28.01.26
Editorial Note
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) is a charity established and funded by the British Government to promote and support Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). According to its website, it commemorates the six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered during the Holocaust. The Holocaust has always been, and will always remain, central to Holocaust Memorial Day. HMD also commemorates other communities murdered during the Nazi persecution. “It is also a day to recognize that prejudice still continues within our communities, and we also learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.”
The HMDT recently published a guide titled “Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 Guidance for activity organisers in the context of the conflict in the Middle East. The document provides guidance, help, and support to organizations in marking Holocaust Memorial Day. The guide explains that at a time of heightened tensions and communal division in the UK, due to the conflict in the Middle East, “bringing communities together in recognition of our common humanity is more important than ever.”
But Dr. Alistair Dickins, a long-time anti-Israeli activist who holds a PhD from the University of Manchester, expressed misgivings about the Holocaust Memorial Day. In an article in November 2025, he complained: “Over the past two years, a number of teachers and educators have watched with alarm and frustration as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has sought to quash discussion of atrocities in Israel and Gaza as part of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). The HMDT has now reiterated its guidance that it ‘does not recommend’ any discussion of Israel and Gaza.” Dickins added, “I’ve written twice to the HMDT this year, ahead of HMDT 2025 and again ahead of HMDT 2026 to raise a number of concerns and objections.”
Dickins has a long track record of comparing the Holocaust to events in Gaza. In May 2008, some 15,000 people marched in central London and shouted “free, free Palestine!” as they headed to a rally in Trafalgar Square to mark the anniversary of the Nakba, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Marchers carried placards saying “Stop starving Palestinians”; “End criminal siege of Gaza”; “Stop Holocaust in Gaza”; and “Free Palestine.” One of the marchers was Dickins, then a University of East Anglia student, who told the reporter, “We’re here to demonstrate our disgust at the Israeli apartheid state and what they are doing to the Palestinians. It’s particularly important now that Israel has announced it is launching a holocaust against Gaza. People need to realise that if things carry on the way they are, in 20 years time the Palestinians won’t have anything that resembles a homeland, let alone a state. There needs to be a boycott of Israel, of Israeli goods.”
As Israel Academia Monitor has frequently reported, Jews and Israelis have been used to legitimize even the most preposterous contentions of critics of Israel by refuting accusations of antisemitism. They get especially busy during the worldwide commemorations of the Holocaust. One such group, Jewish Voice for Liberation, republished Dickins’s article. Another group, the Jewish Network for Palestine, which includes former Israeli professors Haim Bresheeth-Zabner and Ilan Pappe, has hosted two events, joined by several Palestinians, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day by demanding to “de-Nazify Israel” in response to “its holocaust in Gaza.”
The group felt that “Too many people have failed (or refused) to learn the lessons of the Holocaust. Denial of the Gaza genocide is a ‘mark of moral decline.’ Western governments have chosen to look away from the genocide in Gaza despite having the power to stop it.”
Bresheeth-Žabner, who chairs both events, was recently quoted as saying, “I find the denial and obfuscation to be of a piece with the genocide itself.” Bresheeth explained, “As the son of two Jewish survivors of Auschwitz, whose families were murdered by the Nazis, and someone who has researched and published widely on the Holocaust AND on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, I am deeply shocked about the total denial of the events in Gaza by the wide variety of Holocaust memorial institutions.”
Bresheeth-Zabner insisted on finding similarities between Israel’s actions and the Nazi’s. He said, “I have checked around a hundred such institutions around the globe, to see what they have published about the horrific genocide carried out in the full light of day, by the Israelis since October 2023. All such institutions are run mostly by Zionist Jews, and all share an unwillingness to mention a genocide in real time, just because it is done by Jews?! By checking the websites of these museums, galleries, research outfits, libraries, study centres – I only found one which mentions the Gaza Genocide in a minor way. I feel this is reprehensible and deeply shocking. Most such bodies suggest that they are devoted to commemorating and opposing genocides, and some indeed have sessions about genocide both before and after the Holocaust. Sessions about the Armenian, Ukrainian, Hutu, Cambodian, and the Nama and Herero genocide were held over the last year in a variety of venues in Europe and North America. No such session about the Gaza genocide was held anywhere. “A sad mark of moral decline” Taking into account the great brutality involved, the fact that many Israeli genocidaires have used social media to share their pride about their crimes, and the fact that many of those Israeli Jews, as well as the Diaspora Jews who support them are probably coming from Jewish survival families, I find the denial and obfuscation to be of a piece with the genocide itself. I cannot accept it and feel that it allows such crimes to be normalised in the name of Jews – a sad mark of moral decline.”
It should be emphasized that equating the Holocaust with the current war in Gaza is a profound distortion of history that trivializes the systematic, industrialized genocide of six million Jews and obscures the distinct causes, actors, and realities of a contemporary political and military conflict. To prevent such distortion, the British government was one of the first to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in December 2016. The IHRA definition states that equating Israel’s actions to Nazi Germany is antisemitic. Since its inception in January 2016, the IHRA definition of antisemitism has been adopted by forty-five national governments.
Being Jewish or Israeli does not make the false comparison between the Holocaust and the war in Gaza any less antisemitic; identity does not excuse the distortion of Holocaust history or the weaponization of Jewish trauma.
