Several leaders in the Jewish community strongly criticized former President Donald Trump’s campaign for comparing his third indictment Tuesday to Nazi Germany.
Trump was indicted by the Department of Justice(DOJ) for alleged attempts to interfere with the results of the 2020 election. His campaign released a statement on social media following the news, claiming that the charges were akin to the persecution of Jews during the 1930s under Nazi Germany, provoking backlash from the Jewish community. (RELATED: Jury Reaches Decision On Penalty For Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter)
“The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes” the statement reads. “President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution, with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys.”
Julie Lenarz, director of media communications for the American Jewish Committee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that these comparisons were “deeply offensive.”
“Early in the 2024 presidential campaign is a good time to remind all those engaged in political discourse that this rhetoric is deeply offensive and disrespectful,” Lenarz said. “Here’s some advice. Please sit with a Holocaust survivor and let them share their story. Just listen. Then show them the respect they deserve and honor the memory of the six million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis by never making a comparison like this again.”
The DOJ charged Trump with “Conspiracy to defraud the United States,” “Conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 proceedings” and “A conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.” The campaign’s statement protested the DOJ’s treatment of Trump, asking why the department waited for nearly two years to bring the “fake charges” and claimed it was simply the administration’s latest attempt at “election interference.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote on Twitter Tuesday following the statement that the campaign’s correlation was “completely inappropriate.”
Comparing this indictment to Nazi Germany in the 1930s is factually incorrect, completely inappropriate and flat-out offensive. As we have said time and again, such comparisons have no place in politics and are shameful. https://t.co/WPW2qSEudr
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 1, 2023
StopAntisemitism, a nonpartisan organization that works to educate against and combat antisemitism, referred the DCNF to its post on Twitter, saying the comparison “spit on the graves of millions.”
StopAntisemitism is disgusted by former President Trump’s comparison of his indictment to that of Nazi Germany.
Such analogies do nothing but dilute the atrocities of Hitler and the SS regime and spit on the graves of millions murdered during the Holocaust.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 2, 2023
Trump did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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