ever be compared to it, it ceases to be a moral imperative for all generations and all peoples. And that is a true desecration of Holocaust memory.

Actually, it is even worse than that. What the European rabbis letter does is to cynically weaponize the memory of the Holocaust in order to enable the infliction of mass suffering. After all, these rabbis do not deny that 120,000 residents of Artsakh are in danger of starvation because of the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan. They do not deny that Azerbaijan is using mass starvation as a tactic for political gain. But by silencing Armenian criticism of the Azerbaijan’s actions, they are the ones who cynically use the “Holocaust card”  for political purposes.

Shamefully, the 50 signatories to this letter are not the only rabbis who have decided to provide a “kosher certificate” for Azerbaijan’s human rights violations. The Conference of European Rabbis recently announced with great pride that they would be holding their annual conference in Baku, “graciously hosted by the President”, the dictator Ilham Aliyev, who has reined since his father’s death in 2003. While the conference’s organizers claim that the location of the conference makes no political statement, it is clear that these rabbis are being used by Azerbaijan to prove the government’s Kosher bonafides to the world, and to shut the world’s ears to the cries of the afflicted.

And this is the last thing a group of rabbis should be doing. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik quoted his esteemed grandfather Rabbi Chaim of Brisk who responded, when asked what the function of a rabbi is: “To redress the grievances of those who are abandoned and alone, to protect the dignity of the poor, and to save the oppressed from the hands of his oppressor.” Judaism has long taught that the moral significance of our own suffering in Egypt is the moral charge to ensure that others do not suffer in a similar way. Hillel famously summed up the message of the entire Torah in the adage “What is hated to you, do not do to your fellow.” The Jewish people have experienced the world’s apathy to our suffering, including the many justifications provided to cover up decisions that were truly motivated by the desire to maintain good relations with oil-rich countries.

The decision of these rabbis to raise their voices on the side of the oppressor is a desecration of Holocaust memory and of Jewish values. In the spirit of this season of repentance, we call on the Conference of European rabbis, or at the very least, on individual rabbinic members of conscience, to have the moral courage to remember their rabbinic duty, and retract their decision.

Prof. Israel W. Charny, is the director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide Jerusalem, the co-founder and  a past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and editor-in-chief of the Encylopedia of Genocide.

Rabbi Avidan Freedman is a Jerusalem based educator and Orthodox rabbi, and the co-founder and director of Yanshoof, an organization which promotes ethical limits on Israeli arms sales.