REFERENCES:
Anti-Zionist Jews and Palestinians mark Holocaust Memorial Day with demand to “de-Nazify Israel”Skwawkbox26 January 2026
Anti-Zionist Jews and Palestinians will mark Holocaust Memorial Day tomorrow with a demand to ‘denazify’ Israel in response to its holocaust in Gaza.
The Jewish Network for Palestine webinar will start at 7pm tomorrow, 27 January 2025, and will be chaired by UK-based Israeli anti-Zionist, Professor Haim Bresheeth. It will include survivors of the Jewish Holocaust and other anti-Zionist Jews, as well as Palestinian author Ghada Karmi and Lebanese-US journalist Rania Khalek.
Access to the event is free and can be booked here.
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Holocaust survivors and descendants who oppose ALL genocide speak out
by Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the Canary spoke to people who survived, or whose close relatives survived, the Holocaust. And they told us why the phrase ‘never again’ means nothing without action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza today.
They felt that:
- Too many people have failed (or refused) to learn the lessons of the Holocaust.
- Denial of the Gaza genocide is a “mark of moral decline”.
- Western governments have chosen to look away from the genocide in Gaza despite having the power to stop it.
We will share everyone’s words in full. But to go straight to a specific person’s comments, click on their name below:
Agnes Kory
never again means never again against anybody. It means no genocide against Palestinians: NOT IN MY NAME.
Over the decades, Holocaust Memorial Day events (on 27th January) were sacrosanct for me. I am a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust Child Survivor whose family suffered the horrors of the Holocaust in numerous ways. My aunt was taken to Auschwitz, my father to Mauthausen and all members of the wide family had struggled to survive (or died).
My mother, a piano teacher, was pregnant with me (her first child). Wisely and determinedly, she obtained a lowly job in a hospital where she worked as a cleaner. She gave birth to me under our false names. My mother was supposed to be Julia Sarkany – an illiterate and fallen woman – pregnant without a husband. I was Agnes Sarkany, the illegitimate child of a fallen woman.
During her months of hiding under a false name, my mother was treated very badly by other workers around her. Not because she was Jewish – it was not known – but because she was a lowly, fallen woman.
“Fight that such times should never be repeated”
In the spring of 1945, my mother wrote of her experiences during the Holocaust. It is an extraordinary piece of Hungarian writing, copies of which are placed in numerous museums.
For my 13th birthday my mother presented her memoirs to me with a new cover page: “For my darling Agnes, so that you remember and fight that such times should never be repeated”
Thus started my life-long Holocaust research as well as my opposition to any genocide wherever it may be.
For the past few years I have been shouting from the top of my voice and with all my being that it was the Russian Army which liberated the Jews of the Budapest ghetto in 1945, it was a Russian soldier who liberated my mother and myself. At Holocaust Memorial Day events I say this as loudly as I can, making sure that people around me can hear it.
And, on Holocaust Memorial Day events I emphasize: never again means never again against anybody. It means no genocide against Palestinians: NOT IN MY NAME.
Haim Bresheeth-Žabner
I find the denial and obfuscation to be of a piece with the genocide itself.
As the son of two Jewish survivors of Auschwitz, whose families were murdered by the Nazis, and someone who has researched and published widely on the Holocaust AND on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, I am deeply shocked about the total denial of the events in Gaza by the wide variety of Holocaust memorial institutions. I have checked around a hundred such institutions around the globe, to see what they have published about the horrific genocide carried out in the full light of day, by the Israelis since October 2023. All such institutions are run mostly by Zionist Jews, and all share an unwillingness to mention a genocide in real time, just because it is done by Jews?!
By checking the websites of these museums, galleries, research outfits, libraries, study centres – I only found one which mentions the Gaza Genocide in a minor way. I feel this is reprehensible and deeply shocking. Most such bodies suggest that they are devoted to commemorating and opposing genocides, and some indeed have sessions about genocide both before and after the Holocaust. Sessions about the Armenian, Ukrainian, Hutu, Cambodian, and the Nama and Herero genocide were held over the last year in a variety of venues in Europe and North America. No such session about the Gaza genocide was held anywhere.
“A sad mark of moral decline”
Taking into account the great brutality involved, the fact that many Israeli genocidaires have used social media to share their pride about their crimes, and the fact that many of those Israeli Jews, as well as the Diaspora Jews who support them are probably coming from Jewish survival families, I find the denial and obfuscation to be of a piece with the genocide itself. I cannot accept it and feel that it allows such crimes to be normalised in the name of Jews – a sad mark of moral decline.
Elizabeth Morley
How can I explain to my grandchildren today that our very own government has not only not stopped the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza but actively enabled it with weapon sales and lies?
I have never needed Holocaust Memorial Day to be reminded of my mother telling me of the day she stood on a station siding somewhere in Hungary seeing her aged grandmother dragged up the steps of a cattle truck never to be seen again. Death in Auschwitz was also the fate of my paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles. Afterwards the nations hung their heads in shame and swore never again would they permit a genocide. How can I explain to my grandchildren today that our very own government has not only not stopped the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza but actively enabled it with weapon sales and lies?
Pete Hall
Israeli culture and politics are now much worse than the Nazis.
