Member's statement: Holocaust Memorial Day
Member's statement by Mr Brian Kingston on .
- MLA
- Mr Brian Kingston
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 27 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Holocaust Memorial Day
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4758669
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I join in the recognition that today is Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, where Nazis murdered Jewish people and others who did not conform to their twisted vision. We know that our king will be among those attending the commemoration there today. The Holocaust was the attempt by the Nazis to destroy all Jewish people in Europe. Building on centuries of antisemitism, the persecution of Jewish people began as soon as the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. It is calculated that 6 million Jewish men, women and children were murdered in ghettos, mass shootings, concentration camps and death camps; also targeted and murdered were Roma and Sinti people, black people, the disabled, gay people, political opponents and others. On this day, we also remember those targeted in more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and Bosnia, of which this year is the 30th anniversary. On Thursday evening, I joined those attending the Northern Ireland regional ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day at Belfast City Hall. The event was addressed by our First Minister and deputy First Minister. There were poignant contributions from those with lived experience. First, there was a recorded interview with Professor Peter Lantos BEM, who grew up as a member of the Hungarian Jewish community. Of the 800,000 Jews living in Hungary in 1944, it is estimated, over two thirds — 565,000 — were murdered in the Holocaust. Peter, then aged 5, and his mother were survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where his father died of starvation. Secondly, there was an address by Munira Subašic on behalf of the Mothers of Srebrenica. In July 1995, over 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were murdered by Serb forces at Srebrenica, which was in a UN protected zone, in just two days. They included 22 members of Munira's extended family, including her husband and youngest son. Another participant at Thursday's ceremony was Reverend David Kale, rabbi of the Hebrew congregation of Belfast synagogue. It was encouraging to see young people from a range of schools and youth organisations taking part in the ceremony. It is important that we remember those past horrors in support of the survivors, for vigilance against future atrocities and because the final stage in every genocide is denial. With sadness, we say, "Never forget. Never again. For a better future."
400 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.84).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.06 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.84 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.16 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.98 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.02 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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