Makeleio, a Greek tabloid newspaper, compared the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, who is Jewish, to Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele in a series of articles following Pfizer’s announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine.
On November 9, Pfizer announced that it had developed a vaccine with a preliminary efficacy rate of more than 90%; the next day, the front page of Makeleio juxtaposed a photograph of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, a Greek national, with a photo of Mengele behind him, according to The Algemeiner. The article accused Bourla of feeding “poison” to the world with the vaccine in order for the “Greek Jew” to enrich himself. In a subsequent article, the newspaper doubled down on its “Greek Jew” slur and accused Bourla of working for “the Israeli Council.”
Jewish groups denounced Makeleio.
“This outrageous antisemitic front page by the Greek tabloid Makeleio compares Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla with the Nazi Joseph Mengele, accusing Bourla, a Greek Jew, of wanting to conduct hideous experiments,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.
This outrageous antisemitic front page by the Greek tabloid Makeleio compares Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla with the Nazi Joseph Mengele, accusing Bourla, a Greek Jew, of wanting to conduct hideous experiments. pic.twitter.com/WR73OETdsD
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 11, 2020
StandWithUs similarly tweeted, “This is absolutely disgusting on every level. #Antisemitism is alive and kicking!”
This is absolutely disgusting on every level. #Antisemitism is alive and kicking! #StandUpToHatredhttps://t.co/4bsnR2Dmtf
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) November 17, 2020
The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) said in a statement Makeleio engaged in “incitement to violence against Jews. The vaccine of a company suddenly becomes ‘poison’ due to the Jewish religion of the company’s CEO, Albert Bourla, and its production is compared to the Nazi experiments in Auschwitz, in an attempt to prevent people from using it, should it be proven effective in dealing with the coronavirus that has inflicted mankind. Shame!”
George Kalantis, Greece’s general secretary for religious affairs, also said in a statement that the Mengele comparison and “several other similar titles of the same newspaper, cultivate consciously the most vile antisemitism which brings in mind the Medieval period when Jews were accused for every disaster, illness or defeat. At that time the road to Auschwitz begun.”
Mengele was indicted following World War II for war crimes over his barbaric experiments on Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz; Mengele avoided capture and died in 1979.
