The easy reaction is outrage. How dare Roger Hallam, the founder of Extinction Rebellion, seek to downplay the Holocaust? Do these left-wing campaigners truly think that their self-righteousness gives them a pass on anti-Semitism? At a time when Jewish schools and synagogues across Europe need armed guards, how can he minimize the Shoah?

Such a column would pretty much write itself. But I’d rather engage with the substance of the eco-activist’s remarks, even to offer a partial defense of them — though not, I suspect, in a way for which he will thank me.

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