UK rabbi warns of genocide risk in policies

A leading British rabbi draws a chilling parallel between Donald Trump’s policies on immigration – which have seen thousands of children separated from their parents on the US border with Mexico – and historical trends that have led to genocide, as pressure grows on Theresa May to denounce the US president’s approach on his UK visit next month ...

Janner-Klausner told the Observer that the warning signs were clear, and that political leaders had to act now to prevent the kind of decline in respect for fellow human beings that became commonplace before some of the worst atrocities in history.

Expressing concerns widely shared among Jewish leaders – who campaign constantly to remind the world of circumstances leading to the Holocaust – and other religious figures, she said: “The numbing of empathy, the dehumanisation of other people through the encouragement of disdain are documented stages in history that have led to atrocities and even genocides.

“What has happened on the US-Mexico border is a moment of reckoning as it points to a systemic toxicity in public discourse and action. This needs to be stopped now.” She said the planned visit by Trump to the UK next month should go ahead: “I believe that our prime minister should be meeting her counterpart, to convey to him in the strongest terms the depth of opposition that these policies have evoked” ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/23/british-rabbi-trump-immigration-policy-like-genocide-theresa-may-visit