The grandson of Holocaust survivors says he was “forced out” of Leicester’s Holocaust Memorial Day event after a speaker accused Israel of “genocide”.
Approximately ten Jews, including a local rabbi, walked out of the HMD commemoration after a speaker claimed Israel was committing a "genocide in Gaza."
During the city’s memorial event on Monday evening, titled “The Student Experience” and hosted by De Montfort University, a panel of high school students who had visited Auschwitz addressed the crowd.
One student delivered a speech addressing the Holocaust and the Bosnian genocide, and then brought up the war in Gaza.
Victor Kaufman, a grandson of Holocaust survivors, said the comments about Gaza were "deeply offensive" and has lodged a complaint with the local council, the event’s sponsors.
"She said that Israel is committing a genocide," Kaufman, an NHS accountant, said. "It was disturbing that she drew parallels between the Holocaust and what is happening in Gaza."
Some audience members reacted by heckling, shouting "rubbish" and "stop," before around ten people, including Kaufman and Rabbi Pink, walked out.
When the speech ended, the student received applause from those who remained, with at least one person giving a standing ovation, according to Kaufman
Kaufman told the JC: "She is a young person, and young people make mistakes. I do not know whether she was put up to this, and I do not want a young person to suffer for doing something stupid.
"But it is not OK on Holocaust Memorial Day for a group of Jews and a rabbi to be forced to leave an event because of offensive comments. Most people are concerned about innocent lives in any war, but this just was not the place for that."
In an email to Leicester council and its mayor, Kaufman accused the student of “using the event to infer unfounded allegations of a ‘genocide; in Gaza and then equate events in Gaza to that of the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930s.
“These deeply offensive and unfounded parallels forced myself, and others including the local Orthodox rabbi, Jews and allies to leave the event.
"I am saddened and aghast at the events of tonight. Our towns and cities for the past 15 months have become no-go areas for Jews. Now even a Holocaust Memorial Event is not a safe space for Jews. When will this stop?”
The incident in Leicester follows controversy at other HMD events, including Lowestoft, Suffolk, where Gaza was also brought up, and in Dublin, where Jews were forcibly ejected from the Irish national event after silently protesting President Michael D Higgins's evocation of the war in Gaza.
The JC approached the event organisers, De Montfort University and Leicestershire County Council for comment.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.