Former Labour adviser James Schneider voiced his concerns over the use of Holocaust imagery in discussions related to the Israel-Hamas conflict, asserting that the “safety and security” of Jewish people is “not contingent” on escalating violence in the region.
Clashing with TalkTV’s Jeremy Kyle on Tuesday, Schneider was drawn into a heated debate after emphasising the importance of factual accuracy and the implications of language used in public discourse.
“I think the thing to do is always seek truth from facts and not fall into things like ‘savages against civilization,’ or if you’re saying something which is parroting the PR line of, for example…” Schneider said.
Kyle interrupted and drew attention to the initial attacks by Hamas: “I don’t want to argue because it’s Tuesday morning. But you made the point, what happened to the Jewish people, not the Israelis, and we talked about this before, the initial attack by Hamas. That was pure savagery.”
He expressed empathy for the feelings of the Jewish community and continued: “I don’t think anybody with a brain cell in their head wants to sit here and imagine what the hell is about to unfold.”
He went on to state his understanding of how some might view these attacks as “holocaust-like”, threatening the Jewish identity. He added: “I’m not into revenge, but something has to be done to take Hamas out.”
Schneider
Kyle pressed Schneider, asking for clarity on whether they were discussing Jewish people or Israelis specifically. Schneider clarified, “well, in this case, both are Jewish Israelis.”
Schneider continued by differentiating between the tragic events of the Holocaust and the casualties in the Israel-Hamas conflict. He stated, “These terrible atrocities, 1,400 people killed, many of them civilians, is not comparable to 6 million Jews, most of European Jewry being wiped out in World War II.”
“It’s building up this idea that we have this total existential threat and therefore anything goes,” he continued. “And my point as a Jewish person is that my safety and security is not contingent on killing more Palestinian babies. In fact, it’s the other way around. It is very much the other way around.”
“Let’s say every single person associated with Hamas is killed,” he concluded. “Am I going to be safer? Will there be another organisation that springs up afterwards? Yes there will.”