ZGram - 1/13/2004 - "Abe Fox: For heaven's sake, don't use the Holocaust!"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

January 13, 2004

Good Morning from the Holocaust:

What's that?  The Holocaust is getting blunt as a political attack 
tool?  Hear, hear!

[START]

Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-885-7747 or Todd Gutnick, 212-885-7755; 
both of the Anti-Defamation League

NEW YORK, Jan. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League 
(ADL), deeply concerned by the use of comparisons to Hitler and the 
Holocaust to attack presidential candidates, today called on both the 
Democratic and Republican parties to urge supporters to "refrain from 
adopting Holocaust imagery as a political attack tool."

"Unfortunately with the approach of the Democratic primaries and 
caucuses we have witnessed a proliferation of comparisons to Hitler 
and his policies, which have been parroted by supporters of both 
Democratic and Republican candidates," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL 
National Director and a Holocaust survivor. "This is a trivialization 
of the Holocaust for political ends. The use of Holocaust imagery in 
a presidential campaign demeans the memory of the six million and 
others who died at the hands of the Nazis."

Since first speaking out on this issue, ADL has received hundreds of 
e-mails from supporters and detractors of President Bush, some 
suggesting that the League's stance on the issue was politically 
motivated.

ADL stressed that trivialization of the Holocaust is neither a 
Republican nor a Democratic issue, but rather a matter of respecting 
the feelings of those who could be offended by such images, including 
Jewish Holocaust survivors and their families.

"To us, this is neither a Democratic nor a Republican issue, but a 
matter of human decency and sensitivity to human suffering," Foxman 
said. "This is about the inappropriateness of using Holocaust imagery 
for political ends. Supporters on both sides are guilty of adopting 
these images to attack the other side. We urge all campaigns and 
their supporters to refrain from using the Holocaust as a political 
attack tool."

With the arrival of the 2004 primary season, ADL has noted several 
instances where supporters of both Republican and Democratic 
candidates have used inappropriate and deeply offensive Holocaust 
imagery in attacking the other side. Recent examples include:

-- Anti-George W. Bush attack ads posted on the MoveOn.org Web site 
as part of a contest that drew direct comparisons between the 
President and Hitler. The ads have since been removed, and MoveOn.org 
has apologized for the offense they caused.

-- A column in the New York Post by Ralph Peters, a retired Army 
intelligence officer, which made repeated references to Nazis, the 
Gestapo and "Hitler's Brownshirts" to describe the strategies of 
Democratic presidential hopeful Dr. Howard Dean and his campaign.

n An Internet site, http://www.TakeBacktheMedia.com, which continues 
to sponsor content comparing President Bush to Hitler and Mussolini 
and repeating a myth about the Bush family's supposed ties to 
Hitler's Nazi party.

[END]