WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee stirred up a storm Thursday after allegedly comparing between the US’ huge national debt of some $14 trillion – and the Holocaust.
National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Abe Foxman slammed Huckabee, who is considered one of the leading presidential candidates and a long-time friend of Israel, and demanded that he apologizes for his remarks.
In response, an infuriated Huckabee said Foxman is the one who should apologize, and noted that Israel and the Jewish people need to make friends and not insult their allies.
The controversial comments were made during a speech in Pittsburg. Huckabee spoke about the American economy and recalled his visit to the Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum with his 11-year-old daughter, who wrote in the museum’s guestbook, “Why didn’t somebody do something?”.
Huckabee noted that his daughter’s question relates not only to the Holocaust, saying “let there never be a time in this country where some father has to look over his daughter’s shoulder and see her ask this haunting question, “Why didn’t somebody do something?”
Following Huckabee’s remarks, Foxman issued a statement saying, “It is highly inappropriate to use America’s mounting debt crisis as another occasion to invoke Nazis and the Holocaust, particularly on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time dedicated to memorializing, not trivializing, the six million Jews and millions of others who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
Huckabee pulled no punches, saying “Foxman could have done even a tiny bit of fact-checking and discovered what most people in the Israel and American Jewish community know quite well – that Israel and the Jewish people have no stronger advocate than Mike Huckabee. And to confirm that, they could start by actually listening to what I said, which is a strong affirmation of the Jewish people.”
Following the back and forth between the two, Foxman retracted his harsh statement, writing to Huckabee that “based upon our conversation and after having listened to your full speech, I now understand that you never intended to make any direct comparison between today’s issues and the Holocaust.
“Indeed, it was clear from our discussion about the impact of your visits to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, and your strong commitment to Israel, that you understand why the Holocaust must always be remembered as a unique event in human history.
“Reasonable people, listening to the story of the words your daughter penned at Yad Vashem – “Why didn’t somebody do something?” – followed by a reference to the national debt, could interpret that as drawing an analogy. We are pleased to know that this was never your intention,” he concluded.