ALAN DERSHOWITZ TURNS THE TABLES ON SEAN SPICER’S CRITICS

From Paul Mirgenoff at Powerline:

Last night, I wrote about the over-the-top criticism of Sean Spicer’s misstatement about Hitler and the use of chemical weapons. Spicer shouldn’t have compared Hitler favorably to Assad on this score, but to suggest that his comment shows latent anti-Semitism, or makes him a Holocaust denier, is slanderous.

Alan Dershowitz agrees. Indeed, he takes the analysis further, finding that those trying to make political hay out of Spicer’s misstatement are the ones showing insufficient sensitivity to the Holocaust.

Dershowitz writes:

The politicization of the Holocaust dishonors the memory of the six million. Sean Spicer made a serious mistake when he compared Bashar Assad to Hitler, and to make matters worse, he got his facts wrong. He quickly and fully apologized. There was no hint of anti-Semitism in his historical mistake and his apology should have ended the matter. But his political enemies decided to exploit his mistake by pandering to Jews. In doing so, it is they who are exploiting the memory of the six million during the Passover Holiday.

Foremost among the exploiters is the Democratic National Committee:

The Democratic National Committee issued a rebuke with the headline “We will not stand for anti-Semitism.” Its content included the following: “Denying the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime is a tried and true tactic used by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists groups that have become emboldened since Donald Trump first announced his campaign for president.”

By placing Hitler and Trump in the same sentence, the DNC committed a mistake similar to that for which they justly criticized Spicer.

Moreover, the DNC itself, is co-chaired by a man who for many years did “stand for anti-Semitism” — namely Keith Ellison, who stood by the notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, while denying that he was aware of Farrakhan’s very public Jew-hatred. It is the epitome of Chutzpah for the DNC to falsely accuse Spicer of standing by anti-Semitism while it is they who are co-chaired by a man who committed that sin.

In another display of Chutzpah, Jeremy Ben Ami of J Street, an organization that supports Keith Ellison, characterized Spicer’s statement as “unforgivable.” I do not recall him saying that Ellison’s collaboration with a notorious anti-Semite was “unforgivable.” Indeed, Ben Ami quickly forgave him and continues to support him.

Few will be surprised that Nancy Pelosi is also exploiting the Holocaust for political purposes:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi falsely accused Spicer of “downplaying the horror of the Holocaust.” But by leveling that false accusation, Pelosi herself is exploiting the tragedy.

Here’s the main difference between Spicer’s statement and the Democrats’ response:

Spicer gaffe was not in any way premeditated, whereas the exploitation by his enemies was carefully calculated for political gain.

Dershowitz concludes:

The fight against bigotry is a bi-partisan issue and must not be exploited for political gain. The partisan over-reaction to Spicer’s mistake dishonored the memory of the six million.

Unfortunately, I doubt there is any such thing as a bi-partisan issue these days. Not for the Democrats and not for a great many Republicans. Statements and positions are rarely judged based on their merit; instead they are judged based on which side said or took them.