Jewish leaders were expressed their outrage and disbelief after London police covered up a Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park over fears that anti-Israel protesters would damage the monument.
"It's shameful. Seeing it, it feels like they're winning. These are Jew-haters, these are Holocaust deniers, they're winning because we're afraid of them. I just want the Western world to stand up to these people instead of running away and covering monuments and apologizing," Ynet quoted Holocaust survivor Naomi Ebenstein (82) as telling the Daily Mirror.
"It is appalling that such precautions must be taken to protect the monument, due to the risk that it could be vandalized," said Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which financed the monument.
Jewish parliamentarian Andrew Percy called for a halt to antisemitic marches in the country's capital and said that the sight of the monument covered with a blue tarp "makes me sick to my stomach." "For many months, a cry of pain from the Jewish community goes out every weekend when marches take place," he added. Jewish officials, meanwhile, lamented that since the beginning of the anti-Israel rallies in lieu of the war in Gaza, it has become dangerous for Jews to walk the streets.
