A Polish artist has been slammed after walking through the Auschwitz concentration camp holding a sign accusing Israel of genocide.
Igor Dobrowolski walked through the site in Poland draped in a Palestinian flag with the words "Never Again is For Everyone."
During the protest, he held up a sign with a quote attributed to Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman saying "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza." On the other side of the sign, the message read: "Israel we see your genocide."
Now, campaigners have criticised the protest, saying the site should not be used for political protests.
The artist held up the sign at the concentration camp
Human rights activist Ihab Hassan said: "As a Palestinian, I don't understand why Western activists feel the need to show solidarity with our cause by protesting at Holocaust memorials or concentration camps.
"These places are intended to commemorate the victims of the most tragic event in history, not to serve as sites for political protests."
Editor of the Jewish Chronicle Jake Wallis Simons said: "It couldn’t be clearer. Antisemitism has returned to Auschwitz, in the guise of Israelophobia.
"Both founded on the same lies and demonisation. For shame."
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The entrance to Auschwitz (file pic)
Reuters
It comes just days after Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a remembrance march to honour the victims of Nazi atrocities at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The demonstrators chanted slogans at the marchers, unfurling Palestinian flags and banners reading “stop genocide”.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which Germans set up in occupied Poland during World War Two.
More than three million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags on the route of the annual International March of the Living
Reuters
Later today, South Africa will ask the International Court of Justice to order a halt to the Rafah offensive as part of its case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Last week, the African nation asked for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering.
In January, the court ordered Israel to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza, allow in more humanitarian aid and preserve any evidence of violations.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage on October 7 when Hamas launched the attack that started the war, according Israeli tallies.
