Yes, the "trips to Auschwitz" is a pathetic gimmick.

UK: Just an observation from across the pond, if you are going to do something like this sending two kids and a teacher from every school while paying for barely half the cost. Something this monumental shouldn't be half assed for the sake of putting on a list of "look at what we did!"

David Cameron was facing intense political criticism last night after including student “trips to Auschwitz” on a list of government gimmicks. The Tory leader was resisting opposition calls to apologise about the reference to visits, organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust, in a list of “Gordon Brown’s 26 gimmicks” included in a speech. The document, sent out in response to a similar list from Labour, of 50 Conservative achievements since 1997, included: “Honours for sportsmen”, “Prison ships”, “Deep cleaning of hospitals” and “New border police”. No 4 on the list was “Trips to Auschwitz”. Tory sources defended the listing. They said they were not seeking to criticise the trips themselves but were highlighting the way that the Government announced the funding arrangements. “We have made it quite clear that it was not trips to Auschwitz that we are calling a gimmick,” one said, adding that there were other things on the list that they support, including smear tests for cancer. In November 2005 the Government announced £1.5 million of funding for the trust to support its “Lessons from Auschwitz” project for teachers and sixth form students. The funding enables the trust to facilitate visits to Auschwitz for two students from every school in Britain. This month the Government announced that it would continue funding to support the project until 2011. A spokesman for David Cameron said the visits were included on the list because the Conservatives believed that the Government had “spun” this funding announcement. “The Government was trying to suggest in a press release earlier this month they were going to fund two children from every school. The problem is they said they would pay for it in full. “But when you look at the analysis, the schools have to pay £1.9 million. So what exactly is the Government paying for?” The Tories say they would pay for the trips in full from the lottery, without asking schools and colleges to contribute. But last night Mr Cameron’s remark was condemned privately by Tory figures and publicly by those involved with the visits.

Shame on the Jewish leaders in this piece who have joined in the pile on when clearly Cameron wasn't putting down trips to Auschwitz but how they are done in the first place.