Hannah Arendt’s Journey to New York
In a few hours, we will mark 84 years since Hannah Arendt’s arrival in New York. The ship, Guiné, set sail from Lisbon on May 10, 1941. It was a pleasant morning with temperatures not exceeding 19.6 degrees Celsius, according to the weather report.
For a decade, Guiné maintained a fixed route between Lisbon and Cape Verde. However, in May 1941, this changed as Nazi Germany’s conquests reduced escape routes in the West. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), based in New York, began chartering ships more frequently.
Among them was the Guiné, which carried Hannah Arendt and 189 passengers to New York on May 22, 1941. The ship docked at Pier 9 in the Stapleton port on Staten Island.
Hannah Arendt’s Humanitarian Commitment
Arendt’s dedication to the Jewish cause and her direct involvement in saving children and young people from Nazism shaped her philosophical insights, which we can still read and revisit today. Her groundbreaking work, “The Origin of Totalitarianism,” was published in English in 1951.
Relevance of Hannah Arendt Today
The international community’s indifference and inaction towards the unabated actions of Netanyahu’s government in Gaza echoes Arendt’s observations on the dangers of silence and indifference.
Some government officials, including the religious fundamentalist Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance, contribute to this atmosphere. Smotrich’s work focuses on creating stigmas for an entire population, failing to distinguish between terrorists and children.
Recently, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada criticized Netanyahu’s “hateful language.” Simultaneously, 22 countries (excluding Mexico) urged Netanyahu to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the UN.
The Need for International Diplomacy
International diplomacy must confront Netanyahu’s actions. It is crucial to ask whether Netanyahu and Smotrich have engaged with Hannah Arendt’s work.
Voices and writers like Isaac Katz and Ezra Shabot must fill the silence with noise, advocating for justice and accountability for Hamas’ actions on October 7, 2023. Israel, as a democracy, should not be governed by someone intent on emptying Gaza for the benefit of individuals like Elon Musk.
