'This is an abuse of history' says historian Bruno De Wever about the Israeli ambassador's use of the Star of David

Back to Monday's UN Security Council for a moment. Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan announced that he and his team would wear a yellow Star of David until the Security Council condemns Hamas' violent attack on 7 October. "Some of you have forgotten why this body was created," Erdan said. The United Nations was created after World War II, a conflict during which all Jews under the Nazi regime were obliged to wear a yellow Star of David so that everyone could see that they were Jews. In this way Ambassador Erdan links the Holocaust to Hamas' atrocities. Hamas that rules Gaza features on the EU’s terrorism list of proscribed organisations.

The Israeli ambassador has been criticised on account of his statement. The Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem even called it disrespectful to the victims. In Flanders too there is criticism. "This is an abuse of history," Flemish historian Bruno De Wever told VRT. "The Holocaust is the symbol of ultimate victimhood and that is now being deliberately used by one side in an armed conflict. Israel is trying to use an historical analogy here, but that is not a correct use of history."

At least 1,400 Israelis were killed in Hamas' bloody attack on 7 October, but according to Bruno De Wever, you cannot simply compare that to what happened during World War II. "It's horrible what Hamas did, but you can't just link that to the genocide committed against the Jewish people during the war. That is not historically correct."

De Wever is also unhappy with the term "genocide" being used so freely during this conflict. "Israel is accused of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. That too is incorrect, as it is not the Israeli army's intention to exterminate Gazans, while that is the historical definition of a genocide."

Alongside the armed conflict Bruno De Wever also sees how a symbolic war of words has emerged at the same time. "In that context, Israel is trying to use the extermination of the Jews as a kind of counter-argument to the genocide they themselves are (wrongly) accused of. They are trying to use history to create a different image of themselves."

Israel is not alone

The Israelis are not the only ones keen to abuse history says De Wever.  “It is something that often happens during conflicts or wars” he says. "You also see it in Russia. Putin legitimises his annexation attempt in Ukraine with historical arguments. He calls Ukrainians fascists. He abuses the fact that a small number of Ukrainians collaborated during World War II to legitimise the war he himself is now waging in Ukraine."

In our part of the world, too, people have dared to misuse history before De Wever believes. Some people are all too happy to compare the current political climate and the growth of far-right parties to the situation in the 1930s, when Nazism was on the rise. "That is also a typical comparison," says De Wever. "While the differences with the 1930s are greater than the similarities."

"Actually, we are all too happy to use history as a big grab bag, from which we can take what suits us to make our point," De Wever concludes.