In defense of Gilad Erdan's yellow star

Following the liberation of Nazi Europe by the Allied forces more than 78 years ago, no one, in their wildest dreams, ever expected to see a repeat of the yellow Jewish star worn on clothing again, signifying the despicable identification Jews were forced to brandish, in an attempt to shame and distinguish them from the rest of humanity.

Yet sadly, we have seen the shocking reminder that Jews, once again, are being made to stand out among others as they are hunted down, warned of impending slaughter, and threatened, not only in Israel but globally. 

In his need to illustrate just how intolerable the situation has become, Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan took the daring position of wearing the controversial symbol during an emergency session of the UN Security Council last week. 

Outraged that the United Nations, the consummate entity for the furtherance of worldwide peace and humanity, has failed to condemn Hamas for their brutal and savage attack of October 7, when they invaded the sovereign country of Israel to massacre some 1,400 men, women, children, babies, and the elderly, he called them out by shocking their collective conscience.

In his impassioned speech, he said that “his grandfather had died at Auschwitz, and he vowed that he and his team would wear yellow stars from now on so that each time you look at me, you will remember what staying silent in the face of evil means.” 

We find ourselves in a pre-Holocaust-like atmosphere

For this act, Erdan garnered much criticism, including disapproval from within Israel where one might be expected to understand the extreme motivation which caused him to go to such lengths. 

While many may have recognized the justification of such a shocking visual, others commented that wearing the disgraceful badge actually weakens the image of Jews and returns us to a time when we were victims, unable to defend ourselves or fight against the hatred which was so prevalent at the time.

However, that claim fails to take into consideration that we do find ourselves in exactly that same atmosphere, where not only is the safety of Jews being threatened, but too many are not willing to call out the spreading cancer of Jew hatred that is now rife, even in what we define as “enlightened societies.”

In the Jerusalem Post editorial of November 2, 2023, the writer says that although “the visual embellishments were not without cause,” given the fact that “entire communities were exterminated... no different to the fate that was met by Erdan’s family in Auschwitz,” that something about “likening Hamas to the Nazis does not sit well.” He further writes that “Doing so not only cheapens the memory of the six million who perished in the Shoah, it broadly paints the Jewish people today as being equally stateless and defenseless.”

What's wrong with comparing Hamas to the Nazis?

Here is where I strongly differ from that editorial. What doesn’t sit well about likening Hamas to Nazis?

Both were/are barbaric, inhumane ghouls who perpetrated the most heinous of crimes that humanity has ever known. How would someone classify stuffing a baby into an oven – the same revolting savagery that was done to Jews during the Holocaust?  While the all-too-frequent use of the term, “Nazi” has become the go-to hyperbole of our time, in this case, there is no more fitting description to label these cruel and heartless terrorists, short of “demonic,” and even that doesn’t seem to adequately do the trick.

Wearing the yellow Jewish star is also very different in the sense that, this time, it is self-imposed and not forced upon the wearer. The fact that Erdan decided to be a walking billboard for those who are incapable of personally testifying to the atrocities that were perpetrated upon them, also serves as a stark reminder of the failure to exercise one’s God-given conscience in being able to rightly distinguish good from evil.  

And if these world leaders, who deign to be arbiters of justice and those who usher in the best of humanity, are incapable of rendering such obvious judgment, then what hope is left for a world that hears silence in the face of such brutalities?

Erdan braved the bullets that he had to know would come his way when he made the forbidden, third-rail Holocaust parallel. Yet, if ever there was a time to do so, it was now, for at no time, since the Holocaust, have we found ourselves in such an immoral and depraved moment where men and women lack the courage to call out perversion at its basest level.  It, in no way, cheapens the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust but rather elevates those who died on October 7 to the same status, as fellow Jews, whose precious lives were extinguished as a result of vicious, unjustified hatred towards individuals of one race.

Pay attention to what it says on the star

Another big difference in Erdan’s decision is that the yellow star did not display the word “Jew” in the center but rather the slogan, “Never Again,” which became the mantra of all Jews who were united in their determination to never allow such horrors to be perpetrated against our people in their lifetime.  

Consequently, Erdan’s message is that he continues to stand strong in his resolve that these acts of cowardly barbarism must not occur if we hope to call ourselves a people who possess any modicum of decency and morality. That is a strong and bold statement before weak, unprincipled, and ruthless societies. 

Finally, the notion that a self-imposed yellow Jewish star sends the message that the Jewish people are incapable of defending themselves is an absurdity in the face of Israel’s Defense Forces which is portrayed as one of the greatest militaries in the world, if not the greatest!  

These men and women are expertly trained in all areas of combat and ready to take on the worst of humanity. Not only that, but they are fighting for their families, friends, and kinsmen – something that no other army can claim because these Jewish warriors are battling for the continuation of their kind.

Nothing is more pitiful and sorrowful than having to relive one of the darkest times in history by having to view one of the more horrendous reminders of man’s inhumanity to mankind – a yellow badge, meant to target the wearer as being unworthy to inhabit the same planet as those who insanely believe that they are far superior.

Nonetheless, Gilad Erdan did us all a favor by doing the unthinkable to remind us that if this evil is not verbally recognized and forcefully condemned, then the meaning of the words “Never Again” will have a completely different significance, because they will, instead, signify that humanity shall never again be capable of discerning the very thing that will lead to our demise as a species.

This article originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 8, 2023, and is reposted with permission.