Jewish organizations in Britain were outraged with authorities after local police covered a Holocaust memorial in London, fearing vandalism by an “antisemitic mob,” UK media reported Sunday.
Officials at Hyde Park draped the memorial, which commemorates the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, with a blue tarp on Saturday. Holocaust survivors labeled the action "shameful."
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Hyde Park Holocaust memorial covered in tarp by police for fear of vandalism by pro-Palestinian mob
(Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams)
Police were stationed near the memorial on Saturday to prevent damage during pro-Palestinian marches in London.
Holocaust survivor Noemi Ebenstein, 82, told the Daily Mail that the world needs to wake up to the scourge of antisemitism following another day of swastikas being waved through London.
On seeing the covered shrine, Ebenstein said: “It is shameful. Seeing this, it feels like they are winning.
“Those who are Jew haters, those who are Holocaust deniers, they are winning because we are afraid of them.
“I just wish the Western world would stand up to these people, instead of running away, covering up monuments and being apologetic.”
Stephen Pollard, editor-at-large of the Jewish Chronicle, demanded that police take sterner action to stamp out the marches.
"What is the line that needs to be crossed for people to think it's not OK for these hate marches to continue?" he said.
Jewish Conservative Member of Parliament Andrew Percy called for a halt to the marches and said the sight of the memorial covered up “makes me sick to the stomach,” adding: “For months now a cry of pain from the Jewish community has gone out each weekend these marches take place.”
Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem said in an X post it was “worried by reports of Holocaust memorials being concealed out of fear from antisemitic attacks. These monuments are constant reminders of past horrors. We must address the root problems of antisemtism [sic] today & ensure that the victims' voices are never silenced.”