Some reflections on Holocaust Memorial Day
Giving a series of radio interviews today, Holocaust Memorial Day, has led Michael Rosen to post some quick thoughts and questions about the responses he gave. RK
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Holocaust Memorial Day: Never Again for Anyone
By Leah Levane
“As Jewish socialists today, we take particular inspiration from the Bundist Marek Edelman, Second in Command of the Uprising. A socialist, an anti-Zionist, an internationalist and anti-nationalist all his life, he said of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: “We fought for dignity and freedom not for territory or a national identity.”
Holocaust survivors and descendents speak out for Gaza on HMD
By Leah Levane
Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the Canary spoke to people who survived, or whose close relatives survived, the Holocaust. And they told us why the phrase ‘never again’ means nothing without action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza today. They felt that: Too many people have failed (or refused) to learn the lessons of the Holocaust. Denial of the Gaza … Continued
Disabled people under the Nazis- and discrimination today
By Leah Levane
Penny Pepper, an award winning author, poet and disability activist writes movingly here of learning about the Holocaust at her special school from a Jewish teacher who had lost all of her large family in the Holocaust. She told Ms Pepper that bad people had killed disabled children – disabled children like her.
It’s not about us: Jewish anti-Zionism demands clarity
By Mike Cushman
While acting as an anti-Zionist is, for a Jew, essential for self-resect, that is a welcome side-effect not its main purpose. JVL has always sought to employ its anti-Zionism to create space for Palestinian voices to be heard without being demonised as antisemites. Zionists seek to portray Jews as monolithic in their support for Israel; JVL, along with our allies in the Jewish bloc for Palestine, disrupt that false narrative.
Marching for Palestine: Join the Jewish Bloc on 31st January
By Leah Levane
[The postcode on the image is incorrect! The correct postcode is as below, WC1B 4JP] The next national march against the genocide in Gaza is on Saturday, 31st January. If you can make it please bring banners (home made are great), bring friends and bring your voices. The march will be from Russell Square to … Continued
Rafah border due to open: to keep Palestinians out?
By Leah Levane
The Rafah crossing – which should have been opened as part of Phase One of the “ceasefire” plan is due to open next week. However, Israel will still control entry and exits and the crossing falls within the 53% of the territory over which it has full control. Last month New Arab reported on serious concerns that Israel would only let Palestinians go one way through the crossing – out of Gaza as another aspect of Israel’s long game of displacement in Gaza.
A living hell of torture for incarcerated Palestinians
By Leah Levane
B’Tselem has updated its harrowing 2024 report on the system of torture for incarcerated Palestinians, The report shows that the policy of abuse is declared, deliberate, and is coming from the very top. National Minister of Security Itamar Ben Gvir, who is in charge of the Israel Prison Service, brags in TV puff pieces and on social media about the inhuman treatment of Palestinians in these facilities. He is not alone. The entire Israeli system has rallied to shield the people designing and implementing this policy from any accountability.
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust prohibits discussion of Gaza (again): one teacher’s response
Over the past two years, a number of teachers and educators have watched with alarm and frustration as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has sought to quash discussion of atrocities in Israel and Gaza as part of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). The HMDT has now reiterated its guidance that it “does not recommend” any … Continued
Board of Peace or a Golem
By Mike Cushman
A mixture of desperation and naivety led the UNSC to approve a catastrophically under specified proposal for a Board of Peace. Historians will try to understand how they convinced themselves that Trump would act with restraint and not use the Security Council mandate for personal aggrandisement and enrichment; we, and of course the Palestinians, will have to live with the consequences. The Board’s Charter does not even mention Gaza but that has not stopped Trump and Jered Kushner promoting Mar a Gaza. Like the Prague rabbis the world’s leaders have given life to a Golem: unlike the rabbis they lack the ability to deactivate the Golem when it turns on its creators.