The post read, “Never again can’t only mean never again for Jews,” and was shared with the 24 200 Instagram followers of Holocaust Museum LA. As a pledge to stop further genocides, the phrase “never again,” which has long been associated with Holocaust remembrance, is also used in a wider sense.
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Many online users initially praised the Instagram message as acknowledging the suffering of Palestinians as a result of Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza, which numerous UN experts, scholars, and human rights organizations have called a genocide.
A statement claiming the post had been misinterpreted later was added to the post and was deleted.
“We recently posted an item on social media that was a part of a predetermined campaign to promote inclusivity and community, which some people found to be politically incorrect, reflecting the Middle East’s ongoing situation. That wasn’t what we intended,” it said.
Additionally, the Holocaust Museum LA made the promise to “do better” and “ensure that future posts are more thoughtfully designed and thoroughly vetted.”
After journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News posted a screenshot of the deleted message, it quickly received criticism online and read: “Speechless. There are no words to describe this.
The museum’s move, according to Yasmine Taeb, a progressive activist and human rights lawyer, is “absolutely disgusting,” adding that pro-Israel voices are “cowering under pressure.”
Taeb told Al Jazeera, “Counterless genocide scholars and human rights organizations have confirmed that Israel’s actions in Gaza are textbook examples of genocide.”
A museum established to raise awareness of the genocide and the Holocaust not only rejects the reality of Israel’s actions in Gaza, but it also removes a social media post that simply stated that “never again” is not intended for just Jews, so that it can’t be interpreted as a response to the genocide in Gaza.
The original, which was later removed, did not mention Gaza, but it received a lot of pro-Israel comments, some of which demanded that donors stop funding the institution.
The museum is accused of backtracking on a universal anti-genocide principle by deleting the post and publishing the subsequent statement.
Palestinian American activist and comedian Amer Zahr told Al Jazeera, “We live in a world where the Holocaust Museum has to aploogize and retract.”
I’m not sure what does if that does not show how historically oppressed Arab Americans have been as a result of that.
The Arab Center in Washington, DC, a researcher, described the controversy as “unbelievable.”
According to Rad, “Palestinians are so dehumanized that they are excluded from “never again,” and that is an exception to this rule.
Hasan Piker, a political analyst, also criticizes the museum’s decision. In a social media post, he wrote, “A real shame that even a tepid general anti-genocide statement received unimaginable resistance from Israel supporters.”
Source: Aljazeera
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