Originally Published in Madras Courier
Editorial Note
The banality of indifference is the quiet surrender of moral imagination. The most dangerous moment for any democracy is not when cruelty is declared, but when it is rationalised.
Peter Malkin, an Israeli intelligence officer in the Mossad, played a pivotal role in capturing Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal. Eichmann had been living under the alias Ricardo Klement in Argentina, a country known as a refuge for Nazi sympathisers and notorious fugitives such as Josef Mengele and Erich Priebke. In 1960, following a daring operation, Mossad captured Eichmann from the suburbs of Buenos Aires and brought him to Israel to face justice.