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, says “the murder of six million Jews is 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.
Just Stop Oil claimed it is working with lawyers to “publicly gather evidence” against people who back drilling for new hydrocarbons.
That includes “fossil fuel executives, bankers, ministers and officials and members of the legal and media professions”.
The group said that “justice will be done” as it was to Eichmann, who was hung in Israel in 1962.
The group 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 that 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.”
‘You can’t say is that investing in North Sea oil is genocidal’
Former shadow chancellor and co-chairman of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, Ed Balls 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 television in, he said: “I know what genocide means, and one thing you can’t say is that investing in North Sea oil is genocidal.”
And now Ms Marks-Woldman has told Just Stop Oil to understand the historical significance of the Holocaust, and to 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. 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.”
Stepping up its actions
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 (DESNZ) earlier today.
Sporting events, including the Ashes and Wimbledon, have also been targeted by the climate group, which is demanding the government block all new oil and gas licences.
Industry figures have repeatedly stated that unless production in the North Sea is replaced, the UK will simply have to import hydrocarbons from overseas, 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.”