My personal view is that people have free will, and that G-d created the potental for humans to do evil by giving us free will. When one individual causes harm to another because they chose to do evil, it is not G-d's fault, but the fault of the one who made the wrong choice. Yes, G-d has also used nations as tools to chastize the Jewish people, announcing His intent before hand. However, those very nations often went farther than G-d demanded and He is critical of them in the Tanach for their excesses. I know, I am being very general here, but it is hard to pin this stuff down. Anyhow, there is one other thing, I believe that not all inflicted upon the Jewish people is punishment from G-d. I believe that sometimes we are caused to suffer because of our moral message and because we Jews are (I believe) the suffering servant of Isaiah 52-53
An example of Jews suffering for our moral message can be seen from the following quotes from Adolf Hitler (may his name be blotted out and be for a hissing) taken from an Aish HaTorah publication titled Why the Jews?
"When over long periods of human history I scrutinized the activity of the Jewish people, suddenly there arose up in me the fearful question whether inscrutable Destiny, perhaps for reasons unknown to us poor mortals, did not, with eternal and immutable resolve, desire the final victory of this little nation" Mein Kampf
"The struggle for world domination will be fought entirely between us, between Germans and Jews. All else is facade and illusion. Behind England stands Israel, and behind France, and behind the United States. Even when we have driven the Jew out of Germany, he remains our world enemy" Hitler Speaks
"They referred to me as an uneducated barbarian. Yes, we are barbarians! We want to be barbarians! It is an honourable title. We shall rejuvenate the world! This world is near its end..." Hitler Speaks
And the 2 most imporatant quotes:
"Providence has ordained that I should be the greatest liberator of humanity. I am freeing men from the restrainst of an intelligence that has taken charge; from dirty and degrading self-mortifications of a false vision called conscience and morality, and from the demands of a freedom and personal independence which only a very few can bear." Hitler Speaks (emphasis added by Alyza)
"The Ten Commandments have lost their validity...Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish like circumcision..." Hitler Speaks (emphasis added by Alyza)
The aim of Nazi Germany and its leader was to destroy morality which they saw as comming from the Jews...
May such as those never again gain power.
Alyza
Recomended reading: Why the Jews? by Prager and Telushkin
See also Aish HaTorah's Why the Jews?
