Auschwitz was liberated 80 years ago on January 27th, the date established by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We join with people around the world in memorializing the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the many others murdered by the Nazis. As Jews we know how important this solidarity has been for our own communities’ ability to find safety and belonging in the wake of genocide.
Raised on slogans of “Never Again”, the painful legacies of the Holocaust compel us to work for human freedom, dignity, and equality. We write on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace of Northern NJ, a local chapter of an organization of Jews and allies who seek justice for Palestinians.
We, who have demanded an end to Israel’s genocidal war for 15 months, welcome the news of a ceasefire—though phased and temporary. Any mitigation of the horrors inflicted upon the people of Gaza, as well as the return of the October 7th hostages and Palestinian detainees, must be embraced with relief.
Yet we cannot allow tenuous and woefully insufficient relief to weaken our resolve to end Israeli Apartheid, to ensure that all people from the river to the sea enjoy full human, political, and civil rights.
We have despaired to hear the callous and incoherent invocation of the Holocaust to justify the oppression and genocide of Palestinians. What rest can our dead have in such a world? We honor them with our solidarity in the Palestinian struggle.