England football hero John Barnes has claimed “no one went to war to save the Jews” from Hitler.
The former Watford and Liverpool star said the Second World War was an effort “to stop German expansionism and nothing else” in a Twitter rant yesterday.
not so much support for the jews… was there https://t.co/RbGekDMkHg
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) January 30, 2023
Responding to a tweet by DeeDubya, which said: “Jews aren’t white. No one went to war to save the Jews. Quite the opposite. US and UK didn’t do anything for them - didn’t consider them white/European/WASP enough”,
Barnes wrote: “You’re right no one went to war to save the Jews, but they were considered European so MORE worthy of our empathy, the allies PLAYED the white card to garner acceptance, where the reality was to stop German expansionism and nothing else.”
it isnt that simple who is white and who isnt, but as history has and continues to show, if you are non white… world wars dont start due to your genocide and exploitation https://t.co/FIW3xTSAGN
— John Barnes (@officialbarnesy) January 30, 2023
His remarks were criticised today by Lord Carlile, the government’s former independent advisor on terror legislation, who told the JC:
“Comparing the Holocaust with the undoubted systemic persecution of black people (in multiple settings) runs the risk of diluting the importance and impact of both.
“The Holocaust was a carefully planned trauma of extermination of fellow Europeans under the guise of racial purification.
“Mr Barnes should visit Auschwitz to appreciate this. Jews support strongly the exposure of the wickedness of slavery and discrimination. This should not be channeled into a competition between horrors.”
The ex-footballer's tirade also included the following tweet:
“Obviously all Jews are not white, but the European Jewry who suffered the Holocaust were, had Hitler left the European Jews alone and went to Ethiopia and committed the same atrocities to the black Falasha Jews, I doubt WW2 would have started.”
Mr Barnes also questioned Ukraine’s record on Neo-Nazism, saying - again, on twitter: “Whose side was Ukraine on in WW2, and are there neo nazis and right wing groups who are supported by Zelensky in the Donbass region? Why ALL OF A SUDDEN, is the Ukraine a beacon of right-mindedness…the enemy of my enemy is my friend rings a bell.”
