Israel UN envoy draws criticism for donning yellow star
October 31, 2023
Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has criticized Israel's UN ambassador for wearing a yellow Star of David patch during his address to the Security Council.
"This act belittles the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel," Yad Vashem chairperson Dani Dayan said in a Hebrew-language post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
"The yellow star symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people and their being at the mercy of others," he said. "We now have an independent state and a strong army. We are the masters of our own fate."
During the Holocaust, the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow Star of David patches as part of a system of persecution.
Star a 'symbol of pride'
Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan displayed the yellow star on his chest on Monday during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
He said he was wearing the star "as a symbol of pride" and would continue to do so until the body condemned the atrocities committed by Hamas militants against Israel on October 7.
The 15-member council has not adopted a single resolution on the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was established," Erdan said, denouncing the council for "staying silent" over the terror attacks.
Call for Israeli flag to be used instead of star
Hamas militants killed some 1,400 people on October 7 when they crossed the border from Gaza and carried out a rampage in Israeli communities. It was the worst loss of Jewish life in a single day since the genocide carried out by the Nazis during World War II.
The events prompted Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and others to draw comparisons between the Hamas attacks and the Nazi persecution of the Jews. But the controversy over the use of the yellow star symbol shows how sensitive comparisons with the Holocaust can be.
Yad Vashem head Dayan said he was "sorry to see" the Israeli delegation use the star in this way and suggested they wear the Israeli flag instead.
"Today we will fasten to our lapel a blue and white flag, not a yellow star," he said.
nm/rc (Reuters, AP, AFP)