The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine (HHRC Maine), a nonprofit organization that describes itself as an “educational resource center dedicated to Holocaust and human rights education,” has stated that they have “no comment” on Wednesday’s anti-Israel protests in Portland and Augusta.
“The HHRC has no comment on the pro-Palestine rallies in Portland and Augusta.”
Sara Lennon, The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine
Pro-Palestine activists — many of them brandishing pro-Hamas slogans — flocked to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, which was boycotted by both Maine Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree.
While some activists with Maine-based socialist and communist groups traveled to D.C. for anti-Israel demonstrations outside the Capitol, a small number showed up in Portland’s Monument Square and at the State House in Augusta for “Arrest Netanyahu!” protests of their own.
The paltry crowd of mostly masked protesters in Monument Square waved Palestinian flags, and held up signs stating “Free Palestine,” “Intifada Revolution,” “Stop funding genocide,” and “Your silence will be studied by your grandkids” — ironically, the person holding that particular sign refused to speak to the Maine Wire and remained silent.
Another protester wore a shirt with the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan popular with activists sympathetic to Hamas terrorists that is a nod to the elimination of Israel.
One of the few protesters that agreed to speak with the Maine Wire expressed the opinion that the Islamist militant group Hamas are not terrorists, but “people engaged in struggle” to end Israeli occupation, and said she does not believe any Israelis were sexually assaulted during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack because she had not seen any videos of such attacks.
[RELATED: Maine Senators Join Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Hamas’ Use of Rape in Oct 7 Attack on Israel…]
There is a large body of evidence, including several eyewitness accounts from Oct. 7 first responders, that Hamas terrorists engaged in dozens of sexual assaults, rapes and genital mutilations of Israeli women.
After observing the anti-Israel rallies and speaking with the protesters, the Maine Wire reached out to the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, an organization which purportedly stands against antisemitism, to ask whether the nonprofit had a comment on the rallies.
In response, a spokesperson for the HHRC told the Maine Wire in an email on Thursday, “The HHRC has no comment on the pro-Palestine rallies in Portland and Augusta.”
Brian Kresge, the president of the Bangor-based Congregation Beth Israel, Maine’s oldest active Jewish congregation, called the rhetoric employed by the anti-Israel protesters and their denial of the Oct. 7 atrocities “despicable,” while expressing frustration with the HHRC’s “substantive silence” on the antisemitism on display at such protests.
“Some Maine rabbis have privately expressed their disgust over the HHRC, in spite of its current capacity to leverage the ‘Holocaust’ in its name as a fund-raising vehicle, and its substantive silence in the wake of October 7th,” Kresge told the Maine Wire on Thursday.
“For my part, while I have no objection to pro-Palestinian protest, genocidal calls for ‘From the River to the Sea’ or denial of the atrocities accompanying the single largest pogrom against Jews since the Shoah is despicable,” Kresge said. “It should be easy for an organization with ‘Holocaust’ in their name to condemn such things.”
“I do urge actual Jewish institutions in the state of Maine, especially our synagogues, to pick up the slack on advocating for Holocaust education and work against antisemitism parading as anti-Zionism, as it is clear the HHRC has no interest in doing so,” he said.
“My children grew up hearing from Auschwitz survivors in our family first-hand,” he added. “I have no interest in continuing to pretend like the HHRC shares our mission of remembrance and ‘never again.'”
The HHRC, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is run by Executive Director Tam Thanh Huynh and the President of the board is Rebecca Wyke, who also serves as the CEO of the Maine Public Employee Retirement System.
While the HHRC has elected not to condemn recent anti-Israel protests in Maine and throughout the country, posted several messages to its Facebook page this year celebrating same-sex marriage, Pride Month, Cambodia National Day of Remembrance, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, domestic abuse, Earth Day, National Arab American Heritage Month, Eid Al-Fitr, Ramadan, and a lecture series about “The Fate of LGBTQ+ People Under Nazi Rule”.
The HHRC needs to be disbanded immediately for it does not represent Jewish people or serve them in any way. They are a disgrace! Shame on them for not speaking out against the uneducated Hamas protesters! If this sham organization is getting ANY public funding it must be withdrawn immediately! They are an abomination to the memories of all the Jewish people slaughtered during World War II by communists. It is unbelievable this farce of an organization is in Maine.
If I ever find myself within arms length of some rag head who is burning an American flag , you will see my name on the front page of the next days paper , and hear it on the evening news . You f—- with MY flag I will put you down .
Listen closely , you will NOT be told again .
Rape supporters and justifiers should be publicly humiliated and shunned. These are perhaps, at best, just ignorant useful idiots. At worst, they are the lowest common denomination of our race. Either way, they do not deserve our sympathy or support.
seems the hhrc has become what it allegedly hates