LONDON (EJP)---The Holocaust Educational Trust has welcomed the vote by Britain’s largest Muslim body to end its boycott of Holocaust memorial day as the "right decision."

"In the past, various Muslim organisations and individuals have been involved in HMD and it is the right decision for the Muslim Council of Britain to join them," HET, an organization founded in 1988 with the aim to educate young people from every ethnic background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today, said.


Karen Pollock, HET chief executive, added: "It is important to note that the day has always commemorated the Nazi genocide and genocides since the Holocaust. This was particularly clear in 2001, the first year of HMD which was themed Remembering Genocides: Lessons for the Future and paid particular attention to Bosnia. Similarly, in 2004, the theme of HMD was From the Holocaust to Rwanda."


The Muslim Council of Britain voted this weekend to end its six-year protest, which had angered the government and Jewish groups.

According to The Guardian newspaper, the decision may lead to some groups leaving the MCB, an umbrella organization with over 500 members.

Its working committee voted 18 to 8 to end the boycott, which began in 2001.

Those who voted to attend said the stance had allowed the MCB to be accused of anti-Semitism and seeming to disrespect the suffering of Jews.

Representatives of the MCB will attend the next Holocaust Memorial Day, on January 27, in Liverpool.

The former MCB secretary general Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who voted to end the protest, said: "There are voices who have been attacking us from day one and trying to misconstrue our non-participation as anti-Semitism."

Sacranie’s last years as secretary general, which ended in 2005, saw him publicly justifying the boycott despite personally opposing it.

More inclusive title

In a statement the MCB assistant general secretary, Inayat Bunglawala, said: "We have always sought a more inclusive title such as Genocide Memorial Day so that it would also give recognition to more recent massacres such as in Rwanda and that of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica. We wanted to uphold the principle of the equality of all human beings.”

"However, there was a growing recognition among our affiliates that non-attendance of HMD was inadvertently causing hurt to some in the Jewish community. The MCB has always placed a lot of emphasis on inter-faith work and building ties ... so this was becoming a problem."