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Bipartisan Members of Congress Condemn Anti-Semitic Attacks on Parkland Students

Exploitative memes and propaganda, some shared by political officials, have repeatedly compared student activists from the school to Nazis

by
Yair Rosenberg
April 13, 2018
RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images
Flowers, candles and mementos sit outside one of the makeshift memorials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 27, 2018.RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images
RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images
Flowers, candles and mementos sit outside one of the makeshift memorials at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 27, 2018.RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images

Today, U.S. Congress representatives Ted Deutch (D-Fl), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) issued a short, pointed statement condemning recent anti-Semitic attacks leveled at pro-gun control students from Stoneman Douglas High School.

“It is shameful for anyone to attack students – especially survivors of gun violence – with anti-Semitic slurs and Nazi comparisons,” the group stated. “Policy differences are never an excuse for anti-Semitism. We condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms and reject any inappropriate evocation of the Holocaust or comparison to Nazis.”

Until now, these attacks have largely flown under the radar, but they have slowly been circulating since the shooting. Earlier this week, anti-Semitic flyers comparing one of the Parkland student activists to Adolf Hitler were distributed on the campus of American University. Similar memes likening the Parkland students to Nazis have spread online and even been shared by political officials from New York to Maryland. Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones even intercut footage of one female Parkland student with images of the Hitler Youth.

The Stoneman Douglas student population is 40% Jewish, as were 5 of the 17 victims of February’s mass shooting, making such invidious comparisons all the more offensive.

Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet. Subscribe to his newsletter, listen to his music, and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.