Jewish demonstrators staged a protest against Israeli “genocide” at the Kindertransport memorial at Liverpool Street station in London on Holocaust Memorial Day.
They draped signs over the monument — which commemorates 10,000 children rescued from Nazi-controlled Europe before the War — and placed a wreath featuring the colours of the Palestinian flag next to another wreath made of yellow stars, referencing the badges Jews were forced to wear during the Shoah.
A post on X shared the picture of one sign, which carried the message: “Mourning the millions of Jewish children not on the Kindertransport slaughtered in the Holocaust, and the many thousands of Gazan children slaughtered by Israel in the genocide.”
The protesters wore signs describing themselves as “Jews Against Genocide” and calling for an arms ban on Israel.
The same group demonstrated at a second location on Monday, holding a short ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall where they laid similar wreaths.
But the comparison between the Holocaust and the Israel-Gaza conflict was criticised by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR).
AJR chief executive Michael Newman said, “The Kindertransport monument commemorates the lives of the mostly Jewish children who were given sanctuary in this country."
“It remembers the bravery of the parents who sent their children away and the altruism of the families who took in the youngest victims of Nazi oppression. As the national organisation supporting victims of Nazism, the AJR is highly offended by misusing Holocaust memorials to make political statements. It’s a dangerous distortion and creates a false equivalence.”
Holocaust Memorial Day, observed each year on January 27, is dedicated to remembering those who perished in the Holocaust, including six million Jews, and raising awareness about the dangers of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination.
The Kindertransport memorial, located at a key arrival point for many of the Jewish children from the continent who were saved by the Kindertransport, serves as a symbol of efforts made to protect Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
The British Transport Police have been contacted for comment.
