Presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at an event of the Israel Heritage Foundation at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, N.J., where he was awarded a Keter Yerushalyim (Crown of Jerusalem) Award on July 10, 2023. Photo courtesy of Israel Heritage Foundation.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign stated on Aug. 1 that his indictment that day on felony charges was “nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.”
The campaign, which noted that Trump is the Republican frontrunner, added that the charges, which it called “lawless,” are “reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.”
The statement drew widespread criticism from Jewish organizations, some of which have been frequent critics of the former president and his policies and statements.
“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,” the American Jewish Committee told JNS in a statement.
“Here’s some advice. Please sit with a Holocaust survivor and let them share their story. Just listen,” the AJC added. “Then show them the respect they deserve and honor the memory of the 6 million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis by never making a comparison like this again.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote that “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.”
“Let’s be clear: The Holocaust was an unimaginable tragedy where Nazis and their collaborators committed genocide, murdering 6 million Jews,” wrote Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of Combat Antisemitism Movement. “Nothing can compare to the magnitude of this dark chapter in history.”
