Today the international community remembers the victims of the Holocaust. We honour every one of those brutally murdered in the darkest period of European history. We also want to pay a special tribute to all those who acted with courage and sacrifice to protect their fellow citizens against persecution.Can anyone find the word that Ashton manages to avoid using?
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must keep alive the memory of this tragedy. It is an occasion to remind us all of the need to continue fighting prejudice and racism in our own time. We must remain vigilant against the dangers of hate speech and redouble our commitment to prevent any form of intolerance. The respect of human rights and diversity lies at the heart of what the European Union stands for.
Oh, yeah - the victims.
By generalizing the Holocaust into a vague historical example of prejudice against some unnamed groups, Ashton is trivializing it. Most cases of prejudice and racism don't end up with the victims ashes going up chimneys. There is a reason the term "genocide" was coined - to distinguish it from ordinary racism. Ashton apparently can't bring herself to think about that. It's a lesson for us, the victims will be honored, the heroes are great, hate speech is bad (except for Arab hate speech against Jews, which the EU cannot criticize), rah rah rah, let's celebrate.
This story, from Stand For Peace, is unbelievable:
Hassan Farooq is a a “senior member” of the Newham Dawah Team, an East London-based organisation which attempts to spread the message of Islam. Newham Dawah Team is part of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) Network, and its officials regularly liaise with iERA officials such as Abdurraheem Green. The iERA is an extremist Salafi group, some of whose officials have been banned from the UK. Abdurraheem Green talks of a Jewish “stench” and advocates the killing of homosexuals.
Hassan Farooq was chosen to speak at the 2013 Holocaust Memorial Day event in City Hall, in front of politicians and London officials, including Jennette Arnold AM, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Was Hassan Farooq a worthy speaker?
After taking a look at Farooq’s social media postings, it would seem most definitely not:
Yes, an admirer of Hitler spoke on Holocaust Memorial Day.
And there's more.
This happened yesterday.
A protest march against French President Francois Hollande held in Paris on Sunday took an ugly anti-Semitic turn, ending with clashes between police and protesters.
According to Agence France-Presse, the "Day of Anger" march was organized by a group of some 50 small and mainly right-wing organizations, which were able to bring out several thousand people. Organizers claimed 120,000 people participated in the march, but Paris police sources pegged the number much lower, at approximately 17,000.
According to Israel Radio, demonstrators soon departed from shouting anti-Hollande slogans in favor of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli chats, such as "Jews go home," and "Jews, France is not your country."
Some used the "quenelle" anti-Semitic gesture, which was invented by controversial comic Dieudonné M'bala M'bala.
According to the report, some chanted the anthem of the Nazi collaborators during World War II, shortly before they began clashing with security forces, who used tear gas to disperse several hundred youths who lobbed police with bottles, fireworks, iron bars and dustbins.
While Europeans like Ashton mouth words of remembering the Holocaust's lessons, it appears that Europeans haven't learned a thing.
(h/t Orna, Sam, Yisrael M)