Hampshire mayor who inflated Holocaust death total says post ‘incorrectly worded’
Despite 'issuing a correction' acknowledging death of six million Jews, Havant's Labour councillor Munazza Faiz doubles down on random figure of '12 million people murdered'
The Hampshire town council criticised for promoting a Holocaust remembrance event describing “the 12 million people who lost their lives during the Holocaust” without specifically mentioning Jews has apologised, acknowledging it was “incorrectly worded” – but still insists on using the 12 million figure.
Havant Borough council’s original press release described a “short, non-denominational service” to take place on Tuesday, but contained no mention of Jews at all, with the mayor, Labour councillor Munazza Faiz, adding that “We must continue to stand up against prejudice, hatred and discrimination of any kind”.
Today’s statement from Faiz’s office said: “We omitted to state that six million of those, who were murdered during the Holocaust, were Jewish. We will be issuing a correction on our website.”
The amended statement, which continues to randomly inflate the total death toll during the Holocaust, says: “I would like to invite all residents in the borough to attend the event to remember the 12 million people who were murdered during the Holocaust, six million of whom were Jewish.”
Calling herself a “proud Jewess”, Honorary Alderman Leah Turner, former Councillor and Mayor of Havant, who organises the annual Holocaust Memorial Service on behalf of Havant Borough Council, added: “I am disappointed to read that Havant Borough Council, and the current Mayor is being accused of disrespect at our service yesterday.”
Acknowledging that “our service marks the six million Jews who were murdered”, she then adds, without qualification of how she reached the random number or alluding to who they are, she feels “it is extremely important that we also remember that in addition approximately six million more people were also killed”.
Referencing the inclusion in their memorial service of “Jewish” speaker Bryan Huberman, whose late father, Alfred Huberman, was one of 300 Jewish children liberated from Hitler’s concentration camps and flown to England at the end of the Second World War, Turner adds that he “spoke so eloquently about his father’s experiences throughout The Holocaust” and that she “wore my yellow Star of David throughout the service with pride yesterday, and I will continue to do so.”
The Mayor’s office spokesperson added that their Holocaust Memorial Day service “was picked up and covered by our local press very positively, and the service received some very positive feedback from the local schools that attended.”
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