Why?
Because they glory in refusing to learn from history.
Carolyn Gelenter
remember this terrible history… and commit to those words ‘never again’ through action
As the daughter of a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor, Holocaust Remembrance Day stands as a reminder that ‘never again’ should mean ‘never again for anyone’.
6 million, 6 hundred thousand or 6 thousand is a genocide when the intent is to wipe out all trace of a people, such as the genocide taking place in Gaza. One which our governments had the power to stop and chose not to. Indeed they are complicit. The honoring of the memory of those who died and those who survived the Shoah [‘catastrophe’ in Hebrew], juxtaposed against the power to stop an actual genocide happening before our eyes today is hypocrisy writ large, to say the least. Holocaust Remembrance Day is surely a day in which members of communities – religious, conservative, liberal or secular, should remember this terrible history, the spirit of religion and humanism, and commit to those words ‘never again’ through action. If we cannot feel and act the same towards ‘the other’ (so-called), as we do for ourselves, we are doomed forever to continued war.
This day of remembrance should stand as a reminder that a world of peace and justice is possible if we put aside our fears and stand together in common humanity. We have nothing to fear from each other, only the oligarchs and our descent into fascism. For me as a Jew, ‘never again’ means acting now as if we are all Palestinians.
Chris Romberg
Never Again is empty unless it leads to action.
My father’s Jewish family survived the Holocaust by fleeing to Britain from their home in Vienna after Austria was incorporated into Nazi Germany in 1938. Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates six million Jewish people who died in this genocide as well as the countless others who suffered loss of family, friends, home, livelihoods, possessions and more.
Deeply associated with this commemoration is the cry: Never Again! We should reflect on what we mean by these simple words.
The Holocaust was not the only massacre committed by the Nazis and their collaborators: the genocides of the Roma and Sinti (Porajmos) and of the Slavs took place in parallel, as did the murders of disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, political opponents and many others. They too should not be excluded from our memory, nor from the call Never Again! It applies to everyone.
Nor were the Nazi-led genocides the last that the world witnessed since 1945: Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor, Biafra and more. In the 1930s and 1940s the world’s governments failed the victims of the Nazi genocides by their inaction. So too have the world’s governments and institutions repeatedly failed to prevent or even to give adequate refuge to those fleeing subsequent genocides. Never Again is empty unless it leads to action.
Today we witness the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people and once again the world’s governments and institutions are failing the victims. As much as ever we need to heed the cry Never Again and to give it meaning by action.
Voices of humanity and resistance
Dr Agnes Kory is a cellist and musicologist. The “life-long voluntary Holocaust researcher” has consistently spoken outabout the genocide in Gaza. And she has criticised media hypocrisy on the issue.
Prof Haim Bresheeth-Žabner is an Israeli peace activist. Because of his regular actionopposing the genocide and occupation in Palestine, he has faced arrest in the UK.
Elizabeth Morley worked at the BBC for many years. But police have arrested her on numerous occasions for her opposition to Israel’s genocide and the UK government’s repression of dissent on behalf of Israeli interests.
Pete Hall served as an Israeli soldier in the late 1960s. But he broke free from the state’s brainwashing, and has been regularly opposing the genocide in Gaza as part of the Holocaust Survivors and Descendants group.
Carolyn Gelenter has faced arrest on numerous occasions for protesting against the government’s ban on non-violent direct-action group Palestine Action. And she has criticised the way UK police officers say they are ‘just following orders‘ today, much as Nazi officers claimed they had after the Second World War.
Chris Romberg served as a colonel in the British Army. Police have also arrested him for his opposition to the controversial proscription of Palestine Action and the unnecessary political wastage of police resources it has caused.
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Guidance for activity organisers with queries regarding the context of the conflict in the Middle East
This document has been produced by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) to provide guidance, help and support to Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) activity organisers ahead of HMD 2026 with any queries around marking HMD in the context of the conflict in the Middle East.
HMD 2026 Guidance for activity organisers – Download here
Holocaust Memorial Day 2026
Guidance for activity organisers in the context of the conflict in the Middle East
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust supports organisations across the UK in marking Holocaust Memorial Day. This guidance has been developed in response to the many questions we’ve received about organising Holocaust Memorial Day activities in the context of the conflict in the Middle East. This document provides guidance, help and support to Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) activity organisers ahead of HMD 2026.
At a time of heightened tensions and communal division in the UK as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, bringing communities together in recognition of our common humanity is more important than ever, and HMD activity organisers all across the UK play a vital role in making this happen.
HMDT is the charity established and funded by the UK Government to promote and support HMD in the UK, as the nation’s day to commemorate the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust. The Holocaust has always been, and will always remain, central to Holocaust Memorial Day. HMD also commemorates other communities murdered through the Nazi persecution. It is also a day to recognise that prejudice still continues within our communities, and we also learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. HMDT is here to help activity organisers, and the guidance below has been created as a result of questions, feedback and queries which we have received from HMD activity organisers across the country.
Frequently Asked Questions
Section A – Q&A on Holocaust Memorial Day event content and speakers
Q1. I am concerned about running an HMD event this year because there is a range of views on the Middle East amongst my audience/community. Should I still mark HMD this year?
Yes. Holocaust Memorial Day is first and foremost about commemorating the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust. It also commemorates the millions more people murdered through the Nazi persecution of other communities. We recognise that prejudice still continues within our communities, and we learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, and you may wish to recognise these in your HMD event
At a time of increased tensions in the Middle East and its impact in the UK of increased antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred, marking HMD is all the more important as we seek to build a better future together. However, we strongly advise HMD activity organisers to avoid reference or content relating to any current global conflict, including conflicts in the Middle East. However well-intentioned or earnestly felt, such content risks distracting from the act of memory of the Holocaust.
Q2. Should I acknowledge the situation in the Middle East in my HMD activity? And if so, how?
We do not recommend this. The Holocaust is central to Holocaust Memorial Day, and at the heart of every HMD event is the remembrance of the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution. It is also a day to recognise that prejudice still continues today within our communities and across the UK. Many people choose in addition to learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and in Darfur.
There are many diverse and strongly felt opinions on current conflicts taking place around the world, and it is important to be clear that HMD is neither a time for commenting on current conflicts, nor for divisiveness. Rather, it is a day for people and communities to come together to commemorate and to remember our shared humanity. HMD activities should be respectful of all communities, focusing on commemoration rather than any current conflict.
Q3 What advice would you give on how to handle comments/questions about the current conflict in the Middle East from audience members?
We advise organisers of HMD events:
a. To introduce the event in the terms set out above i.e. to remind your audience at the start that the event is to commemorate the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution. It is also a day to recognise that prejudice still exists within our communities ,and to learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
b. To brief speakers at your event of HMD’s purpose (as above in 3a).
c. Should you face any questions from the audience about the conflict in the Middle East, to refer back to HMD’s purpose (as above in 3a).
d. While recognizing that some HMD participants may feel strongly about the conflict in the Middle East, to stress that the purpose of HMD is to commemorate the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, the non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and those murdered in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and in Darfur.
Q4 Is it a problem to talk about the current conflict in the Middle East in an HMD event?
A: There are many strongly felt and diverse views on the current conflict. Opening a discussion or making statements on the conflict at an HMD event will be almost certain to divide and upset the audience – whereas HMD seeks to bring people together with a shared purpose. Further, it will take the event further from its central purpose of commemoration of the Holocaust.
It is also important to acknowledge that many other conflicts are taking place around the world, some of which receive little or no attention in mainstream media. Examples of these include the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukrainians under attack from Russia. Focusing only on the situation in Gaza at an HMD event while making no reference to other global conflicts risks appearing one-sided. On the other hand, broadening the focus to current conflicts risks shifting attention even further away from HMD’s central purpose: the commemoration of the Holocaust.
Q5. We have had a speaker(s) withdraw from our HMD activity because of the situation in the Middle East, what should we do?
Firstly, we recommend communicating with your speaker to identify the specific reason that has led to their withdrawal and to ask whether there is anything you can do to reduce any concerns they have. There are likely to be two broad reasons why an individual may withdraw: disagreement with the content of the activity, or because they feel their personal safety is at risk if they attend your activity or event.
In the first potential situation where there is a concern about the content of an activity, every effort should be made to explain the reasons why HMDT does not believe reference to the current conflict in the Middle East is appropriate. If a speaker nevertheless continues to believe that such reference is necessary, then their withdrawal from the event should simply be politely accepted.
In the second potential situation, having appropriate security or safety measures in place to reassure the individual or individual(s) concerned is key. Depending on the actual circumstances, organisers may want to discuss with their local police force, or with the CST, what safety measures may be required.
Section B – Q&As on logistics
Q6. Can you offer advice on security for HMD activities?
Physical disruption to local HMD events is unlikely, but security needs vary by location and circumstances. Key factors to consider include:
- Audience – is the event public or by invitation only? Limiting access, such as sharing event details only with registered participants shortly before the event, can improve security.
- Venue – closed venues (such as schools, private offices) are more secure than open public spaces such as shopping centres, parks.
- Guests – high-profile attendees may require additional security, which may sometimes be a condition of their participation,
Public and widely advertised events with VIPs will clearly need greater and more detailed security. In such cases, we recommend contacting your local police at a senior level as early as possible, and to check for any nearby events or protests that may impact yours. If unsure who to contact, the Community Security Trust (CST) can advise: www.cst.org.uk/contact
Q7. Our HMD event is online – do we need to consider security?
Yes. Unfortunately, online HMD events have in the past been targeted by people wishing to cause disruption or offence. Although this is a rare occurrence, we recommend reading the Community Security Trust’s Guidance for secure livestreaming, particularly if your event is public. Use passwords and consider registering attendees in advance to make your event more secure. Other points to consider are:
- Advanced registration for attendees and a waiting room option.
- Monitoring content from attendees in the ‘chat’ function. Delivering your event as a webinar, instead of an open meeting, can help mitigate risks concerning the chat function by providing a Q&A option regulated by the host.
- Muting all attendees.
We recommend you make sure that a specific individual on the organising team is responsible for monitoring online chat (if it is enabled) and online attendance (e.g. to monitor, mute and, if necessary, remove an attendee). If you are expecting a large or unregistered audience, then we recommend you discuss with the police or CST in advance to check any factors that might affect your event.
