Jewish Leaders Condemn Glenn Beck For Depicting Bloomberg In Nazi Salute

 ZACHARY PLEAT/Media Matters For America:

Leaders from Jewish organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and B'nai B'rith have condemned Glenn Beck for depicting New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as giving a Nazi salute in a speech Beck gave at the National Rifle Association's annual convention.

On May 4, Glenn Beck delivered a keynote speech to the National Rifle Association's 2013 annual convention. During the speech, he criticized Mayor Bloomberg and showed an image depicting Bloomberg with his arm raised in a Nazi salute and wearing an armband.

On May 7, ABC News reported that Beck "aroused criticism by a major Jewish group for depicting the mayor giving a Nazi salute." Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, told ABC News:

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.

B'nai B'rith, a Jewish humanitarian and human rights organization, made a similar statement to ABC News:

This is yet another example of the increasingly loose use of Holocaust-era imagery to denigrate one's opponents. No matter how heated an issue becomes, such provocative comparisons are always inappropriate and unacceptable.

On his May 7 radio show, Glenn Beck decided that he was the victim of a smear by ABC News and demanded an apology, saying that he imposed Bloomberg's likeness on an image of Lenin, not a Nazi, though he acknowledged that the pose was "a sieg heil salute":

UPDATE: The National Jewish Democratic Council has released a statement calling on the NRA and Republican leaders to condemn Beck's actions:

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.

ADL: Beck's Comments About Reform Judaism Demonstrate "Bigoted Ignorance"

by Media Matters staff

From a February 23 press release by the Anti-Defamation League responding to Glenn Beck'sstatements on Reform Judaism:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today criticized remarks made by Glenn Beck on his radio program, in which he compared Reform Judaism to radicalized Islam, as "highly offensive and outrageous."

During his February 22 radio show, Beck described Reform rabbis as "generally political in nature.

"It's almost like Islam, radicalized Islam in a way ... radicalized Islam is less about religion than it is about politics ... When you look at the Reform Judaism, it is more about politics."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

Glenn Beck's comparison of Reform Judaism to radical Islam demonstrates his bigoted ignorance. Despite his feeble attempt to suggest that he was not equating Reform Judaism with Islamic extremist terrorism, the simple fact that he would mention them in the same breath is highly offensive and outrageous.

The truth is that every religious body has religious points of view, whether one agrees with them or not. To compare Reform Judaism, which supports democratic institutions, to Islamic extremism, which supports anti-democratic movements and the repression of basic rights - including, for example, the denial of women's rights - is beyond the pale.

Glenn Beck has no right to discount the faith of any people, and he should think twice before commenting on something he doesn't know much about. He owes the Reform movement an apology.