Dear Sir,

We were disheartened to read coverage of the recent speech in Hamilton marking Bermuda’s Emancipation Day, in which Glenn Fubler chose to liken Bermuda’s history of slavery to the conflict in Gaza.

Emancipation Day is a deeply meaningful event in Bermuda — one rooted in the specific legacy of slavery on this island and the resilience of those who endured it. It is a time for collective reflection, education and healing. To politicise this moment by bringing in an unrelated and highly contentious international issue is not only inappropriate — it shifts the focus away from Bermuda’s own history.

Black Bermudians were once enslaved. Jews have been oppressed, expelled from many countries and more recently were victims of real genocide.

Drawing parallels between that shared suffering and the war in Gaza — and calling it a genocide — is both inaccurate and inflammatory. This is a complex and painful conflict, but it is not a genocide, and misusing that term undermines the meaning of actual historical atrocities, including those commemorated on Emancipation Day.

Many Bermudians hold strong and differing views on the situation in Gaza and the Middle East. Introducing it into an Emancipation Day event risks alienating members of our community who feel deeply connected to the legacy of slavery but may not share the same perspective on present geopolitical events. This kind of conflation does not build solidarity — it fractures it.

We should honour our past without using it to frame today’s distant conflicts. Bermuda’s story deserves to stand on its own.

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF BERMUDA