Stop linking Covid-19 rules to Holocaust, as they encourage anti-Semitism
Several US and British politicians have, in recent months, apologised after suggesting vaccine or lockdown policies recalled Hitler’s regime
27 January 2022 - 14:43
byDan Williams
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Dani Dayan, chair of Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre. Picture: REUTERS/RONEN ZVULUN
Jerusalem — Protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global anti-Semitism, the Israeli government said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Such Holocaust tropes have become “widespread” and, along with violent demonstrations linked to Israel’s May war in Gaza, were main factors behind physical or online attacks on Jews in Europe and North America in 2021, said the 152-page report by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.
Several US and British politicians have, in recent months, apologised after suggesting vaccine or lockdown policies recalled Hitler’s regime.
Some demonstrators against pandemic curbs have worn yellow stars like those the Nazis forced on European Jews.
Such displays showed factual knowledge of the genocide was eroding, the report said, adding that some Covid-19 agitators have been “consuming and disseminating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the crisis and are using it for oppression, global domination, economic gain, etc”.
Expanding on the findings, diaspora affairs minister Nachman Shai said Holocaust distortion or trivialisation is itself anti-Semitic and can sometimes lead to actual endangerment of Jews.
“There are people so fraught with hate who can, when faced with such imagery, be tipped over into action,” he said.
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM), a US-based nonprofit, said that in 2020 and 2021 it had found 63.7-million engagements — participation, sharing or “liking” — during online discussions linking the pandemic to the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, has urged world leaders to come out against such discourse — a call apparently heeded by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Monday said the yellow star protests were “reprehensible”.
“Covid-19 brought Holocaust trivialisation to a summit,” said Yad Vashem chair Dani Dayan. “Things like that, sometimes done by politicians, by public figures, are despicable and Yad Vashem is very clear in demanding those persons retract.”
Former Israeli chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau, whose parents and brother were among the 6-million Jews killed by the Nazis and who himself survived a concentration camp as a child, had a more personal appeal during a Reuters interview.
“Please leave the word ‘holocaust’ for the Holocaust — and nothing but it,” he said.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Stop linking Covid-19 rules to Holocaust, as they encourage anti-Semitism
Several US and British politicians have, in recent months, apologised after suggesting vaccine or lockdown policies recalled Hitler’s regime
Jerusalem — Protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global anti-Semitism, the Israeli government said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Such Holocaust tropes have become “widespread” and, along with violent demonstrations linked to Israel’s May war in Gaza, were main factors behind physical or online attacks on Jews in Europe and North America in 2021, said the 152-page report by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.
Several US and British politicians have, in recent months, apologised after suggesting vaccine or lockdown policies recalled Hitler’s regime.
Some demonstrators against pandemic curbs have worn yellow stars like those the Nazis forced on European Jews.
Such displays showed factual knowledge of the genocide was eroding, the report said, adding that some Covid-19 agitators have been “consuming and disseminating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the crisis and are using it for oppression, global domination, economic gain, etc”.
Expanding on the findings, diaspora affairs minister Nachman Shai said Holocaust distortion or trivialisation is itself anti-Semitic and can sometimes lead to actual endangerment of Jews.
“There are people so fraught with hate who can, when faced with such imagery, be tipped over into action,” he said.
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM), a US-based nonprofit, said that in 2020 and 2021 it had found 63.7-million engagements — participation, sharing or “liking” — during online discussions linking the pandemic to the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, has urged world leaders to come out against such discourse — a call apparently heeded by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Monday said the yellow star protests were “reprehensible”.
“Covid-19 brought Holocaust trivialisation to a summit,” said Yad Vashem chair Dani Dayan. “Things like that, sometimes done by politicians, by public figures, are despicable and Yad Vashem is very clear in demanding those persons retract.”
Former Israeli chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau, whose parents and brother were among the 6-million Jews killed by the Nazis and who himself survived a concentration camp as a child, had a more personal appeal during a Reuters interview.
“Please leave the word ‘holocaust’ for the Holocaust — and nothing but it,” he said.
Reuters
ROB ROSE: No, vaccine mandates aren’t Nazism
ANDREAS KLUTH: Anti-Semitism mutates into a grotesque Covid-19 meme
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