Israel-Hamas war: What is the yellow star that Israeli envoy to UN wore at meet?

Members of the United Nations Security Council were left speechless on Monday (30 October) when Israel’s ambassador to the world agency, Gilad Erdan, placed a yellow star on his suit and said: “Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, from now on, my team and I will wear yellow stars. We will wear this star until you wake up and condemn the atrocities of Hamas.” A passionate Erdan said wearing the star was meant to remind those present of “what staying silent in the face of evil means”. “Some of you have learned nothing in the past 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was established,” said the Israeli ambassador, denouncing the council for “staying silent” over the unprecedented deadly attacks by Hamas militants against Israel on 7 October. He added that he was wearing the star, which read ‘Never Again’ as a “symbol of pride.”

היום במועצת הבטחון,ענדתי את הטלאי הצהוב והטחתי בחברות המועצה: כשבני משפחתי נשלחו לתאי הגזים- העולם שתק. היום אחרי שתינוקות יהודיים שוב נשרפו בחיים- מועצת הביטחון שותקת. לא למדתם דבר בשמונים השנים האחרונות! האו״ם שכח למה הוא נוסד! אבל אנחנו נדאג להזכיר לו: מעתה ואילך, הצוות שלי… pic.twitter.com/hn2WShYX6C

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 31, 2023

Hi actions came as the Israel-Hamas war entered Day 25 and the 15-member council has been unable to adopt a single resolution on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Notably, the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the Holocast, was not impressed by the move. Dani Dayan wrote on X, “This act disgraces the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel. The yellow star symbolises the helplessness of the Jewish people and their being at the mercy of others. We now have an independent state and a strong army. We are the masters of our own fate. Today we will fasten to our lapel a blue and white flag, not a yellow star.” The yellow badge, today, evokes the memories of the Holocaust and the cruelty of the Nazis. But what is this yellow badge? What’s the history behind it? History behind the yellow badge The yellow badge, or Jewish badge or yellow star finds its origins in the Middle Ages. It was meant to be a symbol to identify and exclude Jews from the rest of the population. The forced marking for Jews was first introduced by Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. The pope explained that it was a means to prevent Christians from having sex with Jews and Muslims, thereby protecting society from “such prohibited intercourse.” Later the yellow badge became an instrument used by the Nazis to mark Jews. The badges marked the wearer as a religious or ethnic outsider, often as a badge of shame. It is believed that the first time the implementation of a Jewish badge was discussed among the Nazi leaders was right after Kristallnacht in 1938 – when synagogues were set on fire and Jewish businesses were destroyed. [caption id=“attachment_13323892” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Yellow Badge mandated by the Nazis had to be worn by all Jews above the age of 6. Image Courtesy: thejewishmuseum.org[/caption] Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Main Security Office, made the first suggestion about a badge. But it was in 1941 that authorities implemented a Jewish badge in the Nazi German-occupied territories of Poland. The Nazi law mandated that all Jews would wear a ‘palm-sized, black, six-pointed star made of yellow fabric with the black inscription ‘Jew’. The badge had to be visibly worn on the left side of any garment. **Also read: Israel-Hamas war: A look at antisemitism, anti-Zionism amid rising hate crimes in West** This rule was applicable to all Jews over the age of six and it was necessary for them to appear in public without a yellow badge. Anyone who tried to hide the star – with a scarf, for example – was harshly penalised by the Gestapo, who monitored the visibility of the badge. German occupiers imposed the badge for the Jews in Belgium and the Netherlands as well. Even in France, the yellow badge was seen. Many of Germany’s allies followed the Nazis’ lead and imposed the yellow badge on their own Jewish population. For instance, in Croatia, Jews were ordered to wear the yellow badge with the letter Ž for Židov: (‘Jew’ in Croatian). [caption id=“attachment_13323942” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jews wearing yellow stars at the Kistarcsa concentration camp in Hungary in 1944. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons[/caption] A symbol of shame and fear The yellow badge soon became an instrument of humiliation. Author and specialist for Romance languages, Victor Klemperer, in his diaries had written, “Yesterday, when Eva sewed on the Jewish star, I was taken by an insane fit of desperation. Eva was also at her wits’ end. I feel shattered, I cannot find composure.” But it wasn’t just about humiliation and shaming the Jews. It invoked fear for the Jews, as failure to wearing it led to being fined or imprisoned, but often, it meant beatings or death. But wearing the badge didn’t save the Jews; wearing the badge meant that they were targets for attacks and that they could be grabbed for forced labour. Experts noted that it became a precursor to what the Nazis called the “final solution” of the Jewish question. As written in ThoughtCo, with the visual labelling of Jews, the years of haphazard persecution quickly changed to organised destruction. [caption id=“attachment_13323972” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The yellow badge has become the badge of shame. It evokes the memories of the Holocaust and the cruelty of the Nazis. File image/Reuters[/caption] Beyond the yellow badges Apart from Jews being forced to wear the yellow badge during the Nazi occupation, the Taliban had also considered imposed a similar style on Hindus in Afghanistan back in May 2001. Reacting to the outrage, the Taliban had claimed that the move would end harassment of the minority group by the notoriously zealous religious police in Afghanistan. Also read: Israel-Hamas war: How Europe is cracking down on rising antisemitism The militant group had stated that non-Muslims would have to carry thumb-size pieces of yellow cloth whenever they ventured outdoors, but said it was meant to prevent any “disturbance” of non- Muslims who might otherwise be detained by police. The proposal reminiscent of the yellow badge that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany prompted an angry statement from India. “We absolutely deplore such orders which patently discriminate against minorities,” an Indian foreign ministry spokesman had told reporters in New Delhi. “It is further evidence of the backward and unacceptable ideological underpinning of the Taliban.” A month later, the Taliban dropped the idea with some reports stating that Pakistani diplomats had urged a reconsideration of the badge policy, saying that this harsh step by the Taliban regime had created a serious uproar in the outside world and was giving it a negative image. With inputs from agencies