Fox News host Jeanine Pirro compared the recent deplatforming of the app Parler to Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) on January 11.
In response to the January 6 riot against Congress certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, social media platforms started clamping down on what they viewed as extremist rhetoric. Twitter banned President Donald Trump. Apple and Amazon deplatformed Parler, an app designed to be a conservative alternative to Twitter from their servers, citing concerns that the platform wasn’t screening out extremist content.
This prompted Pirro to remark on “Fox and Friends” that the deplatforming of Parler as “the kind of censorship that is akin to a Kristallnacht, where they decide what we can communicate about.”
Pirro was subsequently condemned for her analogy.
“Members of my family were taken to concentration camps on Kristallnacht, our synagogue was burned to the ground, and my grandparents and their families were forced to flee for their lives,” American Jewish Committee Managing Director of Global Communications Avi Mayer tweeted. “This is nothing like that, @JudgeJeanine. You owe us an apology.”
Members of my family were taken to concentration camps on Kristallnacht, our synagogue was burned to the ground, and my grandparents and their families were forced to flee for their lives.
This is nothing like that, @JudgeJeanine. You owe us an apology.https://t.co/i62BwDabKI
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) January 11, 2021
The Stop Antisemitism.org watchdog similarly tweeted, “Kristallnacht was a 2 day pogrom that: – destroyed 7000 Jewish owned businesses – burned 267 synagogues – murdered 91 Jews – deported 30,000 Jews to concentration camps PLEASE stop using it as a comparison to anything that’s listed above.”
Kristallnacht was a 2 day pogrom that:
– destroyed 7000 Jewish owned businesses
– burned 267 synagogues
– murdered 91 Jews
– deported 30,000 Jews to concentration campsPLEASE stop using it as a comparison to anything that's listed above. https://t.co/sIEQP8TqCj
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 11, 2021
On January 10, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a video comparing the January 6 riot to Kristallnacht. The former California governor said that Kristallnacht “was a night of rampage against the Jews and carried out in 1938 by the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys.” He called the D.C. riot “the Day of the Broken Glass” and said that the rioters “shattered the ideas we took for granted.” Schwarzenegger recalled how growing up in Austria, he saw men get inebriated over their guilt for what the Nazis did, including his father. Schwarzenegger said his dad would come home and “scream and hit us and scare my mother. I didn’t hold him totally responsible because our neighbor was doing the same thing to his family.”
The actor also expressed optimism that “America will come back from these dark days and shine our light once again.”
My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021
Jewish users on Twitter condemned both Pirro and Schwarzenegger for their Kristallnacht comparisons.
“It is absolutely right to call out @JudgeJeanine for the misplaced analogy to #Kristallnacht. It was similarly wrong to be used in the @Schwarzeneggerviral video,” Joel M. Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District in New York, tweeted. “Forced comparisons to the Holocaust are inappropriate, regardless of which political party is doing it.”
It is absolutely right to call out @JudgeJeanine for the misplaced analogy to #Kristallnacht. It was similarly wrong to be used in the @Schwarzenegger viral video.
Forced comparisons to the Holocaust are inappropriate, regardless of which political party is doing it.
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) January 11, 2021
Former New York Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind similarly tweeted, “CAN EVERYONE STOP WITH THE TERRIBLY IGNORANT HOLOCAUST COMPARISONS?!?! If you didn’t lose anyone to Hitler’s death machine then KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! That includes you @Schwarzenegger.”
CAN EVERYONE STOP WITH THE TERRIBLY IGNORANT HOLOCAUST COMPARISONS?!?!
If you didn’t lose anyone to Hitler’s death machine then KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!
That includes you @Schwarzenegger https://t.co/fWgAR8sTxA
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) January 11, 2021
George Washington University student Blake Flayton also tweeted, “People on the Left have compared the insurrection at the Capitol to Kristallnacht. People on the Right have compared the shutting down of conservative social media to Kristallnacht. Neither of these events is like Kristallnacht. Stop appropriating our trauma for politics.”
People on the Left have compared the insurrection at the Capitol to Kristallnacht. People on the Right have compared the shutting down of conservative social media to Kristallnacht. Neither of these events is like Kristallnacht. Stop appropriating our trauma for politics.
— Blake Flayton (@blakeflayton) January 11, 2021
