Robert Fisk interviewed Avnery at the time , when the Sabra and Shatila massacre took place , and asked him how survivors of the Holocaust and their children could look on as 1,700 Palestinians were massacred . He replied : " I will tell you something about the Holocaust . It would be nice to believe that people who have undergone suffering have been purified by suffering . But it 's the opposite , it makes them worse . It corrupts . There is something in suffering that creates a kind of egoism . Herzog the Israeli president at the time was speaking at the site of the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen but he spoke only about the Jews . How could he not mention that others – many others – had suffered there ? Sick people , when they are in pain , can not speak about anyone but themselves . And when such monstrous things have happened to your people , you feel nothing can be compared to it . You get a moral " power of attorney " , a permit to do anything you want – because nothing can compare to what has happened to us . This is a moral immunity which is very clearly felt in Israel . " His visit with Arafat was among the reasons he became estranged from his mother , Hilda Ostermann , who disinherited him . She did not learn Hebrew and knew nothing of politics other than what she gleaned from a German nationalist newsletter . To meet the Palestinian leader he had to forsake his regular Friday visit to his mother in Rehovot . In her will , Hilda wrote " I do not leave a penny to my son Uri , who instead of taking care of me went off to visit that murderer Yasser Arafat " . However , his sister gave him his share of the inheritance
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Uri Avnery