AJC Criticizes Remarks by Congressman West

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Dec 15, 2011, 09:57 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC strongly criticized the assertion by Congressman Allen West (R-Fla.) that Joseph Goebbels, the notorious Nazi Minister of Propaganda, would be "very proud of the Democratic Party."

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In his 2010 campaign for office, Candidate West made similar egregious remarks, comparing Democratic campaign "trackers" to the Nazi secret police, decrying their "Gestapo-type intimidation tactics."

"To make a linkage between any mainstream political party in the United States and the heinous atrocities committed by the Third Reich should be simply beyond the pale, whatever political differences may arise in a heated electoral season," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

"By invoking the image of Joseph Goebbels and the Gestapo, Representative West has displayed a complete lack of understanding of the worst genocidal era in human history. Moreover, he has diminished and trivialized the unique evil perpetrated by the Third Reich through his unfortunate use of language," Harris concluded.

AJC is a nonpartisan organization, which neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee