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The National
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos speaks out on Gaza genocide
During our interview, he is calm. As he recounts his life story, full of drama and danger, the 88-year-old Holocaust survivor is softly and carefully spoken. A note of anger enters his voice on only two occasions. First, when discussing the ways in which the Holocaust has been used by the Israeli government and its allies to justify their treatment of the Palestinians. 'I'm completely sickened by that. Because all these horrors are committed by Israel with some kind of assumed impunity.' He recalls, bitterly, Israel's UN ambassador Gilad Erdan wearing a yellow star in the opening phases of the assault on Gaza: 'I thought that was an awful misuse, invoking an event that was painful and humiliating … For that to be used as some kind of cover … against the Palestinian people, I thought was sickening. 'The Holocaust was a European affair … nothing to do with the Palestinians. And, somehow, they have to pay the price of it?' Israeli United Nations ambassador Gilad Erdan speaking in October 2023 (Image: Michael) But the sometime Hungarian refugee reserves his gravest tone for the suffering of the people of Gaza, in solidarity with whom he has marched through central London many times, often with other Holocaust survivors. I ask if he sees his own childhood experience reflected in that suffering: 'I have a visceral understanding because in small ways, we did go through similar things. The uncertainty, the repeated escapes, the lack of reliable information.' Why in small ways? Because, he explains with signature empathy, he survived: 'Our experience, even with the fighting thrown in, and the war moving through us, was not as bad as what I can see the Gazans going through.' Kapos survived through luck, and by the brave acts of Christian protectors and aid workers, who trafficked Jewish children through Hungary as the frontlines of war swept westward in the closing acts of the Second World War. On various occasions, he was terrifyingly close to being caught. READ MORE: Mhairi Black: Criticising Israel is not religious intolerance. Orange marches are In Christmas 1944, local German army units invited his group of refugees to their holiday celebration. They did not know the children were Jewish. 'Of course, you couldn't refuse it,' for fear of being caught, he reasons. So little Stephen Kapos spent that holiday under an enormous swastika banner, with demoralised Wehrmacht soldiers who had no idea that they shared the last Christmas of the war with those they were supposed to be waging racial war against. On another occasion, he witnessed the wreckage of the fiercest fighting: 'The total destruction is very similar to what I can see on the screen in Gaza.' Kapos has endured many of the worst tyrants of the 20th century. First the Hungarian strongman Admiral Horthy, a pioneer of fascistic methods. The regime's antisemitic laws meant that his father had to complete part of his education abroad. After the German invasion of his country in 1944, when Kapos was 'four months short of seven years old', he survived Hitler and his demonic lieutenant Adolf Eichmann, who scoured the countryside rounding up hundreds of thousands of Jews for extermination. After the war, he witnessed the Stalinisation of Hungary. After participating as a student in the uprising of 1956, he fled the Soviet crackdown for Britain. Now, at 88, Kapos faces new persecutors – the Metropolitan Police. Called in for questioning for peacefully protesting the UK Government's policy in Gaza earlier in the year, he remains defiant. He is touring cities across the country to continue building the mass movement of solidarity with Gaza and to oppose attacks on speech and protest. He will be arriving to speak in Glasgow on July 22, where the group Kneecap had their billing at the TRNSMT festival cancelled, at the urging of Police Scotland and First Minister John Swinney. He views his own persecution as only part of a widening trend. In recent months, proscriptions and arrests have rolled out across the movement, in a clear attempt at decapitation. Kapos himself was presumably targeted for being a vocal and visible critic of British foreign policy. His moral example too much for the authorities to bear, especially when they appear so lacking by comparison. 'It's very worrying,' he says of the repression of recent months. 'The arc of the various measures tends to be oppressive. More and more, an attack on free speech and free demonstrations.' READ MORE: Police Scotland issue terror charge for man 'wearing pro-Palestine Action T-shirt' It is even more severe abroad, he says, such as on US campuses where 'McCarthyism has been brought back'. We must stop this direction of travel, he urges, to avoid even more authoritarian outcomes, and he'd know about them. Despite the escalating horrors of war and these anti-democratic measures, he has not lost hope: 'I'm not pessimistic in the long-term, but we have to watch the short term, very much,' he cautions. It would be easy to think of Kapos, with his eloquence, sweep of history and belief in a universal human future beyond racism and authoritarianism, as a romantic figure. Yet he is extremely practical in his cast of mind. Asked how he can still believe in that better world, with all he has witnessed, he answers: 'I just think there's no alternative to that.' It's easier still to think him a hero, given the trials he has endured. But he disagrees: 'Heroes are the people who put their lives on the line. Like the doctors of Gaza, for example.' Stephen Kapos is speaking at the Stop the War Scotland rally at the Renfield Centre on July 22, at 7pm
National Post
30-05-2025
- General
- National Post
Avi Benlolo: The Jewish community is under attack — will you stand with us?
Article content This past week, The Abraham Global Peace Initiative hosted a powerful and inspiring gala at Toronto's historic Casa Loma. The keynote speaker, former Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, addressed a sold-out crowd made up of proud Canadians — many of them children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. They gathered to counter hate, intolerance and to promote human rights and peace in the Middle East. But outside, a dangerous scene unfolded: a mob of radicalized agitators, emboldened and hateful, hurled slurs and threats at our guests simply for being Jewish. Article content Article content Article content I implore every Canadian to take the time to understand what is happening on our streets. There are men and women (and even children) dressed in full military fatigues. They wear keffiyehs over their faces (same as Hamas, ISIS or al-Qaida) to hide their identities and terrorize. They shout death threats at Jewish people — and at others who simply happen to be walking by. They block roads, sidewalks, and disrupt entire neighbourhoods. You need to know about this—and stop looking away as if its not your problem. Article content Article content Some attendees, deeply shaken, said the hatred reminded them of the stories their families told about Europe in the 1930s. It started the same way: mobs denouncing Jews, attempting to isolate them from public life, striking fear into their hearts. This isn't a page from a history book. It is happening at Jewish events every day on Canadian soil. Article content But you wouldn't know about it because Canadian media (except for the National Post) isn't reporting about this homeland support for terrorism. Our media broadcasters are keeping this threat hidden from Canadians, failing to critically analyze the hate infesting our streets. Just the other day, for the first time in history, Israel elevated its global threat alert for Canada to its highest level — warning Israelis about travel to this country. Canada's mainstream media was largely silent. Article content Article content Across the country, Jewish Canadians face increasing threats — from schoolyards to university campuses, from synagogues to charity galas. Demonstrators chant for violence, wave terrorist symbols, and show no fear of law enforcement. In fact, they often shout at and shove the very officers trying to protect us. Article content Article content Yes, our police services are doing their best. To their credit and leadership, the Toronto Police comes out in force. I cannot believe the abuse they take. They are shoved, spat at, sworn at and yelled at with megaphones. Our own police service members should not be treated this way. Why are Canadians not speaking out?
