Holocaust Remembrance Day: American Jewish Group of Rabbis Use Annual Event To Call Out Israeli ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

In a powerful letter published in The New York Times over the weekend, hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their Jewish descendants condemned the violence in Gaza as a genocide while advocating for the boycott of Israel.

The Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) wrote an open letter to President Biden, to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday stating, “With sorrow, we will also remember this as the time in which Israel was committing a genocide, aided and abetted by the United States,” the letter states.

The letter urged Biden to halt U.S. involvement in what those who support justice for Palestinians see as Israel's genocidal actions against the people of Gaza.

The reference to the "Holocaust" in the letter ignited criticism from pro-Israel groups who believe this day represents a unique historical event of singular importance, standing apart from any other in its gravity and impact.

Those who have dared to draw a connection with the oppression and the decades-long occupation of Palestinians, including the thousands being killed in the current siege of  Gaza, have faced severe repercussions. 

In Britain, Labour MP Kate Osamor, was recently suspended and forced to apologize by her party after suggesting that Gaza should be recognized as genocide in a social media post commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day.

This is what she originally wrote: "Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day, an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza."

The Holocaust Educational Trust described Osamor’s remarks as a "painful insult to survivors of the Holocaust.”  Meanwhile, the Israeli government’s control over the narrative relating to the Holocaust was starkly illustrated in a furious demand for a Sky News journalist’s resignation for making a similar comparison.

In an interview with Israel’s former UN ambassador Danny Danon, news anchor, Belle Donati challenged the right-wing member of the Likud Party for his controversial suggestion that Palestinians under siege be offered 'voluntary immigration,' remarking, "The sort of voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust, I imagine, is not voluntary relocation."

This comment inflamed Damon who accused the presenter of antisemitism. "Shame on you for that comparison," he shouted on camera. "You should apologize for what you just said." Shortly after a Sky colleague did indeed read out an apology, "Sky News recognized the complete inappropriateness of this comparison and the offensive nature of those comments. Sky News would like to apologize unreservedly for the comparison and to Mr. Danon personally for making the comparison."

However, this did not appease the member of the Israeli Knesset, who then issued a formal letter to Sky News Group asking for the termination of the anchor.

But critics say equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism is a tool to stifle free speech and allows cover for Israel to violate international law and commit war crimes. Danon, considered to be to the right of Prime Minister Netanyahu, has a history of making contentious remarks and comments, going back over a decade. 

In 2013, Danon declared that within the Likud party, there was no room for advocates of peace with the Palestinians and staunchly opposed the notion of a two-state solution, advocating instead for Israel to extend its sovereignty over most of the West Bank.

He’s also pushed for Israel to annex all West Bank settlements along with what he termed as "uninhabited areas," which contravenes UN resolutions as the settlements violate international law. Human Rights groups like Amnesty International have said "annexation" of Palestinian territory would perpetuate the expansion of Israeli settlements and deepen institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians.

In July 2014, the Israeli MP gained notoriety for advocating punitive attacks against Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. In a Facebook post, he proposed that Israel should "delete" one neighborhood in Gaza for every rocket launched by Hamas and pushed for shutting down Gaza's electricity and fuel. Following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Danon demanded, "If we don't get the soldier back within a few hours we should start leveling Gaza.”

His appointment as Israel’s ambassador to the UN in 2015 was condemned by many including writer David Horovitz, the founding editor of The Times of Israel, who wrote, “It is hard to conceive of a more short-sighted, shameful, self-defeating and damaging appointment. Not just for Netanyahu and his government, but for all of Israel.”

Israel's Double Talk: Leaders Accused of Hypocrisy

Many observers note a double standard where Israel and its die-hard defenders believe it’s appropriate to invoke the Holocaust if it is self-serving and there have been multiple references to Oct 7th and the Holocaust by Israeli leaders.

Netanyahu compared the attack to the actions of the Nazis in a speech that referenced their massacre of Jews in Babi Yar. “It’s impossible to describe all of the horrors, but like Anne Frank, Jewish children hid in attics from these monsters, and they were found and butchered. As in Babi Yar, Jews were machine-gunned” he said.

President Biden while in Tel Aviv following the Hamas attack, observed, “October 7th became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” “The world watched then,” he added, “it knew, and the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again.”

The Dangers of Israel Using Holocaust Comparisons 

Critics say Israel needs to be consistent when it comes to using the Holocaust’s memory and it should not be used to incite hatred and inflame already sensitive sentiments.

Israeli-born historian of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Omer Bartov, criticized Israeli officials' use of the Holocaust to legitimize their attacks on Gaza. "To associate Hamas with the Nazis means really that Hamas, and by sleight of hand it refers to the Palestinians more generally – or to Palestinian resistance to Jewish to Israeli occupation more generally – as Nazi. And therefore you don't talk with Nazis, you kill Nazis," Bartov said. 

Dani Dayan, chairman of Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Memorial Centre, pointed to the fact that Jews today -- unlike many during World War II -- are far from defenseless victims, and that the State of Israel has considerable military prowess. "We cannot compare it with the period of the Holocaust because there is an army here which is fighting and making Hamas pay the price," he said.

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