Shoah Victims Demand Nigel Farage to Apologise Over Claimed Anti-Jewish Remarks.
A group of Shoah survivors has called for that Nigel Farage tell the truth and apologise for alleged anti-Jewish taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.
The Reform UK leader has said he never insulted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "playground banter".
"As Holocaust survivors, we grasp the profound danger of hateful words – for we have experienced firsthand where such words ultimately lead," stated the survivors in a missive.
"Let us be clear: expressing admiration for Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or directing racial slurs is not teasing. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."
An Unequivocal Demand
The document poses blunt questions to the party leader: "Is it true you said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ while mimicking gas chambers? Did you subject your classmates to bigoted harassment?"
Those Who Signed
The group of eleven survivors features individuals with deeply traumatic personal stories from the Holocaust.
- Hedi Argent, who was bereaved of 27 members of her immediate and extended family.
- Simon Winston, who was held in a ghetto before breaking out in 1942 and spending the rest of the war concealed.
- Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and later moved to Bergen-Belsen, where she was rescued.
The remaining survivors include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.
Increasing Allegations
This public letter follows the rejection of related allegations by more than two dozen or more alumni and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.
After the story broke, additional former pupils have come forward. Nearly thirty ex-students and educators now state they saw prejudiced actions by him.
One prominent allegation comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who has stated that a teenage Farage would come near him and say the phrases "Hitler was correct" and "gas them", at times adding a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.
A Broader Pattern
Additional alumni from diverse backgrounds have likewise spoken publicly with accounts of personal harassment.
- Cyrus Oshidar said he was branded a "Paki" and has labelled as rubbish the idea that such actions were devoid of malice.
- Another individual with Asian roots characterised him as an "blatant racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was right" as a form of "ethnic harassment".
A Concluding Demand
The survivors' letter puts forth an ultimate challenge to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that scores of witnesses are not telling the truth? If you did say them, now is the moment to admit your error and apologise."
"People who aspire to lead our country should not ever sow discord by ethnicity or faith. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about moral responsibility. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."