Q8. We do not want to advertise our HMD activity or event; can we still add it to the HMDT activity map?
Yes. It is helpful for HMDT to know what activities are taking place across the UK and we ask everyone to tell us the details of their event or activity by completing a short form at hmd.org.uk/letusknow, (the ‘HMDT activity map’). The online form helps us to assess the reach and impact of HMD across the UK, and provides the option to mark your activity or event as public, private or unlisted. ‘Public’ and ‘private’ will appear on the activity map showing visitors to the page where activities/events are accessible to attend or not. Whereas ‘unlisted’ will not appear on the map and will only share details with HMDT.
Alternatively, you can tell us about your HMD activity or event by emailing us directly at enquiries@hmd.org.uk.
This is a living document and kept under review.
November 2025
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https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/holocaust-memorial-day-trust-prohibits-discussion-of-gaza-again-one-teachers-response/Holocaust Memorial Day Trust prohibits discussion of Gaza (again): one teacher’s response
Sat 24 Jan 2026
JVL Introduction
Alistair Dickins writes about the alarm and frustration caused by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s inability to face up to the atrocities in Gaza.
On the day set aside to remember and to remind ourselves of the lesson of the Holocaust – Never again, to anyone! – it declares “it is neither a time for commenting on current conflicts nor for decisiveness”.
How can you bring people together “with the shared purpose” which includes recognising “that prejudice still exists within our communities” without alluding to current realities as appropriate?
As Dickins says, the guidance the HMDT offers
- contravenes basic principles of Holocaust memorial and HMD
- sets arbitrary limits on genocide commemoration based on opaque criteria; and
- ignores the expert opinion on the mass killing in Israel and Gaza
“As teachers and educators,”, Dickins writes, “we must be able to judge, based on the needs of our student community, which events alongside the Holocaust are commemorated as part of HMD 2026. We may choose for legitimate reasons not to discuss Israel and Gaza. Yet it is plainly unacceptable that we should be prohibited from doing so by HMDT.”
RK
This article was originally published by Istorik on Fri 21 Nov 2025. Read the original here.
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust prohibits discussion of Gaza (again): one teacher’s response
by Alistair Dickins, Istorik
Over the past two years, a number of teachers and educators have watched with alarm and frustration as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) has sought to quash discussion of atrocities in Israel and Gaza as part of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD).
The HMDT has now reiterated its guidance that it “does not recommend” any discussion of Israel and Gaza. Its guidance, which can be found in full here, raises several arguments in support of this position, including that:
- “There are many diverse and strongly felt opinions on current conflicts taking place around the world, and it is important to be clear that HMD is neither a time for commenting on current conflicts, nor for decisiveness.”
- The purpose of HMD is, rather “to commemorate the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution. It is also a day to recognise that prejudice still exists within our communities and to learn and commemorate where persecution led in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.”
- “Opening a discussion or making statements on the conflict [in Israel and Gaza] at an HMD event will be almost certain to divide and upset the audience – whereas HMD seeks to bring people together with a shared purpose. Further, it will take the event further from its central purpose of commemoration of the Holocaust.”
- “Focusing on the situation in Gaza at an HMD event while making no reference to other global conflicts risks appearing one-sided.”
I’ve written twice to the HMDT this year, ahead of HMDT 2025 and again ahead of HMDT 2026 to raise a number of concerns and objections. These have not been in any way addressed by the HMDT’s reissued guidance.
Instead of revisiting old letters, here I’ll offer a critique of the reissued HMDT guidance.
I hope this might offer some constructive thoughts from the perspective of a teacher with an interest in commemorating the Holocaust and other instances of genocide since 1945.
This post is not designed to be any kind of definitive “final word” on the matter, but instead a working through of some of my ongoing thoughts.
In particular, I hope it might be of use to other teachers and educators in a similar position when considering options for commemorating HMD 2026 with young people.
1. The guidance contravenes basic principles of Holocaust memorial and HMD
HMD was established by the 2000 Stockholm Declaration, a meeting of 46 governments to set parameters and principles for the commemoration of the Holocaust. These principles were then reaffirmed by the 2020 IHRA Ministerial Declaration, which broadly reaffirmed the Stockholm Declaration.
HMD marks the anniversary each year of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland and therefore focuses primarily on the Holocaust – the mass murder and genocide of some 6 million Jews – along with the mass murder and genocide of other groups at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War, including the Roma and Sinti.
At the same time, the Stockholm Declaration makes plain that commemoration of the Holocaust is not only valuable in its own terms, but central to efforts to combat genocide up to the present day: “With humanity still scarred by genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils.”
The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Ministerial Declaration, in somewhat different terms, reaffirms this broad principle: “[W]e, the IHRA Member Countries […] [r]ecognize that understanding the unprecedented nature of the Holocaust is essential to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocity crimes. IHRA expertise is relevant to historically informed policymaking and addressing contemporary challenges.”
These statements accord the well-established principle in Holocaust education: “Never again”. Although the phrase has been questioned by some for its lack of clarity (“never again” for whom?) and for its failure to reflect the reality of continuing genocide since the Holocaust, “never again” today is widely taken to articulate the belief that the crime of genocide should never go unchallenged. Reflecting this sentiment, the slogan of the 2020 IHRA Ministerial Declaration runs: “A world that remembers the Holocaust/A world without genocide”.
