Huckabee compares president's Iran deal to Nazi's 'final solution'
NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said in a wide-ranging interview with Breitbart News Saturday that the nuclear deal reached between the United States, European powers and Iran presents a danger to the Jewish people not faced since the Holocaust of World War II.
"This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven," Huckabee said.
"This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It's got to be stopped."
Huckabee's comments are not dissimilar from other critiques of the nuclear deal, which allows Iran to develop further its ballistic missile capabilities after a period of eight years and its nuclear capabilities in 15 years. What distinguishes his comments from others is his alleged comparison of President Barack Obama's deal to Adolf Hitler's final solution.
The comments were reported almost immediately in the Israel newspaper Haaretz and in the Jerusalem Post. They were condemned almost as swiftly by the head of the Democrat National Committee.
"From questioning President Obama's religion to questioning whether or not President Obama loves America to asserting President Obama isn't an American, we thought we had seen everything from the Republican Party and its presidential candidates," DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said in a press release.
This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.
"But now, the most liked Republican presidential primary candidate Mike Huckabee said that President Obama is marching Israelis to 'the door of the oven.' This rhetoric, while commonplace in today's Republican presidential primary, has no place in American politics. Cavalier analogies to the Holocaust are unacceptable. Mike Huckabee must apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement," Wasserman-Schultz said.
The Anti-Defamation League, aligned ideologically with the Democrat Party, criticized Huckabee, calling his comments "completely out of line and unacceptable."
"To hear Mr. Huckabee invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel's greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening. The great tragedy of the Holocaust saw the Jews of Europe without allies and without power at the worst possible moment," said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL's national director.
The National Jewish Democratic Council also denounced Huckabee's comparison and called on Republican presidential candidates to do the same.
"Far, far too often, this organization has found itself forced to denounce politicians for invoking the Holocaust in inappropriate and offensive ways. These comments by Gov. Mike Huckabee, however, may be the most inexcusable we've encountered in recent memory. To state that President Obama is leading Israelis 'to the door of the oven' is not only disgustingly offensive to the President and the White House, but shows utter, callous disregard for the millions of lives lost in the Shoah and to the pain still felt by their descendants today," the NJDC said in a statement.
"In our eyes, it is almost pointless to demand Gov. Huckabee apologize for his remarks, although he certainly should. This was not a random, off-the-cuff remark, and the Jewish community deserves better than to hear a false apology that we doubt will stop the former Governor from offending again in the future."
The Republican Jewish Coalition and American Israel Public Affairs Committee, conservative pro-Israel lobbies, have not issued a statements about Huckabee's comments. Both groups, however, are firmly against any deal that does not remove Iran's future capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed the western powers are ignoring the danger the deal poses to Israel. And the prime minister has repeatedly drawn attention to the West's neglect of Israel's concerns.
In April on the commemoration of World Holocaust Day – a day of remembrance for the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazi regime – Netanyahu said the world dismissed the threats of the Nazi regime and its rhetoric.
"They downplayed the seriousness of the danger of the military build-up of the Nazis, claiming that it was the result of the natural will of a proud nation, that it should be taken into consideration, that it should be accepted," Netanyahu said.
"The reality was clear, but it was cloaked in a bubble of illusions. This bubble was burst by the stealth attack by the Nazis on Europe. And the price of the illusion and desire was very heavy because by the time the leaders of the West finally acted, their people paid a terrible price. World War II claimed the lives not of 16 million people, the unimaginable number of victims during World War I, but of 60 million, including one third of our people, who were butchered by the Nazi beast ... Has the world learned from the mistakes of the past?"
On July 20, Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted a statement that "Israel's security will not be ensured whether there is an Iran deal or not."
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