Israel UN envoy slammed for using Holocaust star as 'symbol of pride'

The chairman of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Centre today criticised the country’s delegation to the United Nations for putting on yellow stars, a symbol of Nazi persecution of Jews, during a meeting of the Security Council, Reuters reports.

The Nazis forced Jews in Germany and some European countries it occupied during World War Two to wear yellow stars on their clothing as part of a programme of persecution that culminated in the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, and fellow delegates put yellow stars with the words “Never Again” written on them on their jackets during a debate yesterday about the war on Gaza launched by Israel on 7 October after the Palestinian resistance infiltrated a number of towns around the besieged enclave and took hostages.

Erdan said the stars were “a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves”, adding that anti-Semites had been empowered and hatred of Jews was growing in many countries.

But Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, which is recognised around the world as an authoritative source of Holocaust scholarship and place of remembrance, said the act dishonoured victims of the genocide as well as the state of Israel.

“The yellow patch symbolises the helplessness of the Jewish people and being at the mercy of others,” he said on social media platform X.

“Today we have an independent country and a strong army. We are masters of our destiny. Today we put a blue-white flag on the lapel, not a yellow patch.”

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