76 MPs stood up in Parliament on Thursday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in a debate and remember the victims of the Holocaust.
The debate was led by CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Commons) Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP, who underlined in his speech that Holocaust Memorial Day “is about remembrance but it should also be a moment that moves us to consider the darkness still around us today”.
He said that “the cancer of antisemitism” still casts “dark shadows” across our society. Condemning rising antisemitism, Mr Crabb asked: “How can it be that Jewish students in this country do not feel protected by our institutions? Places of openness and learning turned into dark corners where Jewish young people experience fear”.
CFI Vice-Chair Andrew Percy MP called on online companies to “act responsibly” after he uncovered antisemitic responses from the Amazon Alexa smart speaker last year and content from David Icke accessible on Amazon.
CFI Officers Bob Blackman MP, Mary Robinson MP, Matthew Offord MP and Nicola Richards MP underlined the importance of Holocaust education in their contributions via video link.
CFI Vice-Chair John Howell OBE MP memorialised Holocaust victims and quoted Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: “If we are all the light in the darkness, think of what a wonderful world we can achieve”.
