“International Holocaust Remembrance Day should not be wiped off the calendar,” say Co-founders of the Indigenous Friends of Israel, Norman and Barbara Miller. “But that is just what Time and Date website have done. It’s a disgrace.”
“This is just another form of Holocaust denial. This world-wide commemoration of the most horrific event in history with the deaths of 6 million Jews through the gas chambers, hard labour, starvation, and the shooting of defenceless men, women and children must be remembered so it is not repeated. Added to this is the horrific murder of millions of other victims of Nazism like the Roma, Sinti, political prisoners, the disabled, and homosexuals.
“It takes on special significance after the murder, rape, torture, mutilation, and hostage-taking of whole families and Holocaust survivors on October 7 – all war crimes.
“While the United Nations is run by a lot of nations with dubious human rights records, we may well find that October 7 gets added to days to remember of international significance as it is the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Holocaust.
“The twisted logic, political posturing, and blame-the-victim response of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in calling for arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges is ridiculous, disgraceful, and antisemitic.
“While of course we would like to see no lives lost in war, Israel did not start this war but it is fighting for its life from Iran’s proxies who want to wipe it and its people off the map – a genocidal attempt which Hamas has vowed to continue.
“West Point urban warfare expert John Spencer has noted that the ratio of civilians to combatants killed has been lower in the Israel-Gaza war than in any comparable modern war. This is due to Israel warning civilians to leave an area, forgoing the element of surprise, causing more casualties to their own soldiers. So, charging Israel with a war crime re civilian Gazan deaths does not stack up.
“Even the UN, working on Hamas figures, has admitted that the deaths claimed in Gaza are only half what has been claimed.
“The other ICC charge against Israel is ‘starvation as a method of warfare’ yet Israel has made an unprecedented effort to supply aid to an enemy’s civilians. Israel has facilitated the entry of 542, 570 tonnes of aid for Gazans carried on 28,255 trucks. Sometimes attacks by Hamas have caused Israel to temporarily close entry points.
“The ICC wilfully ignored reports that Hamas steals much of the aid from which it has made US $500 million on the black market according to the Washington Institute.
“Shame on the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Pontius Pilate approach and Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s unswerving support for Hamas via support for the ICC. This is in the face of condemnation of the ICC by the American, British, German, Italian, Austrian and Czech governments.
“Including three Hamas leaders in the call for arrest warrants is a case of false moral equivalence of equating the genocidal actions of a designated terror organisation with the legitimate right of a democratic government to defend its people. It is sick.
“With the rise of antisemitism on a huge and alarming scale on our streets, universities, schools, governments, media, unions, and boardrooms, we wonder how effective the International Holocaust Remembrance Days have been but we still need to observe them lest we forget.
“The UN General Assembly adopted resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005 to designate January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). The date commemorates the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and is meant to honor the victims of Nazism. The resolution also supports the setting up of educational programs to remember the Holocaust and to prevent further genocide.
“Resolution 60/7 also rejects any form of Holocaust denial and encourages nations to actively preserve sites that the Nazis used in their mass murder. In keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the resolution condemns all forms of ‘religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief’ throughout the world.
“The theme for 2024 is ‘Recognizing the Extraordinary Courage of Victims and Survivors of the Holocaust.’
“Many countries around the world also observe their own Holocaust Remembrance Days e.g. Israel commemorates Yom Ha-Shoah. These days are marked by lectures, films, lighting of candles, and saying the names of victims.
“With rising antisemitism around the world since October 7 and Holocaust denial, even denial of October 7 atrocities despite Hamas’ own footage, it is more important now than ever that International Holocaust Remembrance Day not be wiped off our calendar.
“Let’s not join the Holocaust or Shoah deniers and the lawfare against Israel,” said the Millers. “Let’s shout it from the rooftops that this happened and must never happen again.”
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