American Jewish Congress Announces Launch of #NotAProp Social Media Campaign in Response to Greene
The American Jewish Congress strongly rejects Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s (R-GA) June 14 “apology” for equating COVID mask-wearing with the forced-wearing of the Star of David during the Holocaust. In response to her persistent abuses of the memory of the Holocaust, we have launched a social media campaign – #NotAProp – featuring Holocaust survivors who provide searing testimony about their experiences and their reaction to actions that demean the Holocaust. The first post, featuring 95-year old author Frank Shatz–who survived and escaped a Nazi death camp in Romania–appears today.
“Greene should find a different career. Her values don’t align with what we expect out of our Congresspeople,” said American Jewish Congress President Jack Rosen. “There should be no place in American political dialogue for equating the extermination of six million Jews with life-saving medical intervention. This type of theater is not merely outrageous, it is dangerous: diminishing the atrocities committed by Nazis is tantamount to denial. The Holocaust is a not a stain that can or should be wiped clean, lest it happen again.
Rep. Greene’s retraction comes three weeks after comparing COVID-19 restrictions to the Nazis anti-Jewish restrictions, particularly the requirement for Jews to wear a yellow star. In the meantime, she doubled down and compared the Democratic Party to the Nazi Party, and even yesterday she refused to back down from those comments. Disturbingly enough, Rep. Greene has shown an unabashed fervor in cultivating a base of supporters rich in Holocaust deniers, antisemites, and white supremacists through antisemitic platforms such as Gab.
In Greene’s statement, which she made after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, she asserted that she is “very much a normal person.” “This is patently false,” said Rosen. “A U.S. Member of Congress is not normal. Their words and views matter disproportionately and can influence and inflame like-minded followers. Further, the views Taylor-Greene espouses are not ‘normal.’ They either show gross ignorance of the most catastrophic event in human history or callous disregard for the suffering it still causes.” Our campaign will engage the public about the horrors of the Holocaust and how the use of it for political purposes is beyond the pale.
