A Holocaust awareness group has hit out at Just Stop Oil for drawing “inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable” comparisons between oil bosses and Nazis.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, said the murder of six million Jews was “not a subject for flippant analogies or points scoring”.
And she told Just Stop Oil to find another way of conveying its message.
It comes after the climate group issued a menacing open letter to “all those complicit in genocide”, in which it likened the heads of oil companies to Nazi official Adolf Eichmann.
Activist group says it is gathering ‘evidence’ of oil and gas complicity
Just Stop Oil claimed it is working with lawyers to “publicly gather evidence” against people who back drilling for new hydrocarbons.
This includes “fossil fuel executives, bankers, ministers and officials, and members of the legal and media professions”.
“Justice will be done” as it was to Eichmann, who was hung in Israel in 1962, the group claimed.
‘You did not stop it’ – Just Stop Oil
Just Stop Oil said: “Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi, at his trial in Jerusalem, sought to defend himself by saying that he never killed any Jews as he was only in charge of transporting them to the death camps. The judges overruled this obscene defence and he was hanged.
“Similarly, when those in charge today go to court in the coming years, they will claim they only facilitated the continued use of fossil fuels. They never actually killed the starving poor of Sudan and Pakistan. And likewise the judgement will be the same – you knew what you were doing and you did not stop it. Justice will be done.”
‘I know what genocide means’ – former chancellor Ed Balls
Ed Balls, former shadow chancellor and co-chairman of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, is among those who has previously challenged Just Stop Oil over its use of the word “genocide” to describe climate change.
During a clash with an activist on live television, Mr Balls said: “I know what genocide means, and one thing you can’t say is that investing in North Sea oil is genocidal.”
Ms Marks-Woldman has now told Just Stop Oil to understand the historical significance of the Holocaust, and convey its message in a different way.
She said: “Drawing comparisons between the Holocaust and oil bosses is inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable. The Holocaust was a singular, identity-based atrocity, where six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered in a state-sponsored genocide.
Horror of the holocaust ‘not a subject for flippant analogies’
“The murder of six million Jews is not a subject for flippant analogies or points scoring – no matter how noble the cause may appear to be.
“There are other ways in which people can get their messages across, without using the Holocaust as shock value. It is essential to understand the historical significance of this genocide and to treat the memory of its victims with the respect and sensitivity it deserves.”
Campaigners stepping up their action
Just Stop Oil has stepped up its campaign of civil resistance in recent weeks, with two members targeting the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for a paint-bombing earlier today.
Sporting events, including the Ashes and Wimbledon, have also been targeted by the climate group, which is demanding the UK Government blocks new oil and gas licences.
Industry figures have insisted that if production in the North Sea is not replaced, the UK will have to import hydrocarbons from abroad, often at a higher cost to the planet.
But in its letter, Just Stop Oil said there can be “no greater crime” than encouraging further drilling, describing it as “reckless and immoral”.
It added: “To this end, from this moment forward, Just Stop Oil, working closely with lawyers, will publicly gather evidence against fossil fuel executives, bankers, ministers and officials and members of the legal and media professions who order, administrate or facilitate the exploitation of new oil and gas resources, or who conspire to prosecute those taking action to prevent the greatest act of mass murder in human history.”
