Of course the Holocaust is relevant to Israel now | Karen Pollock

Jews will inevitably connect the trauma of Hamas's 7 October attack with the trauma of Nazi massacres

• Karen Pollock is chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust

People love dead Jews." Dara Horn used that title for her 2021 book, noting that while remembering the Holocaust was generally accepted as the right thing to do, acknowledging, let alone confronting, modern-day antisemitism was not considered especially relevant or important. It suited many, and still does, for annihilationist hate to be put in a box marked the past".

After the brutal slaughter perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October there needs to be a caveat: for some people to love them, the dead Jews need to be perceived as powerless. Grimly, it seems that for some, even murdered babies, toddlers or elderly people - dead Jews all - do not qualify for powerlessness, and therefore love, if they are Israeli.

Karen Pollock is chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust

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