A Liberal Democrat MP criticised by his own party over remarks accusing “the Jews” of having failed to learn the lessons of the Holocaust has defended his comments.

Bradford East MP David Ward posted the remarks on his personal blog on Friday, shortly after signing the Holocaust Memorial Trust’s book of remembrance ahead of today’s annual memorial day.

The chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust has expressed her disappointment over the comments by a Liberal Democrat MP accusing "the Jews" of atrocities in Gaza.

David Ward compared modern Israel to the Nazi regime in remarks on his website - now deleted - made after he signed the Trust's Book of Commitment ahead of Holocaust Memorial day 2013.

David Miliband said this week that his family’s experiences during the Nazi era may have influenced his politics — “standing up against oppressive power”.

Boris Johnson was moved by the “appalling” experiences recounted by a survivor to the City Hall ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday.

Janine Webber, 80, fled her home in (then) Poland with one suitcase after the German army occupied her native Lwow in 1941. Taking refuge in a house just outside the town, she, her brother and mother hid in a hole beneath a wardrobe as “screaming” German forces entered and shot her father. Her mother died of typhus shortly afterwards.

Budapest-born John Dobai, 78, was raised as a Catholic after his Jewish parents converted following the rise of the Nazis. In 1941, his father was summoned for army service when Hungary allied with Germany but was sent for slave labour because of his Jewish origins.

This year Tu Bishvat, the New Year for Trees, Shevat 15, falls just one day before Holocaust Memorial Day. 
There is a famous story in the Talmud about the sage Honi in which he asks why a certain man is planting carob trees because he will not see them mature and bear fruit. The man reminds us that we do not plant trees for ourselves, but for our descendants perhaps 70 years later.