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Press Release - BBE condemns Catalunya’s cancellation of Holocaust remembrance ceremony |
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Comparison between the Nazi extermination of the Jews and the situation of the Palestinians abets Holocaust revisionists.
Brussels, Belgium – January 26, 2009 – B'nai B'rith Europe condemns
the cancellation of this year’s ceremony marking International
Holocaust Remembrance Day by the Catalunyan government on the grounds
of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. The press quoted an official
from the city of Barcelona who explained this move as follows: "Marking
the Jewish Holocaust while a Palestinian Holocaust is taking place is
not right." This remark came in the midst of a flood of reports in the
local media that drew analogies between Nazi atrocities and Israel’s
actions against Hamas terrorism. Such discourse unfortunately seems to
have become endemic in Catalunya.
Not only is it cynical to relate the systematic mass murder of six
million Jews and numerous other victims at the hand of the Nazis to the
deeply regrettable plight of the Palestinian population in Gaza. It
also abets the agenda of Holocaust deniers and other revisionists who
seek to downplay or even deny this unprecedented crime against
humanity. Rather than to impute to the State of the survivors of the
Holocaust the most evil of all intentions, its biased critics ought to
have a closer look at the ideological foundation of Hamas and of its
parent, the Muslim Brotherhood, which even precedes the creation of the
State of Israel. If Catalunya were to take its anti-fascist stance and
its solidarity with the Palestinians seriously, it would critically
confront this Islamist terrorist movement and its antisemitic agenda,
which is also at the root of the civilian population’s suffering in
Gaza, rather than to resort to aggressive symbolic gestures that amount
to an insult to both the dead and the survivors of the Holocaust.
It also needs to be recalled that the Working Definition of
Antisemitism that is used by both the EU’s and OSCE’s expert bodies on
monitoring hatred mentions such comparisons as one example of the ways
in which anti-Semitism manifests itself with regard to the State of
Israel. If nothing else, this should come as a wake-up call to the
government of Catalunya.
Represented in 58 countries, B’NAI B’RITH is the world’s largest Jewish
Human Rights, Community action and Humanitarian organisation. B’NAI
BRITH EUROPE is represented in 28 countries throughout Europe.
With its office based in Brussels B’NAI B’RITH is represented at the
European Parliament, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the United
Nations in Geneva and UNESCO in Paris. The main goals of B’NAI B’RITH are the defence of Human Rights and the
fight against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia, the defence of the
State of Israel, humanitarian relief for the needy in Eastern Europe
and in Israel and action to develop Jewish identity, Jewish culture and
Jewish heritage.
Contact
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