A Brief History of Multiple Holocausts - Phantom Nation

Shai Ben Tekoa, host of Phantom Nation, delivers a provocative and historically expansive critique of the term 'Holocaust' in the context of Israel's national memory, arguing that the Nazi genocide was not the first but the eighth recorded attempt by Gentile powers to exterminate the Jewish people. From Pharaoh’s decree to drown Israelite newborns to Persian plots under Haman, Roman destruction of Judea, Russian conscription of Jewish boys, and the modern 'Free Palestine' movement, Ben Tekoa frames anti-Semitism as a recurring spiritual and historical phenomenon rooted in envy, fear of divine accountability, and a deep-seated desire to erase Jewish existence. He contends that the Holocaust was not an anomaly but part of a pattern of genocidal crusades, and that today’s political rhetoric—such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of settlements in Judea and Samaria—mirrors ancient erasures of Jewish identity. The episode culminates in a theological argument: Jewish survival is both a divine covenant and a moral challenge, with anti-Semitism persisting because Jews embody a moral standard that exposes human guilt. The host calls for spiritual vigilance, rejecting assimilation as a form of self-erasure and framing current events as part of an eternal struggle.