Huckabee’s Holocaust comparison sheds heat, not light

By Joe Grimm

Mike Huckabee’s remark that, with his Iranian nuclear agreement, President Barack Obama “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven” is being widely criticized by Israelis and Americans, Jews and Gentiles, Republicans and Democrats.

Any U.S. citizen has the right to criticize policy and, as a GOP presidential hopeful, Huckabee is expected to. But bringing the Holocaust into the campaign and comparing U.S. policy to the horror of mass genocide is over-the-line offensive.

The Nazis’ campaign of genocide against Jews was real and horrifying. It is not material for political sound bites. Using the holocaust to liven up political rhetoric is an affront to people murdered in the Holocaust, their survivors and descendants.

Huckabee made the comparison in an interview with Breitbart News on Saturday. On Sunday, Jews fasted for Tisha B’av, the commemoration of several disasters, primarily the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.

Comparing the Iran nuclear deal to the Holocaust is insensitive on any day, and to do so in such language is coarse. Using the Holocaust to score political points cheapens the meaning of that term and tars supporters of the deal, including many Jews, as Nazis. This is wrong.

In Time magazine, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles wrote that he spoke about the issue on Tisha B’av. He wrote that he had urged those opposing the deal not to succumb to using anti-Semitism or Holocaust analogies. His point was not just to protect Jewish sensibilities, but that sensitivity and informed discussion are the way to peace.

He wrote, “Do not speak about your opponents in a way that will make it impossible to find common cause with them the next time.”

Wolpe’s wisdom is much needed as the 2016 presidential campaign gets off to an ugly start.

Joe Grimm is editor of a series of cultural competence guides published by the Michigan State University School of Journalism. Soon, the series will publish “100 Questions and Answers about Jewish Americans.”