News
Actions by Holocaust survivors and descendants who have taken a stand for Palestine
Legal victory for academic who declared Gaza a “textbook case of genocide”
6 August 2026
Professor Raz Segal has reached a settlement with the University of Minnesota two years after it withdrew an offer of appointment as the head of its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies following pressure from pro-Israel organisations and donors; the university is to pay him $250,000.
Professor Segal, who is Jewish and has dual Israeli-US citizenship and all of whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, was one of the first scholars to describe Israel’s assault on the Gaza strip as a genocide, just days after it started. In an analysis published in the magazine Jewish Currents he called it “a textbook case of genocide”.
Segal is now Associate Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Stockton University. Following the settlement he stated:
“The attack against me by these donors presented a world turned upside down: my commitment, as a Jewish scholar of the Holocaust and the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, to stopping a livestreamed genocide in front of our eyes posed, in their minds, a threat to Jews.
“This settlement represents a successful refusal to accept the world of lies that blur an ongoing genocide, and a commitment to continue the intertwined struggles for truth, justice, and accountability—in Palestine and on our campuses.”
The story is covered in The Guardian.
Defiance of prohibition of Palestine flag at Mauthausen commemoration
2 August 2026
The Austrian pro-Palestine grouping Palästina Solidarität Österreich (PSÖ) has published an account of the commemoration ceremony for the anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp earlier this year. The event organisers had tried to prevent a delegation from the group Solidarwerkstatt, which included Holocaust survivor descendants as well as Palestinians, from carrying a Palestinian flag and wearing keffiyehs.
The delegation insisted on continuing despite threats of police intervention. Subsequently the organisers barred Solidarwerkstatt from attending future events, which prompted a response declaring that the principles of the Mauthausen Oath proclaimed by survivors in 1945 - peace, freedom and international solidarity – were universal and that it “fundamentally contradicts the Mauthausen Oath itself” to commemorate the victims of Mauthausen without acknowledging those of a current genocide in Palestine.
The delegation included British-Israeli Professor Haim Bresheeth-Žabner. Both his parents survived Auschwitz and his father, Arie Leib Žabner, was among those liberated at Mauthausen 81 years ago. He too wrote to the organisers condemning their actions, saying that they had “betrayed the memory of the survivors who took the oath.”
The full account of the event and the ensuing correspondence including Professor Bresheeth-Žabner’s letter can be seen here.
Holocaust Survivor Descendant testifies at Australian Antisemitism Inquiry
13 July 2026
Jewish Holocaust survivor descendant Yasmine Johnson appeared as a witness at the Australian Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Johnson, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust but lost all her family, is one of the national coordinators of Students for Palestine.
She spoke about her experience at the University of Sydney Gaza solidarity encampment, one of numerous encampments at Australian universities in 2024, for which she was an organiser. In her evidence, Johnson made it clear that the encampments posed no threat or danger to Jews or others; the only violence had been against student protestors by groups supporting Israel.
Questioned at length, Johnson defended the use of chants such as “From the River to the Sea” and “Globalise the Intifada”, rejecting what she described as “deliberate misinterpretation” of the words. She refused to condemn the use of violence in resistance to oppression, referencing historical examples such as slave rebellions and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Asked about Israel’s right to exist, she said that she supported “a land of genuine democracy and freedom for all people regardless of race or religion.”
The video of her testimony can be seen here.
Letter to new UK Prime Minister
10-17 July 2026
Following the open letter by 44 Holocaust survivors and descendants to the outgoing Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, condemning his implication that pro-Palestine marches were a danger to Jews, the government sent a response which the signatories consider “completely fails to address the essential messages of our letter”. They replied to Home Office Minister Sarah Jones MP, calling on her to “now respond to our original letter by addressing the specific issues that we raised”.
This correspondence formed the basis of a letter sent by Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL – formerly Jewish Voice for Labour) to incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham. This letter, signed by JVL Co-Chair Jenny Manson with co-signatories including two Holocaust child survivors, Agnes Kory and Stephen Kapos, criticised the government’s “dismissive”, even “insulting”, response; furthermore, it condemned the use of the “long discredited” IHRA definition of antisemitism by the government to suppress criticism of Israel as well as by the Labour Party to accuse some 70 Jewish members of antisemitism.
All the letters are published here.
Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress 2026
26-28 June 2026
Several descendants of Holocaust survivors were among the organisers of the Second Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress (JAZIC). These included Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, British-Israeli author and film-maker Professor Haim Bresheeth-Zabner, Israeli activist Ronnie Barkan, Austrian activist Dalia Sarig and Israeli doctoral researcher Hadas Emma Kedar. In addition, the speakers included South African former politician and author Andrew Feinstein and US historian Zachary Foster, both descendants of Holocaust survivors.
The Congress was held in Dublin and followed on from the First JAZIC, which took place in Vienna in 2025 – more than a century after the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897.
Letter to the UK Prime Minister
12 May 2026
More than 40 British survivors and descendants of survivors of the Holocaust have written an open letter to the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, copied to the Home Secretary and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The letter criticises statements by Starmer and others that link recent attacks on Jewish persons and property to pro-Palestine marches. It deplores the instrumentalisation of Jewish safety in order to further repress freedom of speech, protest and assembly.
