Israel has condemns the display of a carnival float in Spain featuring Nazi uniforms and trains with crematoria.
The Israeli Embassy in Madrid protested the display this weekend at the annual carnival procession in Campo de Criptana, a town situated about 80 miles southeast of the capital.
“We condemn the vile and repugnant representation that disrespects the victims of the Holocaust,” the embassy spokesperson Yoav Katz wrote on Twitter, “making fun of the murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis. European nations must collectively fight anti-Semitism.”
A video of the procession shows the participants marching in their fake Nazi uniforms. Behind them, dancers wearing striped outfits evoking concentration camp uniforms followed while waving flags of Israel. They were followed by the float shaped like a train locomotive with two large chimneys.
According to Spanish daily El Pais, the Cultural Association El Chaparral de Las Mesas from Cuenca, which presented the float, said they intended ‘’to honor the victims of extermination and remember one of the most dishonorable events in the history of mankind.”
The City Council of Campo de Criptana later issued a statement in which it said that it shares criticism of the float. ‘’If the initial objective was to commemorate the victims, it is clear that this has not been achieved,” it said.
The controversy over this parade came only a few days after antisemitic representations at the carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst which also drew protests from Israel.