Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

A Dutch man who risked his life to save a Jewish child during the Holocaust gave back a medal he received for his actions in order to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Henk Zanoli, 91, returned his medal to the Israeli Embassy in The Hague after a member of his family died in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Haaretz daily reported Aug. 15.

Zanoli and his mother were recognized by the State of Israel and its Holocaust commemoration authority, Yad Vashem, in 2011 for hiding a Jewish child in their home from 1943 to 1945.

A great-niece of Zanoli is a Dutch diplomat whose husband was born in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Last month, an Israeli bomb killed several members of his family, Haaretz reported.

“For me to hold on to the honor granted by the State of Israel, under these circumstances, will be both an insult to the memory of my courageous mother who risked her life,” and to relatives in mourning in Gaza, Zanoli said, explaining why he returned the medal. — jta