MPs asked for ‘sincerity’ over Shoah pledges

V MPS HAVE been asked to avoid “tokenism and empty gestures” and instead write with “sincerity and truth” when signing a Book of Commitment to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2020.

Ahead of the commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) emailed parliamentarians to say: “It is likely to be the last time we have our brilliant and brave survivors with us to mark such a significant anniversary.”

Last year, then-Labour MP

Chris Williamson sparked anger after he tweeted images of himself signing the book, despite being branded a “Jew-baiter” by communal leaders.

Jewish Leadership Council chair Jonathan Goldstein later wrote to Mr Williamson to register the community’s “disgust” at him signing it publicly.

The Book of Commitment, placed between the Member’s Cloakroom and Member’s Staircase in the House of Commons, will be open for MPs to sign on four different occasions from

Monday, January 20. HET added: “We cannot ignore the difficult year we leave behind us, where we… sometimes felt abandoned by some we thought we could count on. So, as we come together to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau this year, we ask for both your words and your actions. We are not interested in tokenism and empty gestures but in sincerity and truth.”

HET’s message continued: “So, we invite you to sign the Book this year, but… we would like to remind you that antisemitism is on the rise again.” Traditionally, MPs have writtenmeaningfulwordspledging their commitment to remember the Holocaust and fight racism. Last year, HET chief executive Karen Pollock was among those to criticise Mr Williamson, who later quit Labour over being suspended.

Ms Pollock said: “For those MPs who consort with Holocaust deniers, say antisemitism is a smear and deny the lived experiences of Jewish people, their motivations for signing can and should be questioned.”