Anne Frank’s Image Twisted for Hamas Propaganda

A pro-Palestinian protest in Milan’s main cathedral square on August 24, 2025, has ignited global fury after a demonstrator displayed a caricature of Anne Frank wearing a keffiyeh, a symbol associated with Palestinian resistance, while mocking the Star of David with an inverted Palestinian flag triangle. The provocative image, seen as a grotesque distortion of Holocaust memory, was held aloft by a smirking woman during a rally, amplifying a surge in anti-Semitic acts cloaked as activism. The stunt, condemned as Hamas propaganda, exploits the image of Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager murdered by the Nazis in 1945, to push a narrative that ignores the complexities of the war between Israel-Hamas, including Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted over 250.

The incident reflects a broader wave of antisemitism, with the Anti-Defamation League reporting a 140% rise in global anti-Semitic incidents in 2024, often fuelled by so-called activists who latch onto pro-Palestinian causes without grasping the conflict’s nuances. Posts on X decried the display as a “vile perversion of Holocaust memory,” demanding immediate investigation by Italian authorities. Critics argue such acts trivialize the genocide of six million Jews while parroting Hamas talking points, like labelling Israel’s defensive actions as “genocide,” without acknowledging the group’s use of human shields or rocket attacks nor bothering to understand the definition of the word and its lack of application against Israel. The Milan protest follows similar trends, with celebrities and activists amplifying unverified claims, as seen in recent BBC and Sally Rooney controversies over pro-Hamas rhetoric.

Italian police, present at the rally, have faced scrutiny for not intervening, especially as support for groups like Palestine Action, banned in the UK for terrorism, has surfaced in similar protests. The caricature’s use in Milan underscores the ignorance of activists who exploit Jewish suffering for political gain, deepening divisions in a city with a Jewish community of over 7,000. Calls for accountability grow as Italy grapples with rising anti-Semitic incidents, up 30% since 2023.