A Dutch court on Wednesday banned a right-wing political leader from comparing COVID restrictions to the Holocaust on social media following legal action by World War II survivors and Jewish organizations.
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According to French news agency AFP, populist Forum for Democracy party chief Thierry Baudet said on Twitter that "the unvaccinated are the new Jews, those who look away from the exclusions are the new Nazis."
He also posted side-by-side a photo of a young Dutch boy prevented from attending a festive St Nicholas party and one of a Jewish boy from a Polish ghetto before his deportation during World War II.
WHATEVER YOU DO: DON'T TAKE THE "VACCINE"!
— Thierry Baudet (@thierrybaudet) September 20, 2021
Baudet, 38, who pinned a post reading, "Whatever you do: don't take the 'vaccine'!" to the top of his Twitter page, was ordered to delete the relevant social media posts within 48 hours and can no longer use pictures of the Holocaust in debates over Dutch health restrictions, local media reported.
He risks incurring a daily fine of $28,000 for breaking the court order.
A judge ruled against Baudet for "pointlessly offending Holocaust victims and their relatives."
"The right to freedom of expression is not unlimited for a representative of the people," Dutch press agency ANP quoted the judge as saying.
Baudet also shared a photo of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany with the comment: "How is it possible not to see how history is repeating itself."
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An antisemitism monitoring group, four Jewish World War II survivors, and Dutch Jewish organizations initiated proceedings.
"Incomprehensible, crazy ruling. We are angry and ready to fight. And of course, we will appeal," Baudet wrote on Twitter afterward.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
