Yesterday Andrew Bridgen, already on suspension from the House of Commons, had the whip withdrawn by the Conservative Party for a tweet he published, repeating a claim that supposed impacts of coronavirus vaccines constituted “the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust[sic]”.
This Holocaust comparison is not new. Last year, thousands of people marched through London to protest against public health measures, a number of them photographed with yellow Stars of David on their chests, a chilling replica of the symbols Jewish people were forced to wear during the Holocaust to denote their Jewishness.
Those who refused to comply were subject to being shot on the spot. A gross comparison to having to wear a mask on public transport.
This suggests that mandatory proof of vaccination is the same experience as what the Jews experienced in occupied Europe as the Nazis enacted genocide.
Millions of Jewish men, women, adults and children, were ghettoised, hunted, rounded up, shot, thrown in mass graves, worked to death and gassed. The comparison is grossly offensive and inaccurate, and it is also stupid.
The Nazis in fact failed to enforce vaccine mandates, and Hitler is quoted as telling fellow Nazis to withhold vaccines to “subject races” as it would hinder genocidal efforts.
For some, Bridgen’s may seem a crass or misplaced comment, but it matters. Antisemitism did not end with the Holocaust.
Research by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the Community Security Trust revealed that whilst only a small percentage of the UK population might be considered antisemites, up to 30% hold an antisemitic idea or opinion to be true.
“Millions of Jewish men, women, adults and children, were ghettoised, hunted, rounded up, shot, thrown in mass graves, worked to death and gassed. The comparison is grossly offensive and inaccurate, and it is also stupid.”
- Danny Stone
Where those ideas are posted on social media, they stay, spread and are absorbed by people across the country until they do lasting damage. Moreover, according to research conducted for the Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, some 79% of anti-vaccination networks host anti-Jewish hatred.
In the past 20 years, parliamentarians and political figures have talked about the “long tentacles” of Israel reaching into UK politics, highlighted antisemitic YouTube conspiracies, have used Holocaust Memorial Day to discuss the Middle East conflict, have said their party was “too apologetic” about anti-Jewish racism, have deployed antisemitic dog whistles and language interpreted as antisemitic.
Elsewhere, populist politicians talk of the elites, the establishment and enemies of the people. Regardless of intent, these words feed online conspiracy narratives which, time and again, have roots in antisemitism.
Language matters. It was important that Conservative MPs like Andrew Percy called out Bridgen’s remarks, as it was important when former MP now Lord John Mann called out Ken Livingstone’s.
Their words matter; they have the positive power of non-partisan impact. Yet we know words can do the opposite.
The UK’s Commission for Countering Extremism Commission pointed to the radicalising potential of hateful content. The UN rapporteur on freedom of expression made clear that women’s expression was being hampered by sexual and gender-based violence on and offline.
There was a spike in anti-Muslim hate following publication of the former Prime Minister’s comparisons of veiled Muslim women to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
The words on so-called incel forums have inspired mass-killings, as has antisemitism online, and anti-vaccine misinformation has led to the burning of telephone masts, people ingesting bleach and again to real-world antisemitic incidents.
At the Antisemitism Policy Trust, we have tried to ensure parliamentarians use their words for good, and many have.
Ironically, Bridgen’s remarks were delivered on the same day that the Holocaust Educational Trust held a reception in Parliament to mark Holocaust Memorial Day which takes place later this month.
Holocaust survivors, members of the Jewish and other communities, and political leaders joined together to use their words for commemoration, memorialisation and reflection. That is the appropriate way to reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust.
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January this, and every year.
I hope politicians of all parties will use their words to speak out against anti-Jewish and other hate, and use social media not for disinformation and harm, but rather for education and to spread light.
:: Danny Stone is the Chief Executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust