A Trump-loving right-wing pundit, Ret. Army Colonel Kurt Schlichter, made a nasty reference to Auschwitz. He said that any Jewish person who supports Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama “would’ve made a great helper” at Auschwitz, the most notorious of Holocaust camps.
If you are Jewish and supporting Barack Obama and John Kerry, well, you would have made a fine helper at Auschwitz.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) December 28, 2016
Schlichter made this comment referring to anyone who agrees with John Kerry’s handling of the situation in Israel. Last week, the United States allowed a measure to pass by abstaining from a Security Council vote, which resulted in the end of Israeli settlements.
Kerry said:
“Despite our best efforts over the years, the two-state solution is now in serious jeopardy. We cannot, in good conscience, do nothing, and say nothing, when we see the hope of peace slipping away.”
“Let’s be clear. Settlement expansion has nothing to do with Israel’s security. Many settlements actually increase the security burden on the Israeli defense forces and leaders of the settler movement are motivated by ideological imperatives that entirely ignore legitimate Palestinian aspirations.”
Kerry angered people in both parties with this speech about Israel. Republicans said that we are treating an ally too harshly. Democrats said that John Kerry was putting too much pressure on Israel.
The official Auschwitz Museum Twitter account weighed in on this statement with this tweet:
The tragedy of prisoners of Auschwitz & their complicated moral dilemmas which today we can hardly comprehend should not be instrumentalized https://t.co/lGYSxQ4a54
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 28, 2016
What did Schlichter say? Did he apologize? No, he doubled down on his ignorant statement:
Your opinion is important and deserves respectful attention.
However, I disagree, respectfully, with your conclusion here.@AuschwitzMuseum— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) December 28, 2016
Here are some responses from other Twitter users:
seriously? Back down and apologize, you are wrong here. @AuschwitzMuseum
— Andrew Kornblatt (@akornblatt) December 28, 2016
https://twitter.com/PubliusShepard/status/814265193270308864
I totally agree with this one. Schlichter came down way too harshly on these remarks.
Here is what he said about Israel in his most recent column on Townhall:
“Slam Israel: Who needs Jewish voters in your coalition anymore? You’ve got urban hipsters and illegal aliens, frigid divorcees and welfare cheats, plus a declining number of blacks and more urban hipsters, so those embarrassing friends of the Zionist Entity are totally expendable. Let them go join the GOP, with its unflinching support for evil Israel against the uncorrupt democracies surrounding it. When your delegates booed Israel (and God) at your convention, it was a great way to start this super-helpful conversation.”
Here are the Young Turks covering John Kerry’s speech:
https://youtu.be/VpMqyKxOysw
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
