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An exhibition held on Sunday in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam is drawing backlash for repurposing Holocaust imagery to frame the recent war in Gaza — just days before Yom HaShoah.
Organizers staged the display in Dam Square, arranging thousands of shoes in rows to represent children killed in Gaza. The installation closely echoed Holocaust memorials such as Shoes on the Danube Bank and exhibits at Auschwitz-Birkenau. At those sites, victims’ shoes stand as evidence of systematic, industrial-scale murder.
Hundreds of shoes are displayed at Dam Square in Amsterdam for children and journalists who lost their lives in Gaza https://t.co/ZnkdQNWLPV
📸: Abdullah Aşıran pic.twitter.com/k18cLO0hjA
— Anadolu Images (@anadoluimages) April 12, 2026
The Plant an Olive Tree Foundation organized the Amsterdam display and described it as a tribute to more than 20,000 children it claims died in the Gaza war. Participants read names aloud during the display.
The exhibition took place less than 48 hours before Yom HaShoah, Israel’s national Holocaust remembrance day.
By adopting symbols inseparable from the Nazi genocide, the display recasts the Gaza war through the lens of Jewish extermination. It distorts both historical truth and the meaning of genocide.
There was no active war prior to October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel’s borders with the stated aim of killing as many Jews as possible. Gunmen murdered civilians in their homes, burned entire families alive, committed acts of sexual violence, and abducted more than 250 people into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a military campaign in self-defense. Casualty figures published by Hamas authorities remain unverified and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel seeks to minimize civilian harm while confronting a terrorist organization that operates from within populated areas and uses civilians as human shields.
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