The chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has issued an “unreserved” apology for mentioning Israel’s war in Gaza in the text of the official invitation to next year’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony.
Some Holocaust survivors and their descendants who spoke to the JC had accused HMDT of trivialising the memory of the Holocaust.
The official invitation for the ceremony referred to the “devastating violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza” as a result of Israel’s war against terrorist group Hamas following its atrocities on October 7.
One Holocaust survivor who spoke to the JC on the condition of anonymity said they were “uncomfortable as a survivor in the event being politicised, even indirectly”, adding that there were “legitimately differing views among survivors”.
The text of the invitation issued by the HMDT for the event on January 27 next year, which was seen by the JC, said: “80 years on from the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, our mission is more vital than ever. We remain horrified by the barbaric attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, including the ongoing plight of those taken as hostages, and the devastating violence against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
Lord Carlile KC, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and son of a Holocaust survivor, said HMDT “should have been much more careful in the words they used”.
He continued: “The Shoah is a uniquely horrible event that is not being replicated in Gaza. Whatever criticism one might make of Israel’s military tactics, to equate it with the Holocaust is factually and legally inaccurate.”
Conservative Peer Lord Godson, who first spotted the matter and raised it, was outraged by the text of the invitation, telling the JC: “What has the HMDT come to when it implicitly seems to place the actions of the IDF on a continuum with those of the SS Einsatzgruppen and the Wehrmacht during the Shoah?”
He added: “No wonder Israel is in the dock when even the HMDT can put this kind of stuff out.”
The child of one survivor, who agreed to speak to the JC anonymously, said that they had: “always been upset by the way the national memorial event compares the Holocaust to other genocides, but to see them criticise Israel’s campaign to defend itself against terrorism in this context is utterly disgusting”.
They went on: “The government should not be funding something like this and it’s high time ministers sorted it out.”
After contacting HMDT for comment, HMDT Chair Laura Marks CBE said:
“We apologise unreservedly that in our letter of invitation to the Holocaust Memorial Day National ceremony next January we referred to the Israel Gaza conflict. This was not appropriate and should not have happened.
“Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – the last such major milestone where we will welcome Holocaust survivors with memories of what they witnessed as children.”
She continued: “The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust was established by the UK government with the remit to commemorate the Holocaust and also the more recent genocides recognised by the UK government.
“We engage as broadly as possible with the whole of society in the UK, so that people of all ages and backgrounds can learn where hatred can lead, and what can happen when it is normalised and encouraged. This is particularly important now in increasingly polarised times and with the significant increase in hate crime against Jews, Muslims and other faith communities.”
Marks added: “Our staff, trustees and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure the memory and the unique place of the Holocaust as one of the darkest periods in human history, and the lessons of the Holocaust, remain at the centre of Holocaust Memorial Day, for everyone of any faith or background, who attends any of the thousands of HMD events.”
The trust’s “commitment to commemorating the Holocaust remains absolute and at the very heart of what we do,” she said, “and that will be the case at the very special Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in January 2025.”