Britain’s Home Office has confirmed there are no plans to scrap Holocaust Memorial Day, dismissing reports that Muslim groups have recommended the day be replaced with a National Genocide Day.

Committees made up of Muslims, recently appointed to advise the Prime Minister on extremism, were reported to have put forward draft proposals to end HMD.

In an article in last weekend’s Sunday Times the committees were said to have been preparing to tell the government that the day does not give enough weight to the atrocities suffered by their own religion in places such as Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia.

However, a Home Office spokesman this week stressed that no changes will be made to HMD, whatever is contained in the proposals the Muslim groups present to home secretary Charles Clarke in a meeting scheduled for next week.

The spokesman told EJP: “The government has no plans to change the name or nature of Holocaust Memorial Day, it will always be there.”

The Home Office spokesman added that she believed that the issue was not going to form part of the report when the Muslim communal representatives meet on 22 September.

More value

The Sunday Times article quoted a member of one of the committees who said the name Holocaust Day gave the impression that "western lives have more value than non-western lives".

This was backed by Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.

“The message of the Holocaust was “never again” and for that message to have practical effect on the world community it has to be inclusive," he said

The MCB caused controversy earlier this year when they boycotted the Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations, saying that the day was offensive to Muslims.

The message of the Holocaust was “never again” and for that message to have practical effect on the world community it has to be inclusive Sir Iqbal Sacranie

Sidney Shipton, who heads the interfaith dialogue group Three Faiths Forum, said he believed it is wrong for Sacranie to call for the end of HMD.

Shipton told EJP: “I have no objection to a genocide day in addition to HMD. But it is important to recognise that the Holocaust was something exceptional.”

The interfaith leader added that he takes “extreme exception” to the MCB’s comparisons between the Holocaust and the killing of Palestinians.

“There has been no genocide of the Palestinians. I think the MCB have shot themselves in the foot,” Shipton said.

Inclusive event

The Board of Deputies of British Jews released a statement saying that although the reports were unfounded, “it comes as no surprise that this view has been expressed from some quarters”

Stressing the inclusive nature of HMD, Board chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “The truth is that Holocaust Memorial Day recognises both the enormity of the tragedy of the Holocaust against the Jews, crimes against humanity perpetrated against other groups, by the Nazis and their allies and more recently in Cambodia, Rwanda, the Balkans and elsewhere.

“As such it is truly an inclusive event, crucial to the efforts of all who wish to educate against the dangers of discrimination and extremism.”
HMD, held annually on January 27, was established by British prime minister Tony Blair in 2001 to commemorate all victims of the Nazis and all victims of genocide since the Second World War.

The controversy came a week after the announcement that the home office would transfer responsibility for the organisation of the day to the newly created Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, with the Queen as Patron.