Video | Israeli UN delegates wear yellow stars as 'symbol of pride', invite criticism

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan pinned a yellow staron his chest during a meeting of the Security Council.

Erdan and his fellow delegates pinned yellow coloured star badges on their jackets with the words "Never Again" written on them, during a debate on Monday (Oct 30) about the counter-offensive launched by Israel against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the militant group's deadly onslaught on Oct 7.

Erdan, while denouncing the Security Council for "staying silent" over the unprecedented attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas said, "Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was established."

"So, I will remind you. From this day on, each time you look at me you will remember what staying silent in the face of evil means," the ambassador said.

"Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, from now on my team and I will wear yellow stars," he said and stood up to pin the star.

He then said the stars were "a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves".

His actioncame as the15-member council has not yet condemned the Hamas attack even as 25 days have passed.

"We will wear this star until you wake up and condemn the atrocities of Hamas."

Why yellow-coloured stars?

The Nazis compelled Jews in Germany and other European countries, that it had occupied during World War II, to pin yellow stars onto their attire as part of a programme of persecution that peaked in the Holocaust. Nearly six million Jews were murdered in it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Hamas' deadly Oct 7 onslaught the most alarming against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Other leaders too have drawn direct comparisons between Nazi persecution of the Jews and Hamas' surprise attack on Israel which claimed the lives of approximately 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

'Put a blue-white flag on the lapel, not a yellow patch', says Chairman of Israel's Holocaust memorial

However, Erdan's move also drew some criticism.

Denouncing Erdan's move to display the yellow stars, the chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center on Tuesday (Oct 31) said that the act dishonoured victims of the genocide as well as the State of Israel.

"The yellow patch symbolises the helplessness of the Jewish people and being at the mercy of others," he said on social media platform X.

"Today we have an independent country and a strong army. We are masters of our destiny. Today we put a blue-white flag on the lapel, not a yellow patch."

(With inputs from agencies)

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