Anti-vaccination protesters in New York wear yellow stars and brandish swastika signs outside Jewish Assemblyman’s office
Anti-vaccination protesters in New York were spotted wearing the yellow stars that were forced upon Jews during the Holocaust and brandishing swastika signs during a demonstration that was held outside a Jewish Assemblyman’s office on Sunday.
The demonstration was organised by Rob Astorino, a Republican candidate for governor, in order to protest the bill sponsored by Democrat Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, whose office in the Bronx the rally was held outside, which called for children to be immunised against COVID-19 in order to attend school.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz condemned the invocation of the Holocaust as “repugnant and offensive” on Twitter, before adding: “People are perfectly free to express their opinion on vaccines or any issue, but to openly display Nazi symbols outside the office of a Jewish legislator is despicable.”
Assemblyman Dinowitz also stated that he was “disgusted and offended by the antisemitic imagery that was brought to my office by apparent supporters of Rob Astorino’s failing gubernatorial campaign…People are free to express their opinions on vaccine policy and on any issue, but I draw the line at swastikas.”
He went on to say that standing next to swastikas and yellow Stars of David outside of a Jewish legislator’s office “shows a lack of integrity at best and an embrace of right-wing extremism at worst.” Assemblyman Dinowitz also called on Mr Astorino to “condemn in the strongest terms” the Holocaust-related symbols that were present at his demonstration. “I refuse to be cowed by antisemites or anti-science extremists,” the assemblyman said.
Mr Astorino took to Twitter to speak out against one of the signs bearing a swastika, claiming that he did not see the sign at the time and that, according to him, the woman holding the sign had a different one when he met her before the event. He added: “Regardless of who the woman was or why she was there, if I saw the sign I would have stopped and had it removed. Absolutely inappropriate.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also denounced the symbols as “an insult to our Jewish community, especially our Holocaust survivors who have endured real pain” and stated that “This is what antisemitism looks like”, before adding: “We stand with @JeffreyDinowitz & our Jewish community.”
The inflammatory and misleading comparison has been used among other international anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown circles.
Earlier this year, Joseph Szwarc, a Holocaust survivor, spoke out against wearing the yellow star in protests, saying: “You can’t imagine how much that upset me. This comparison is hateful. We must all rise up against this ignominy.” With tears in his eyes, Mr Szwarc added: “I wore the star, I know what that is, I still have it in my flesh. It is everyone’s duty to not allow this outrageous, antisemitic, racist wave to pass over us.”
The comparison has been made across the world, including in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine and elsewhere.
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.
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