UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is facing heavy criticism for releasing a campaign video using the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a backdrop as he speaks about his party's platform.
Jewish leaders were especially outraged that the political video included footage of Starmer walking through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe but did not even mention the Holocaust. Instead, it spoke of “the serious situation in Ukraine” over footage of the Labour leader in the memorial.
Starmer visited the site during a recent two-day trip to Berlin, standing in front of it and walking through it while filming the political ad which mainly focused on his economic policy.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) blasted Starmer, accusing him of “exploiting” the Holocaust memorial for political gain.
They described the video as “offensively crass.”
“Instead of acknowledging Sir Keir’s misjudgement, various Labour politicians and activists have absurdly claimed that our valid criticism politicized the issue, while defending the use of a Holocaust memorial in a poetical advert," CAA said in a statement.
German antisemitism charity the Tikvah Institute also denounced the video.
“UK Labour, why do use the Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) as a background for your election campaign video without even mentioning the Shoah with any single word?” they tweeted.
The video was released on Sunday evening. On Friday, Starmer posted a photo to Twitter of his visit to the memorial.
“We must always remember the millions of Jewish people who were murdered and persecuted because of who they were,” he tweeted. “Labour remains committed to learning from the world’s darkest days. We stand with our allies in pursuing an equal and just future for all.”