In reaction to reports that Gush Katif residents plan to wear “orange stars:”

Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev: “The use of the memory of the Shoah as a part of public/political protest is irresponsible and leads to the damaging of the memory of the Shoah and a perversion of the historical facts.”

(December 21, 2004 - Jerusalem) Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Avner Shalev, urged that symbols and terminology taken from the Holocaust not be used in the public-political debate. “The plan to wear orange stars perverts the historical facts and damages the memory of the Shoah,” said Shalev.

As the public/political debate over the disengagement plan intensifies, Yad Vashem calls on all parties to refrain from using symbols and terminology taken from the Shoah. In particular people should refrain from unnecessary and wrong comparisons that cause a perversion of the memory of the victims and events, and may even be tainted with Holocaust denial.

Shalev added, “It is important that the memory of the Shoah remain a unifying factor in Israeli society - not the opposite.”