The letter calls on the Prime Minister to promote Jewish safety constructively by publicly acknowledging that Israel is not acting on behalf of all Jews and that its crimes are condemned by many Jewish people in Britain and around the world.
Vigil at Buchenwald
11 Apr 2026
Jews from the “Kufiyas in Buchenwald” campaign, including descendants of Holocaust survivors, gathered at the memorial site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp to hold a vigil highlighting the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The memorial authorities, who ban the wearing of kufiyas and Palestinian symbols, had prevented the campaign from holding a vigil to honour all victims and survivors of genocide and fascism inside the former camp.
The campaign has issued a press release about the vigil as well as a statement describing its aims.
Holocaust Memorial Day
27 Jan 2026
Holocaust survivors and descendants have spoken out on Holocaust Memorial Day.
The common theme is:
Never Again! must mean never again for anyone, including for Palestinians.
Screenshot from Jewish Voice for Liberation.
Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week resigns
13 Jan 2026
Louise Adler, daughter of Holocaust survivors and the Director of the Adelaide Writers’ Week, Australia’s largest literary event, resigned after the Adelaide Festival board cancelled an invitation to Randa Abdel-Fattah, an Australian writer of Palestinian descent. As part of the backlash against the cancellation, some 180 participants withdrew and the Writers’ Week was called off.
Before coming to Australia in 1949, Louise Adler’s parents survived the Holocaust in France; many other family members perished. She has previously spoken out for justice for the Palestinian people.
She has also joined the advisory committee of the Jewish Council of Australia, which supports Palestinian freedom and justice.
Screenshot from YouTube/Jewish Council of Australia
Protest at the Home Office
24 Nov 2025
A protest against the proscription of the direct action organisation Palestine Action saw the arrest of two Holocaust survivor descendants, Elizabeth Morley and Chris Romberg. The protest took place outside the Home Office in London, the British government’s ministry of the interior.
For 80 year old Elizabeth Morley, whose father survived Auschwitz, it was her fifth arrest. She had also been arrested in her home town of Aberystwyth in the previous week, as reported here.
Screenshot from Facebook - Palestine Solidarity Aberystwyth
Photo credits: khashayarscamera.com
Holocaust and Nakba Survivors meet
11 Oct 2025
Stephen Kapos, survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary, and Antoine Raffoul, survivor of the 1948 Nakba in Palestine, met in person for the first time during the March for Palestine, in Westminster in London.
The stories of the two men are the subject of a documentary with the working title The Last Survivors being produced by film-makers Andrea Kapos (Stephen’s daughter) and Jacquie Beaumont.
See the video of their emotional meeting here.
Screenshot from The Canary/Skwawkbox 11 Oct 2025
Stephen also spoke out along with Holocaust survivor Agnes Kory and son of a Holocaust survivor Mark Etkind in this video of the voices of some of the 500,000 participants in the march.
Screenshot from Novara Media 11 Oct 2025
Defend our Juries Protest
4 Oct 2025
Elizabeth Morley, daughter of a survivor of Auschwitz, was one of those arrested at the Defend our Juries protest on Trafalgar Square in London. This was the third time she has been arrested for holding a sign with the words: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Other Holocaust survivor descendants also turned out as witnesses of the protest. Mark Etkind, the son of a Holocaust survivor from Poland, spoke with Novara Media to explain why he was there. To watch Mark’s interview click here.
Screenshot from Sky News
Screenshot from Novara Media
Holocaust survivor speaks at London’s Wembley Arena
17 Sep 2025
Stephen Kapos, survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary, spoke at the star-studded Together for Palestine concert and received one of the longest standing ovations of the night.
To watch Stephen’s speech click here.
Screenshot from AJ+
Holocaust survivor descendant among those arrested in Defend our Juries protest
6 Sep 2025
Carolyn Gelenter, the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor from Poland, was among over 1,000 protestors in London’s Parliament Square on 6 September 2025. The protest had been organised by the group Defend our Juries against the prohibition by the British government of the direct action network Palestine Action.
Along with almost 900 others, Carolyn was arrested under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 for holding a cardboard sign with the words “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Carolyn was arrested in the middle of an interview. You can watch the interview and her arrest here.
Screenshot from Metro
Protests in London
6 Sep 2025
Holocaust survivor descendants formed part of the Witness Circle in London’s Parliament Square in support of the Defend our Juries protest against the British government’s prohibition of the direct action network Palestine Action.
At the same time, others joined the National March for Palestine, taking up position outside Bush House on Aldwych.
Son of Auschwitz Survivor Arrested in Berlin
5 Jul 2025
Thomas Gögel, the 76 year-old son of a survivor of Auschwitz and a member of the German organisation, Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East, was arrested by Berlin police while speaking at a demonstration. He had compared the use of food to lure Palestinians into killing zones in Gaza to the Nazi use of ‘showers’ to lure victims to the gas chambers.
The organisation reported that he was charged with incitement to hatred for having “glorified the Holocaust”. His father survived Auschwitz, but most of his father’s family were murdered there.
