Disclaimer: The ZOA is a non-partisan organization. ZOA does not endorse or oppose any candidate or political party for office.
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
As a child of Holocaust survivors who had most of my relatives murdered by the Nazis, I’m always deeply offended when false “Nazi” and “fascist” accusations are bandied about, especially when such accusations are hurled at friends of Israel and the Jewish people. The only contemporary parties that deserve to be analogized to Nazis are those such as the Iranian regime and its proxies who want to “finish the job of Hitler,” who call for committing intifadas and similar genocides of the Jewish people, and wiping Israel off the map. It’s thus despicable that Governor Tim Walz, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and MSNBC analogized the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Trump rally, filled with religious and secular Jews and Israeli flags, to a 1939 Nazi rally.
It’s utterly absurd to analogize the Trump rally to the 1939 Nazi rally.
The 1939 Nazi rally at MSG included banners with Nazi swastikas; goose-stepping Hitler youth and “brown-shirts” dressed like Nazi storm troopers; Heil Hitler salutes from the entire crowd; claims that George Washington was America’s “first fascist”; blood libels about “Jewish control,” and demands for a whites-only, Christians-only fascist America. When a 26-year-old Jewish plumber, Isadore Greenbaum, jumped on the stage and yelled “Down with Hitler!,” the Nazis brutally punched and kicked him, broke his nose, gave him a black eye, and even ripped his pants off, to the delight of the crowd, before the New York Police Department managed to wrestle Greenbaum to safety.
At the Madison Square Garden Trump rally on Sunday, Hulk Hogan aptly commented, to the cheers of thousands of attendees: “I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here, I don’t see no stinking domestic terrorists in here, the only thing I see in here are a bunch of hardworking men and women that are real Americans, brother.”
And many of those hardworking Americans at the Trump rally were Jews! As well as persons of every other faith, and of every color.
At the Trump rally, Israeli flags waved – not swastikas.
At the Trump rally, antisemitism was condemned and Israel was upheld. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik told the crowd: “just over one year ago, we had our most precious ally, Israel, under attack from Iranian-backed Hamas… And what did we see? What did we see on our college campuses? We saw a skyrocketing of antisemitism. Let me ask you all, did you see that committee hearing with those college presidents, now former college presidents? That’s right. I asked the presidents of Penn, MIT and Harvard, ‘Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?’ And one after the other said, ‘It depends on the context,’ and the world heard. You are fired. Five have been fired, so many to go…”
At the Trump rally, those who want to kill Jews, or who side with Jew-killers, were booed and denounced. Fmr. NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani stated: “September 11 was our darkest hour. October seven was Israel’s darkest hour. They are our best friend. I worked for Ronald Reagan for eight years. Ronald Reagan said, “We have to be there for Israel always because they are always there for us.” Hamas is not there for us, Iran is not there for us, they want to kill us! And the Palestinians are taught to kill us at two years old. They won’t let a Palestinian in Jordan, they won’t let a Palestinian in Egypt… They may have good people. I’m sorry, I don’t take a risk with people that are taught to kill Americans… I’m on the side of Israel. You’re on the side of Israel…”
At the Trump rally, Jews pointed out that the “Nazi rally analogy” was absurd and sick. We agree.