A message posted to Facebook on Friday by the Oklahoma Republican Party drew swift condemnation for likening the situation of unvaccinated Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic to the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews during WWII.
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The post, urging Republicans to challenge vaccine mandates, features a yellow Star of David.
Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Oklahoma, told FOX23 that "It is irresponsible and wrong to compare a vaccine... to the horrors of the Holocaust. People should have the liberty to choose if they take the vaccine, but we should never compare the unvaccinated to the victims of the Holocaust."
The party's vice chairman, Shane Jemison, said he wasn't certain who created the post, but called it "beyond abhorrent."
I'd rather be posting about the olympics tonight … pic.twitter.com/zRiRk3rm9J
— Shane Jemison (@sjemisonok) July 31, 2021
The Jewish Federation of Tulsa condemned the comparison in a Facebook post.
"This form of appropriation by the Oklahoma Republican Party is hugely inappropriate and offensive. Using this symbol trivializes the 6 million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust. It is simply wrong to compare the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust to that of anti-vaxxers," the federation's statement read.
"Those interested in pushing their social or political agenda about the pandemic should be able to find another way without trivializing the memory of the 6 million Jews that were murdered and the survivors of the Holocaust," it continued.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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