ICYMI: Jewish Leaders Call for Perdue to Apologize After Making Nazi Analogy

Yesterday, Georgia Jewish leaders, State Representative Mike Wilensky and Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser, joined a press conference to condemn comments made by former Senator David Perdue that surfaced in a video on Friday where he compared Germany under Nazi rule to Twitter’s decision to ban Donald Trump. WABE News in Atlanta covered the story and noted that this isn’t the first time David Perdue has made analogies like this, previously “comparing Nazi Germany with Democrats during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation and Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.” WJBF News 6 in Augusta reported on the Georgia Jewish leaders’ call for an apology, while WSAV News 3 in Savannah said they still had not heard back from Perdue after reaching out for a response. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that other Georgia rabbis have offered to discuss with Perdue why his “analogy is not appropriate.”

See more of what Georgians are seeing and hearing about Perdue’s comments: WSAV News 3 in Savannah:

WSAV Anchor: “Around Georgia right now, some Jewish leaders are demanding an apology from former Senator David Perdue after he compared Donald Trump getting banned from Twitter to the beginning of the Holocaust.” “Perdue, who is now running for governor, expressed concerns about former President Trump’s Twitter suspension, saying when individual citizens lose the right to free speech, we turn into a Germany in 1933. To which leaders say more people are referencing Nazi Germany to things that are not comparable.” Rep. Mike Wilensky: “To compare a social media platform, a private company, banning a user for spreading disinformation to Nazi Germany the Holocaust, under which 6 million Jews as well as at least 5 million others were murdered for their ethnicity, political beliefs or sexual orientation, is absolutely unacceptable.” WSAV Anchor: “State [Representative] Mike Wilensky from DeKalb County was joined by a rabbi yesterday and saying Purdue should apologize. They have not heard from his campaign. We also reached out to a Perdue spokesperson, but we have not heard back.”

WJBF News 6 in Augusta:

WJBF Anchor: “Jewish leaders in Georgia condemning comments by former Georgia Senator David Perdue and demanding an apology. Perdue, of course, now running for governor, and the Jewish community is taking offense to remarks he made about Donald Trump getting kicked off Twitter.” “Perdue back then expressed concerns about former President Trump having his Twitter account suspended and said when separate individual citizens lose the right to free speech, we turn into Germany in 1933.” “The Jewish leaders say that more people are referencing Nazi Germany and the Holocaust – things that they say are not comparable.” Rep. Mike Wilensky: “To compare a social media platform, a private company, banning a user for spreading disinformation to Nazi Germany the Holocaust, under which 6 million Jews as well as at least 5 million others were murdered for their ethnicity, political beliefs or sexual orientation, is absolutely unacceptable.” WJBF Anchor: “Now the state [representative] says he was joined by a Rabbi today and Perdue should apologize.”

WABE:

• WABE Host: Jewish leaders in Georgia are criticizing Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue for comparing Twitter’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump to the climate of Nazi Germany. Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser says the former US Senator needs to apologize.
  
• Rabbi Nemhauser: “Politicians and educators have a responsibility to avoid directly comparing the Holocaust and the true evils of Nazi Germany to modern policies we disagree with. failure to do so only minimizes the memory of millions murdered by the Nazis.”
  
• WABE Host: “Perdue made the comments on a network run by pro-Trump activist Mike Lindell of My Pillow fame. Purdue has made similar analogies before, comparing Nazi Germany with Democrats during Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court confirmation and Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.”

Jewish Telegraphic Agency: David Perdue, ex-senator and Georgia governor candidate, likens social media restrictions to Nazi rule

• David Perdue, a one-term U.S. senator ousted by a Jewish Democrat a year ago, is now running for governor of his state as the Trump-backed candidate, and like others in that camp, he has taken to comparing aspects of contemporary life to life under Nazi rule.
  
• Perdue was decrying Twitter’s removal of former President Donald Trump in January 2021. The social media giant cited Trump’s incitement to violence, particularly related to his spurring the rioters who led the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to overturn Trump’s election loss.
  
• Perdue, speaking on a Trump-favored conservative online talk show, “Diamond and Silk,” likened Trump’s removal to some of the most repressive regimes in history.
  
• “When individual citizens lose the right of free voice then we turn into a Germany in 1933 or a Russia in 1919, a Cuba in 1959 or Venezuela today,” he said.
  
• Jewish groups have repeatedly pleaded with many, including a cadre of right-wing Republicans to stop analogizing current events to the Holocaust era. (In 2020, as Trump was running for reelection, some also drew comparisons between his presidency and the rise of fascism in 1930’s Germany.)
  
• The sole Jewish state legislator in Georgia, Democrat Mike Wilensky, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Perdue was out of bounds.
  
• “David Perdue should be ashamed of his comments — he should retract them immediately and apologize to not only Georgia’s Jewish community, but the whole Jewish community,” Wilensky said.
  
• Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, who leads a Reform synagogue in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, also decried the comparison, tweeting to Perdue, “I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Holocaust with you. Your analogy is not appropriate and using the Holocaust as a political tool disparages the 6 million innocent Jews that were killed. Let’s talk.” (Sernovitz made history last week by blowing a shofar in Georgia’s legislature.)
  
• Perdue, who lost a Senate election last year to Jon Ossoff, a Jewish Democrat, is now seeking to oust incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who infuriated Trump by refusing to invalidate Trump’s loss in the state.
  
• During the campaign, Ossoff accused Perdue of peddling antisemitism by running ads in which Ossoff’s nose was altered to look longer.

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