Campaign to reinstate Melanie Goldberg covered in Haaretz
Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported on the campaign to demand reinstatement for Melanie Goldberg, who was dismissed from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust because of her association with Friends of Standing Together, including the open letter from Holocaust and Jewish Studies scholars.
The article, by Judy Maltz, is available online here. We reproduce the text below.
Dozens of U.K. experts in Holocaust and Jewish studies have signed a letter urging the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, a British charity, to reconsider its decision to terminate the contract of a part-time staffer over her involvement in the Arab-Jewish grassroots movement Standing Together.
Melanie Goldberg, who is based in Scotland, said she was told she could no longer work for HMDT, an organization established by the U.K. government to promote and support Holocaust Memorial Day, because Standing Together has used the term "genocide" to describe Israel's actions in Gaza.
HMDT did not respond to a request for comment.
"Standing Together is an established Israeli/Palestinian social movement that works for social justice and peace in Israel for both Jews and Palestinians," the letter, addressed to the board of the HMDT, says.
"They consistently offer nuance and moral clarity. The movement has notably pushed for the release of the hostages and decried the horrors of 7 October, as well as condemned the IDF war on Gaza. Their systematic recognition of violence and injustice independent of sides has shown remarkable moral courage."
Noting that the group, headquartered in Israel, has been boycotted by the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for "normalizing" Arab-Jewish relations, the letter notes that "Goldberg's association with Standing Together deserves praise and not condemnation."
The letter was initiated by two U.K.-based academics: Anna Hajkova, a Holocaust historian from the University of Warwick and founding director of its Centre for Global Jewish Studies, and Ben Gidley, a sociologist at Birkbeck College, University of London, who serves as chair of the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies.
Among the notable signatories are Professor Tony Kushner from the University of Southampton and Professor Bryan Cheyette from the University of Reading.
Addressing the grounds for Goldberg's dismissal, the letter notes that "while the accusation of genocide has been made in bad faith, including by some with antisemitic intent, the term has been used with care and often anguish by serious genocide scholars."
At a time of rising antisemitism, it adds, "we urgently need an engaged, diverse, and democratic commemoration of the Holocaust that encourages people to learn from the past. This memory needs to be inclusive and reflective, rather than proceed through politicized exclusion."
In a telephone conversation with Haaretz from her home in Glasgow, Goldberg said she had been serving in the role of Scotland support worker for HMDT for three months and was in the midst of organizing the official Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony for Scotland, scheduled to take place at the Scottish Parliament in January, when she was notified, without any advanced warning, that her contract had been terminated.
"I regularly received positive feedback from my manager and others in the organization and had just been informed last week that I was to be flown down for the official U.K. Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony in January – another reason why my dismissal came as such a shock," she said.
According to Goldberg, her employers were aware of her involvement with the Scottish chapter of Standing Together when she was hired for the position."Nobody ever flagged it as a concern," she said.
In the meeting with her supervisors, held two weeks ago, she was told that the decision was final.
"I have been incredibly passionate about Holocaust education and fighting antisemitism for as long as I can remember, and I would not have applied for this job had I not been," said Goldberg.
"The implication that Holocaust education and antisemitism are not hugely important issues for me, and that my values somehow do not align with the Trust is entirely tenuous. I have never said nor done anything to encourage the misuse of the terms 'genocide' and 'Holocaust,' and it is deeply hurtful that this has been suggested."
U.K. Friends of Standing Together organized a petition condemning the dismissal of Goldberg and demanding her reinstatement.
"This has not been done on any grounds of performance or conduct, nor because of anything Melanie has said or done as an individual, but simply because of her involvement in Friends of Standing Together Scotland, which has described Israel's war in Gaza as genocidal, alongside U.K. Friends of Standing Together and Standing Together in Israel," the petition says.
It added: "At no time has it been suggested that Melanie is representing HMDT in her work with Scottish Friends of Standing Together. This is therefore an attack on her right to free speech and association outside of the workplace."
Goldberg said she was consulting with members of her union, which represents employees in charity organizations, to see whether there were grounds to sue HMDT.
Posted 24 December 2025