It was a privilege to speak on behalf of Hastings and Rye residents at the Hastings Holocaust Memorial Day at the White Rock Theatre on 27th January – a day designated to commemorate the atrocities of the Holocaust, or ‘Shoah’.
It was an extremely moving service organised by local resident, David Tasker, whose mother, Emma van Dam is a Dutch holocaust survivor. It was incredible to hear not only her miraculous story of survival – but also of her three brothers and her parents, who had all managed to hide separately with the help of brave Dutch citizens who defied the oppressive Nazi regime, saving countless lives. 90 members of Emma’s family including grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins were all exterminated. Of the 1,549 people registered as Jews in the family hometown of Apeldoorn during the Nazi occupation, 150 returned alive. Of the 140,00 Jews living in the Netherlands, 105,000 were murdered.
Antisemitism is history’s oldest hatred, and it seems to have been given a new lease of life because of a terrorist group’s invasion and slaughter of Israeli Jews on 7th October last year.
Hastings Borough Council actively supports Holocaust Memorial Day in Hastings. This is why I was very surprised to hear about a request by a Green councillor, at Hastings BC Full Council meeting last month, to twin Gazan town, Al-Mawasi, with Hastings. I also understand that this proposal may be on the Agenda for the next Full Council meeting. This is a wholly unacceptable proposal in the current circumstances. Our small Jewish community in Hastings and Rye is struggling with a rise in antisemitism both nationally and sadly, locally. Only recently we saw the most appalling intimidating behaviour of a group of pro-Palestine supporters, led by the Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign, target local shops – a supposed ‘New Year Boycott Tour’ of local shops stocking Israeli produce. They entered three local supermarkets, took Israeli produce off the shelves, and demanded shop managers not to return the goods to the shelves. It is completely unjustifiable to target shops in Hastings that sell Israeli goods over disagreements with Israeli policy. We have also seen pro-Palestine marches in the town demanding a ceasefire, with written placards accusing Israel of genocide - “people, politicians and governments supporting Israel’s immoral war are guilty of supporting genocide”. This word ‘genocide’ is insidious, unjustifiable and dangerous.
We all want the killing of innocent people and children to stop, but in all these demonstrations, we see blatant antisemitism and no mention of the terrorist Palestinian group Hamas (which has terrorised Palestinians in Gaza for nearly two decades) and the atrocities committed against Israeli Jews. Hamas could end this war right now by surrendering and handing over the remaining 120 hostages and bodies of the dead to their families.
In 2020, after a long-running battle with the Labour group (many of whom have now resigned from the Labour Party and stand in the new the Hastings ‘Independent’ Party), Hastings BC voted to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Perhaps the council should be reminded of this and of the contemporary examples of antisemitism, which include denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, for example, by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour or holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. Other examples include applying double standards by requiring of the state of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation. Where are the demonstrations on our streets against Putin and the illegal invasion of Ukraine?
It is not antisemitic to criticise the government of Israel or hold it to the same standards as other liberal democracies, or to take a particular interest in the Israeli government’s policies or actions, without additional evidence to suggest antisemitic intent.
Our Jewish community in Hastings is directly impacted by the Israel-Hamas war. They are also fearful about people in their hometown “embracing the agenda and propaganda of a terrorist organisation whose animating principle is the complete dismantlement of the state of Israel, and the elimination of all Jews from the world”. Our Jewish community need and deserve our love and protection.