Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League have condemned Glenn Beck for depicting New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as giving a Nazi salute during a speech Beck gave at the National Rifle Association’s 2013 convention.
As beck was criticizing Bloomberg for his recent proposed initiatives, he showed an image depicting Bloomberg with his arm raised in a Nazi salute and wearing an armband.
In a report from ABC News this Tuesday, Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League said that Beck’s actions “aroused criticism by a major Jewish group for depicting the mayor giving a Nazi salute.”
“While he doesn’t say it, it seems Glenn Beck is implying through an image of Mayor Bloomberg in an apparent Hitlerian salute is that the mayor’s policies on gun ownership and other issues are turning New York city into a Nazi-like state. That suggestion is outrageous, insensitive and deeply offensive on so many levels […] Glenn Beck should know better. He has drawn similar inappropriate analogies to the Holocaust before. We wish he would stop trivializing the history of the Holocaust to score partisan political points.”
In a rather unconvincing defense on his radio show, Beck claimed that he was the victim of a smear by ABC News, demanding an apology. In a somewhat incoherent defense of the Bloomberg image, Beck said that it was actually an image of Lenin, not a Nazi — although he admitted that the pose was “a sieg heil salute.”
Furthermore, a statement from the National Jewish Democratic Council called on the NRA and GOP leaders to condemn Beck’s antics:
“Glenn Beck’s use of disgusting imagery, showing a leading Jewish American as a Nazi, at the National Rifle Association’s convention was deeply offensive. The NRA and Republican leaders must stand with the ADL and B’nai B’rith in condemning Glenn Beck–especially those who selected him to give the NRA’s keynote address. This isn’t only about what Beck said, but the disturbing fact that his stunt was embraced with applause and cheers by attendees at the NRA’s national convention. The NRA’s crowd is the Republican base and all Americans must take note.”
Listen to Beck’s comments on his radio show in the video below.
Leave a Reply