Foreign Affairs

Holocaust Research Center Invites Ocasio-Cortez To Learn About Concentration Camps

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A leading Holocaust museum publicly responded to Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s allegation that the U.S. is “running concentration camps” on the southern border.

Several prominent Jewish groups, including Holocaust research center Yad Vashem, responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram comparison of migrant detention centers to Nazi “concentration camps” on Twitter this week.

“@AOC Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of ‘extermination through labor.’ Learn about concentration camps,” Yad Vashem said in a tweet early Wednesday morning. The tweet included a link to an article from the organization about concentration camps.

.@AOC Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of “extermination through labor.”

Learn about concentration camps https://t.co/oBPQsjf6FC#Holocaust #History pic.twitter.com/nmc9As2nlO

— Yad Vashem (@yadvashem) June 19, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez invoked the “never again” phrase, which refers to the horrors of the Holocaust, and made a comparison between holding centers on the U.S. southern border and Nazi concentration camps in an Instagram live video Monday.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York posted a tweet containing a letter to the congresswoman expressing their concerns. The tweet reads, “We urge @AOC to refrain from using terminology evocative of the Holocaust to voice concerns about contemporary political issues, as per our letter below.”

The letter says that the group was “deeply disturbed” by the language used in her Instagram video, explaining the meaning behind “never again” as well as the true definition and context of what a “concentration camp” actually is.

The letter goes on to invite Ocasio-Cortez to visit a real concentration camp so to reach “a better understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust,” the letter reads.

We urge @AOC to refrain from using terminology evocative of the Holocaust tonvoice concerns about contemporary political issues, as per our letter below. pic.twitter.com/276hH8jRWn

— JCRC of New York (@JCRCNY) June 18, 2019

Zionist Organization of America’s (ZOA) National President Morton Klein also issued a statement on Twitter. Ocasio-Cortez’s comments were an “abhorrent insults to the memory of the 6 million Jews and the millions of gays, gypsies, and others who were intentionally slaughtered, worked to death, starved, gassed and tortured in the real Nazi-Fascist concentration camp,” he said.

“The real story is that the U.S. government ran out of space and has to temporarily house minor teenagers who crossed illegally into the U.S. at an army base – something that former president Obama also did,” the statement continued.

Klein’s statement concludes by calling Ocasio-Cortez’s comments “a moronic analogy”, adding “she doesn’t belong in Congress.”

4/4 @AOC must be censured by her colleagues for this mindless and moronic analogy. She doesn’t belong in Congress making decisions on behalf of her fellow American citizens.” – ZOA National President @MortonAKlein7

— ZOA National (@ZOA_National) June 18, 2019

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy similarly criticized Ocasio-Cortez at a press conference, Wednesday, for her comments on Instagram.

“I think Congresswoman AOC needs to apologize,” he stated.

“Not only to the nation but to the world. She does not understand history,” he continued.

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