Hungarian Holocaust survivor has surprising message to Netanyahu concerning Palestinians

In an appearance on the UK’s ITV show “Good Morning Britain,” 88-year-old Stephen Kapos spoke about the horrors he endured in Hungary during 1944–45, warned of potential mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli prime minister, and accused Israeli politicians of distorting Holocaust memory. You can watch the full interview with the Hungarian Holocaust survivor below.

Hungarian Holocaust survivor decries Israeli invasion

Stephen Kapos, who is now 88, said he feels physically ill when he turns on the television and sees the daily atrocities taking place in Gaza. “In lots of ways, the suffering of the Palestinian people rhymes with the sufferings that we had gone under,” he said during the interview. He warned that if world leaders, like UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, merely wait on decisions from international courts, the genocide could be completed long before any action is taken.

Kapos asserted that claims of defeating Hamas or freeing hostages are just pretexts, arguing that no one rescues hostages through bombing. In reality, he said, Netanyahu is just trying to save his own skin.

“The West is complicit in its silence”

According to the Hungarian Holocaust survivor, the West is guilty of not speaking out forcefully enough against what is happening in Gaza. He also criticized mainstream media for either failing to report on the issue or for lacking neutrality in their coverage.

Kapos said that Israeli politicians are deliberately twisting Holocaust symbols for political purposes. He recalled how at a UN Security Council meeting, Israel’s delegates wore yellow stars in protest against Hamas and to call for the hostages’ release. He called this a complete misunderstanding of the Holocaust and the meanings behind its symbols.

He added that when Netanyahu invokes the Holocaust to say “never again,” he should reflect on his own actions in Gaza.

A powerful family testimony

In the interview, Kapos spoke in depth about the terrifying experiences he endured in Hungary. Though he was just seven years old in 1944, he has vivid memories of what happened. The program’s hosts listened with empathy and deep interest, with one of them approaching Kapos after the show to shake his hand.

He explained that his family was never Zionist; they preferred assimilation. Kapos described Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy as a right-wing leader but said he did not condemn him until the German occupation. Things took a turn for the worse, he said, particularly when Adolf Eichmann and his death squads arrived in Hungary. Still, they did not have to flee their home in Budapest until after 15 October, when the Arrow Cross Party seized power. Before then, though, they had to wear the yellow star.

Kapos recounted how Protestant churches and the International Red Cross helped Jews in Budapest survive the Holocaust by providing false documents and sheltering them under assumed names.

According to a 2018 survey, ITV was considered the most politically neutral broadcaster in the United Kingdom.

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