The Holocaust Museum LA has deleted a post saying 'never again' for non-Jewish people, sparking outrage among pro-Palestine activists who saw it as a message of solidarity for the people of Gaza.
An Instagram post to the museum's 24,000 followers read: “Never again can’t only mean never again for Jews.”
Many saw this post as a reference to the genocide in Gaza, where 64,522 Palestinians have been killed and almost the entire population displaced in a devastating Israeli offensive.
The museum later deleted the post and apologised after many interpreted it as a reference to the assault on the Palestinian people, widely considered to be a genocide.
"We recently posted an item on social media that was part of a pre-planned campaign intended to promote inclusivity and community that was easily open to misinterpretation by some to be a political statement reflecting the ongoing situation in the Middle East. That was not our intent," the museum said.
The museum, which is closed for refurbishments until next year, promised to "do better" and said it will fully vet future posts.
The 'never again' phrase is associated with the Nazi Holocaust of the Jewish people, when 6 million people were murdered, and a pledge to prevent future genocides.
Leading rights groups and legal experts consider Israel's war on Gaza as a genocide, and a systematic campaign to eradicate the Palestinian people from the coastal enclave.
Israel has strongly refuted this and claimed its devastating military campaign is "self-defence", although senior Israeli ministers have said they are seeking to expel the Palestinian population from Gaza and annex the territory.
Last week, the world's leading association of genocide scholars also concluded that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.
Others slammed the museum's latest statement regarding the genocide post.
"Unbelievable. The Holocaust museum LA *apologized* for sharing a general anti-genocide post, because it might be 'misinterpreted' to include Palestinians," Assal Rad, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC tweeted.
"Palestinians are so dehumanized that they’re excluded from “never again,” apparently their genocide is the exception."