In this sense, the phrase “never again” only has real meaning if it is extended to all peoples, whoever, wherever, and whenever they are. Excluding certain groups from this principle essentially transforms it into “never again for some peoples”. It distorts and ultimately undermines its meaning.
Therefore: the refusal to acknowledge atrocities against the people of Gaza undermines a key principle of Holocaust and genocide commemoration and education, standing as a declaration not that genocide should “never again” happen, but that it should sometimes not happen, depending on the people(s) in question.
2. The guidance sets arbitrary limits on genocide commemoration based on opaque criteria.
In line with its commitments under the Stockholm Declaration and IHRA Ministerial Declaration, HMDT acknowledges a number of genocides since 1945, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. In addition to these, the HMDT website also cites instances of genocide “today”, which include the persecution of the Yazidi under so-called Islamic State, the Rohingya in Myanmar (Burma), and the Uyghur in China (Xinjiang province). Significantly, the HMDT states that it “does not make a judgement on which situations meet the legal definition of the crime of genocide” but is “committed to raising awareness of situations where people are persecuted based on their identity.”
“These situations, and many more,” the HMDT states, “demand our attention and action.” Yet the criteria for commemoration set for these instances of genocide and persecution have self-evidently not been applied to the mass killing seen in Israel and Gaza since 7th October 2023.
Firstly, in discussing genocide today, HMDT cites the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order for Myanmar to take steps to prevent genocide against the Rohingya in a case brought to by The Gambia in 2020. It fails to acknowledge that the ICJ in January 2024 likewise issued a provisional ruling in relation to Israel’s actions in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa. This provisional ruling concluded the claim of genocide in Gaza was plausible. Further, it ordered the State of Israel to “take all reasonable measures within [its] power to prevent genocide”, reminding the State of Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to the Palestinian people as a group. The ICJ is expected to give its final judgement on whether or not Israel has committed genocide in Gaza in the coming months or years.
Further, HMDT notes that the case for genocide having been committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2005 rests in considerable part on the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicting then President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, for the crime of genocide. It fails to acknowledge that in November 2024, in relation to mass killings in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have been likewise indicted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians. In September 2025, a United Nations commission recommended that the crime of genocide be added to these indictments.
It’s also worth noting that, while the HMDT’s guidance is transparently focused on forestalling any mention of Gaza in particular, it has significant implications for the acknowledgement of other (potential) genocides.
This includes the mass killing of Israeli civilians and international civilians in the south of Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters on 7th October 2023, which have been credibly described as genocidal in their intent and scope by expert organisations (see below). Indeed, the same November 2024 ICC indictment against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant also indicted Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes (Deif had, by this time, already been killed by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza).
Most pressingly, given the unfolding situation in Sudan at present, HMDT guidance also undermines commemoration and acknowledgement of (potential) genocide in Darfur, where mass killings and other atrocities are being actively committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Although the Darfur genocide of 2003-2005 is acknowledged by the HMDT, atrocities committed by the RSF – widely recognised around the world as genocidal – appear by the standards of the new HMDT guidance on Gaza to be off-limits for HMD 2026 as they are part of a (to quote the guidance) “current conflict”.
In general, it remains unclear whether HMDT guidance on the Middle East, by prohibiting discussion of “current conflicts”, is intended to invalidate its recognition of instances of genocide today or whether this is simply an unanticipated consequence of a poorly thought-through policy.
Therefore: by setting opaque, arbitrary, and misleading criteria in an attempt to ignore atrocities in Gaza, the HMDT has undermined its own efforts to commemorate genocide since 1945 more broadly.
3. The guidance ignores the expert opinion on the mass killing in Israel and Gaza
While the HMDT describes the mass killing in Israel and Gaza as part of a current “conflict”, this judgement does not acknowledge a huge body of expert opinion that recognise mass killings in the region as genocidal in nature.
Atrocities committed by Hamas and PIJ in the south of Israel on 7th October 2023 have been credibly described as genocidal by a number of groups and organisations, including Genocide Watch and the Lemkin Institute.
Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has, much more widely, been credibly described as genocidal by a huge number of groups, organisations, independent experts, and humanitarian workers, including:
- Palestinian human rights organisations Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Palestinian Center for Human Rights;
- Israeli human rights organisations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights;
- global human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation of Human Rights, and University Network for Human Rights;
- global humanitarian organisations including Medecins San Frontières and Oxfam;
- genocide prevention and monitoring organisations Genocide Watch and Lemkin Institute;
- genocide scholars and scholarly organisations, including International Association of Genocide Scholars;
- United Nations experts, including United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In September 2025, following the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry of the Occupied Palestinian Territory’s declaration that genocide is being committed in the Gaza Strip, the leaders of 26 major international aid organisations urged the world to intervene, warning that if nations around the world “continue to treat [their] legal obligations [to prevent genocide] as optional, they are not only complicit but are setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
To present the mass killing of Israelis and other civilians on 7th October 2023 and of Palestinians in Gaza since then as simply a current “conflict” wilfully ignores the credibly genocidal nature of these atrocities and is plainly misleading. It also conflicts openly with the expert opinion of organisations on whose opinion HMDT otherwise relies and whose work HMDT publicises, most notably Genocide Watch, whose ten stages of genocide model is central to HMDT commemorative efforts.
