August 7, 2009: Anti-Defamation League Lambasts Use of Nazi Symbols and Comparisons in Health Care Debate

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a primarily Jewish organization that battles anti-Semitism, decries the use of Nazi symbols and language in recent health care debates (see July 25, 2009, August 1, 2009, August 4, 2009, August 4, 2009, August 6, 2009, August 6, 2009, and August 6, 2009). In a press release, the ADL’s National Director Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, calls such remarks “outrageous, deeply offensive, and inappropriate.” He singles out conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for specific criticism after Limbaugh repeatedly compares Obama administration policies to those of the Nazis. “Regardless of the political differences and the substantive differences in the debate over health care, the use of Nazi symbolism is outrageous, offensive, and inappropriate,” Foxman says. “Americans should be able to disagree on the issues without coloring it with Nazi imagery and comparisons to Hitler. This is not where the debate should be at all.… Comparisons to the Nazis are deeply offensive and only serve to diminish and trivialize the extent of the Nazi regime’s crimes against humanity and the murder of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust. I don’t see any comparison here. It’s off-center, off-issue, and completely inappropriate.” [Anti-Defamation League, 8/7/2009]