A group of US doctors have cancelled a planned “Genocide in Gaza” protest at the US Holocaust Museum after critics on social media called the would-be demonstration ‘offensive’.
The group called Doctors Against Genocide, which calls itself “a global health coalition committed to stopping genocide”, was recently formed in response to Israel’s operation in Gaza, following the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7.
They had planned to protest outside the museum in Washington DC on December 28 at 11am followed by a 3pm gathering outside the White House.
The announcement urged attendees to get free tickets to the museum. “Don’t ring in 2024 with an ongoing genocide,” they said. “Action is open to all. We encourage healthcare workers to wear white coats/uniforms.”
Watchdog group StopAntisemitism.Org called the initial announcement “sickening” and “stomach-churning.”
“Hamas has one goal – to murder Jews. For this physicians’ group to desecrate the Holocaust museum with their calls of a ceasefire (ie – for the Jewish nation to stop defending itself) is stomach churning,” the group said on X/Twitter.
The Holocaust Museum added in a statement: “Our museum is the national memorial to the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. It is deeply offensive to survivors and the memory of the victims to exploit Holocaust history.
“Our long-standing policy against protests in our museum preserves this space for the solemn memory of victims, the reflections of survivors and its educational mission.”
Doctors Against Genocide said in a statement: “We made a decision to cancel the event. We will be announcing future events with more detailed communication.”
The group also claimed that there were “misconceptions surrounding our Holocaust Museum event, which has been misrepresented as an antisemitic gathering.”
Instead, the group claimed, the goal was to visit the museum “to express our empathy for the horrors of that genocide. Additionally, we wanted to bring awareness to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“Our initial communication did not sufficiently convey this, leading to misinterpretations and unfounded accusations from parties with ill intentions,” it said.
In a separate post, the group claimed the event was supposed to be a way “to learn from the museum’s initiatives in genocide education and prevention to inform our own efforts as an organization dedicated to preventing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide around the world.”
