Just Stop Oil compared itself to the people who hid Anne Frank to defend itself against UK politician Henry Bolton on Thursday.
After Just Stop Oil activist Louise Bolton was arrested on Tuesday for disrupting a highway in England, Bolton tweeted in support of her arrest, saying that "if you commit a crime, don't complain when you're arrested, prosecuted and jailed."
Bolton went on to criticize the movement for manipulating people to "do their bidding" and said that those who break the law for the movement "should be answering for their actions in a criminal court."
In response to Bolton's tweet, Just Stop Oil pointed out that "the people who hid Anne Frank during WWII were criminals" in a comparison to the movement.
The people who hid Anne Frank during WW2 were criminals, Henry. So were the French Resistance.Obeying the law does not give you the moral highground — not when it's still legal for our Government to greenlight enough oil and gas to kill millions.Good people break bad laws. https://t.co/U6SHwroR7y
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) November 10, 2022
"Obeying does not give you the moral high ground - not when it's legal for our government to greenlight enough oil and gas to kill millions," Just Stop Oil wrote in its reply on Twitter. "Good people break bad laws."
In this statement, the movement justified its activists breaking the law by claiming that their activity is the same as non-Jewish people who risked their lives to help their Jewish friends during the Holocaust wrought by the Nazis both in Germany and the countries they occupied throughout the war.
The comparison is met with outrage
The comparison caused outrage on and off Twitter with many responding to the tweet calling the comparison insensitive and offensive.
Chair of Jewish Labour Mike Katz responded to the tweet calling it "a phenomenally bad take."
This is a phenomenally bad take. Especially on Armistice Day. https://t.co/5lQNr2Q2cj
— Mike Katz (@mikekatz) November 11, 2022
"Such comparisons to victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of six million Jewish men, women and children, are totally inappropriate and insulting," said a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Jewish Chronicle. "This is not the first time radical environmentalists have been caught up in Holocaust controversy."
By resorting to degrading the memory of a Jewish girl murdered as part of the worst atrocity in human history, Just Stop Oil only weakens its case and whatever remains of its credibility."
Campaign Against Antisemitism
Just Stop Oil has come under much criticism for its protests in art galleries around the world where activists threw soup at beloved oil paintings such as Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers."