The charity Freedom from Torture is refusing to remove a video of a Holocaust survivor confronting UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s stance on refugees.
Joan Salter, 83, asked Braverman to justify calling migrants crossing the English Channel an ‘invasion’.
Salter said her rhetoric was similar to the language Nazis used to justify their killings during World War Two.
In the clip that has now gone viral, Salter said during a meeting at the Fareham constituency in Hampshire: “I am a child survivor of the Holocaust.
“In 1943, I was forced to flee my birthplace in Belgium and went across war-torn Europe and dangerous seas until I finally was able to come to the UK in 1947.
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“When I hear you using words against refugees like ‘swarms’ and an ‘invasion’, I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others.
“Why do you find the need to use that kind of language?”
However, the Home Secretary refused to apologise, citing she needed to convey the severity of asylum seekers invading England.
Braverman says in part: “I won’t apologise for the language that I have used to demonstrate the scale of the problem.
"I see my job as being honest with the British people and honest for the British people.
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“I’m not going to shy away from difficult truths nor am I going to conceal what is the reality that we are all watching.”
Breaking News reported that following Braverman facing backlash for her comments, a spokesperson for the Home Office accused the footage on social media of having been edited and ‘misrepresenting the interaction’.
They said, as per the outlet: “Since the footage misrepresents the interaction about a sensitive area of policy, we have asked the organisation who posted the video to take it down.”
However, Freedom From Torture chief executive Sonya Sceats said the charity would not take down the video and urged people to watch the entire discourse on their website.
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She said: “Suella Braverman refused to apologise for offensive and dehumanising language when challenged by a Holocaust survivor at a party meeting.
“Not only that, but the Home Office has demanded we remove the footage.
“As an organisation providing therapy to torture survivors who feel targeted by her language and who know first-hand where such dehumanising language can lead, we will not do so.
“She has used language she should be ashamed of, and we won’t be pressured into helping her hide it.”
Topics: UK News
Charisa Bossinakis