Photo/Illutration A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip, cries in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 21. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

It was a rainy night. The first thing a young Jewish married couple heard was the sound of breaking glass. 

Then, shouts reverberated throughout the apartment building where they were living, followed by the pounding of many footsteps coming closer.

On the night of Nov. 9, 1938, a pogrom against Jews started throughout Nazi Germany.

Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were ransacked and set on fire. The streets became littered with shards of broken glass.

The mayhem came to be known as “Kristallnacht,” which literally translates as “crystal night,” but is often referred to as “the Night of Broken Glass.”

The pretext for this violence was to avenge the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish youth two days earlier.

The Nazi Party’s anti-Jewish policy escalated into the establishment of concentration camps at Auschwitz and elsewhere.

The history of the Jewish people is marked by unspeakable discrimination and hardship, none of which humanity should ever forget.

But now, it is none other than the Jewish people themselves who are raining bombs of retaliation on Palestinians, whom they have kept in what is basically an “open-air prison.”

A United Nations group of human rights experts noted recently that the Palestinians are in grave danger of genocide and expressed “deep disappointment” with Israel for continuing its invasion of Gaza.

Unfortunately, Israel is not yet listening. Israeli forces have advanced to the center of Gaza City.

The problem is the Israeli government. I don’t believe all Jews or all Israeli people are in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Still, I feel disconsolate. Do the Jewish people intend to repeat their negative history, even though they have experienced indescribable suffering?

Let me quote South Korean historian Jie-Hyun Lim from his book “Victimhood Nationalism,” in which he wrote, “The lesson we must draw from the appalling Holocaust is not that we could become victims, but we could become aggressors.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 10

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.