The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations caused a stir by wearing a yellow star on his jacket at the UN Security Council on Monday.

Gilad Erdan and his staff pinned yellow Stars of David with the inscription “Never Again’’ on their lapels as they attended a meeting of the most powerful UN body.

The stars were reminiscent of those Jews who were forced to wear them during the Nazi dictatorship.

Mr Erdan said he would wear the star, just like his grandparents and the grandparents of millions of Jews.

“From now on, my team and I will wear yellow stars,” he said. “We will wear the star until you condemn the atrocities of Hamas and demand the immediate release of our hostages.’’

“So, I will remind you. From this day on, each time you look at me, you will remember what staying silent in the face of evil means,” the ambassador said.

In his speech, Mr Erdan compared Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip with the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944.

He mocked the UN Security Council, saying that it existed on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day.

There would probably also have been a heated debate about how much electricity and fuel the citizens of Munich still had.

Mr Erdan was responding to worldwide concerns that more civilians might die in Gaza, in addition to the thousands already killed.

He stressed that comparing the death toll on both sides after the devastating massacre in Israel by Islamist Hamas on October 7 was as inadmissible as comparing German and British casualties in World War II.

He compared the demand for a ceasefire in the Middle East with the demand for a ceasefire before the Russians recaptured Stalingrad in 1943.

(dpa/NAN)