R&I – TxPAT ***
Senator Ted Cruz said in a Senate hearing with the US attorney general that protesters and civilians angry with local public policies have the right to make Nazi salutes in protest.
“My God! A parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because he thought the policies were oppressive,” Cruz shouted at Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was fielding a range of questions from senators Wednesday.
Cruz’s comments were meant to show that the department’s involvement in monitoring school board meetings is not warranted. “Is doing a Nazi salute at an elected official, is that protected by the First Amendment?” Cruz asked Garland, who is Jewish.
“Yes, it is,” Garland responded.
Multiple incidents of Nazi salutes at school board meetings have taken place in recent months, as school boards have emerged as a battleground over COVID-19 prevention measures and as Holocaust analogies have taken hold among critics of such measures in the United States and abroad.
A number of liberals and Democrats in Congress criticized Cruz, arguing that he was defending Nazis and pointing out that the exchange occurred on the third anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre, the most lethal attack on Jews in US history.
“Ted Cruz just casually defending Nazis in a congressional hearing,” tweeted Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been plagued by separate accusations of antisemitism.
A number of Jewish organizational leaders and Holocaust scholars have objected to Nazi metaphors to describe current political tensions, saying it diminishes the Holocaust.
“Nazi salutes may be protected by freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean they’re not offensive symbols of hate,” the American Jewish Committee said in a tweet in response to Cruz. “To defend them at any time, much less on the anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, is deeply insensitive and inappropriate.”
Mariam
Article URL : https://www.timesofisrael.com/ted-cruz-defends-using-a-nazi-salute-to-protest-covid-19-public-health-measures/