Given that the ICJ is set to rule at some point in the future on whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, it remains to be seen whether HMDT will acknowledge this legal ruling or will simply contrive new ways to avoid mention of Gaza in its future commemoration of genocide since 1945.
Therefore: the HMDT’s refusal to acknowledge mass killings in Israel and Gaza and their misrepresentation of these as part of an ongoing “conflict” openly contradicts expert opinion which must be taken into account when considering genocide since 1945 and to the present day.
4. Concluding Thoughts
The HMDT guidance is, this year as last, hugely disappointing. It should worry teachers and other educators looking to meaningfully commemorate and examine the Holocaust and genocide since 1945.
It places us in an invidious position, stuck between two unacceptable options. Either we accept and seek to justify to our students guidance which is morally and intellectually unjustifiable, or we reject the guidance and distance ourselves from the UK’s leading Holocaust commemoration organisation.
As teachers and educators, we must be able to judge, based on the needs of our student community, which events alongside the Holocaust are commemorated as part of HMD 2026. We may choose for legitimate reasons not to discuss Israel and Gaza. Yet it is plainly unacceptable that we should be prohibited from doing so by HMDT.
The mass killing in Israel and Gaza since 2023 has rightly attracted the attention of young people in Britain. It is a hugely contentious issue which does, indeed, divide people and communities. Yet refusing to acknowledge it will only drive discussions amongst young people underground and out of sight. In this case, teachers and educators will be able to neither moderate those discussions nor to model the appropriate, sensitive, and informed discourse which is so desperately needed. Instead, young people will be left vulnerable to unregulated channels of potentially misleading, harmful, and hateful (mis-)information. They may be drawn into the sphere of extremists with no legitimate concern for commemoration of the Holocaust or genocide since 1945. This in turn may leave young people vulnerable to radicalisation.
The choice is simple. As teachers and educators, we either embrace and own the conversation or we surrender all control over it.
With regards HMDT, the question of which atrocities and (potential) genocides can be commemorated should be acknowledged as an existential one. If it is to live up to the standards it sets itself, HMDT must not prohibit discussion of any atrocities that can be credibly described as genocide. If it cannot live up to these standards, it should consider carefully what purpose it actually serves as an anti-genocide organisation.
In the meantime, teachers and educators must be able to make informed decisions as to how we approach the commemoration of the Holocaust and genocide since 1945.
NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY: “Genocide” is a legally defined term, based on the UN’s genocide convention (which can be accessed here). As such, without attempting to demonstrate that particular atrocities do meet the legal definition of genocide, I have referred to cases of “(potential) genocide” or cases that have been “credibly” described outside a court of law as genocide. This is in no way intended to downplay the significance or severity of these atrocities.
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BOYCOTT ISRAEL – say Nakba marchers
12th May 2008
A giant Palestinian flag at the centre of Saturday’s protest in London
‘Free, free Palestine!’ shouted up to 15,000 marchers, as they made their way through central London yesterday to a rally in Trafalgar Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba – catastrophe.
The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, set off behind the lead banner which read: ‘End Israeli occupation, Free Palestine – 60 years since the Nakba, End the siege of Gaza, For the right of return of all Palestinian refugees.’
Marchers carried placards saying ‘Stop starving Palestinians’; ‘End criminal siege of Gaza’; ‘Stop Holocaust in Gaza’; ‘Free Palestine’.
There were banners and delegations from Palestine Solidarity Campaign groups across the country, Goldsmiths College Students Union, civil servants union PCS, and Croydon, Camden, Ealing, and Hammersmith trades councils.
A lively Young Socialists and WRP delegation won big support for its slogans of ‘From Baghdad to Ramallah, mobilise the Intifada! Occupation is a crime, in Iraq and Palestine! Hey ho, Israel has to go! Intifada night and day, Zionism you will pay! Free, Free Palestine!’
News Line spoke to a number of marchers. Nearly all supported a trade union organised boycott of Israel.
Retired teacher Roger Enskat said: ‘I want the Palestinians to have the same human rights as I have.
‘The British labour movement needs to regroup outside the Labour Party.
‘The Labour Party is a failed left organisation which is now a Trojan horse for capitalism.
‘Britain should summon the Israeli ambassador to tell his government to cease ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, and withdraw all support and all trade from Israel until this happens.
‘The British government should send aid ships escorted by the Royal Navy to relieve the siege on the Gaza strip.
‘And the trade unions should refuse to handle any goods going to or coming from Israel.’
University of East Anglia (UEA) student Alistair Dickins told News Line: ‘We’re here to demonstrate our disgust at the Israeli apartheid state and what they are doing to the Palestinians.
‘It’s particularly important now that Israel has announced it is launching a holocaust against Gaza.
‘People need to realise that if things carry on the way they are, in 20 years time the Palestinians won’t have anything that resembles a homeland, let alone a state.
‘There needs to be a boycott of Israel, of Israeli goods.
‘The trade unions should organise a boycott. People should stand up at Trade Union Congress and say we are not having this, we need to hit Israel where it hurts – in the pocket.’
Fellow UEA student Ben Stack added: ‘The cause of Palestine doesn’t receive enough attention and sympathy from the public because of the appalling media bias and the fact that it is not a vote winner.
‘Demonstrations like this are good things as is boycotting Israeli products.
‘If you explain to someone what is going on, they will be sympathetic. It’s a difficult cause not to get passionate about once you know the facts.’
British A-level student Sam al-Majali has Jordanian and English parents.
He said: ‘This is an issue that is close to my heart and it’s important for other Middle Easterners to empower themselves and fight in support of the Palestinians.
‘Arab governments are pretty cowardly, they don’t want to get involved because it is too global.
‘There are not enough people who know about the problem so demonstrations like this are important.
‘Trade unions in Britain should organise a trade boycott of Israel. It’s not enough to leave it to individuals.
‘I would support a Palestinian intifada. They have nothing left, not water, not food, not fuel.’
UCU member Arfaan Khan a lecturer at Queen Mary University, London, said: ‘What is happening in Palestine has been going on too long, for 60 years.
‘The occupation is immoral, it’s definitely unjust the way Palestinians’ rights have been ignored, as well as their democratic choice to elect who they want.
‘It’s about time world leaders made a genuine effort to provide Palestinians with peace, a viable economy and, most importantly, the right to self-determination.’
Syrian Khal Wasfi said: ‘I’m against the occupation. I’m here to call for its end and to stop the systematic holocaust in Gaza.
‘Boycotting Israeli goods is one of the things that can be done by the trade unions.
‘We are also calling for action by governments. Israel gets its power from the support of the Western governments.’
Retired nurse Ann Cochran told News Line: ‘I was a midwife in Nazareth in an Arab hospital years ago.
‘I saw what the Israelis were doing – building settlements.
‘I now have contacts out there and with the Wall I know they are having difficulty accessing medical care and getting to their work.
‘I feel it’s appalling and grossly unfair, like apartheid.
‘I agree with a trade union boycott of Israel.’
Gap year student Niall Reddy added: ‘I’m here because it’s a terrible situation for the Palestinians.
‘There should be sanctions on Israel. The trade unions should take a lead and impose sanctions themselves.’
Palestinian Nisrwen Abdullah said: ‘I’m a refugee from Zdood, south Jaffa, and I’m here because I won’t rest until I get my right to return.
‘It’s outrageous that many people are dying every day – women. children, men – fighting for their freedom.
‘I agree that the British trade unions should boycott Israel, definitely.’
Turkish waitress Ezime Mengies declared: ‘I’m here for Palestine.
‘The situation is terrible there. I think the world doesn’t care for Palestine.
‘The trade unions should boycott Israel. People should stop using Israeli products.
‘And the unions should take action against the British for supporting Israel.
‘People all round the world should join together.
‘We live in dangerous times, they are getting ready for a third world war.
‘It’s a holocaust against the Palestinians, yet the newspapers are silent.’
PLO delegate to Britain Manuel Hassassian told the Trafalgar Square rally: ‘We are here not only to commemorate Nakba but to renew our vows of resistance.
‘The international community are the ones who support the occupation today.’
He warned Israeli leaders that ‘the patience of the Palestinian people is running out’.
He stressed: ‘We have the right to resist occupation and US imperialism.
‘We don’t need the charity of the international community, we need our justice and freedom.
‘Our problem is not humanitarian, it’s political, it’s our right to come back to Palestine.
‘The right to return is sacred and we will never compromise on Jerusalem.
‘With the arrests and shootings, Israel is continuing the Nakba.
‘It will continue until we liberate our people from the occupation.’
Respect MP George Galloway said: ‘Today we remember all the martyrs, down the 60 years – Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, George Habash, Sheikh Rantisi and the thousands of others.
‘Today, we remember the thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails.
‘We demand the release of Palestinian hero Marwan Barghouthi so he can take his place among the leaders of Palestine.
‘Palestinians in Gaza are eating off rubbish tips because they are starving
‘Our government, for whatever political reasons, talks about starving in Burma but we are responsible for people starving in Gaza, we share responsibility for letting them starve.
‘We must pledge action for Gaza and the future of Palestine.’
He concluded: ‘It’s time to boycott everything Israeli.’
Palestinian MP Dr Mustafa Barghouti said: ‘Israel has established a world record by the fastest ethnic cleansing in 1948, the longest occupation, and apartheid that is much worse that it was in South Africa.’
He added: ‘Our Palestinian people are fighting for equality, freedom, self-determination, democracy and the rights others have.
‘I come to you with a message from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Gaza – we the Palestinian people will never give up!’
He said that the Annapolis peace conference ‘was an illusion’; that Israel has stepped up its attacks, expanded settlements and built hundreds more checkpoints since.
He concluded, ‘We must regain our unity and establish a unified leadership’ and called for a new anti-apartheid movement in support of Palestine.
Palestinian prime minister Ismael Haniya sent greetings by video link. He condemned the ‘brutal occupation’ adding that, ‘Every single strand of life is threatened because we said no to occupation.’
He insisted, ‘We shall achieve freedom and independence and shall never give up our rights to return.’
Other speakers included Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Dr Tamimi, Tony Benn, and Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas.
israel-academia-monitor.com 