Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem-based Holocaust memorial center, criticized United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for saying that the Hamas attacks on Israel earlier this month “did not happen in a vacuum.”
The president of the center, Dani Dayan, said: “Hamas’ massacre of Jews on October 7th was genocidal in its intentions and immeasurably brutal in its form. Part of the reason it differs from the Holocaust is that the Jews today have a state and an army. We are not helpless and at the mercy of others.”
Also, he added that what happened “tests the sincerity of world leaders, intellectuals and influential people who visit the Yad Vashem memorial” and vow “Never again” – a phrase associated with preventing a repeat of the horrors of the Holocaust.
“Those who seek ‘understanding’, seek a justifying context, do not categorically condemn the perpetrators and do not call for the unconditional and immediate release of the kidnapped, fail the test. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres failed the test,” said Dani Dayan, president of Yad Vashem, in a statement.
Guterres did not respond directly, but yesterday he highlighted other parts of his speech from two days ago: ”The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas. Those horrendous attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
