OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – “Take away the star and add a vaccine passport,“ mentioned John Bennett.
The State GOP Chairman is doubling down on his social media post from Friday with a video over the weekend equating vaccine passports to ways utilized in Nazi Germany main as much as the Holocaust.
Non secular and political leaders are talking out in opposition to the feedback and a few are calling for the GOP chair to get replaced.
“To make use of an analogy in regards to the largest genocide of the twentieth century and to narrate it to a difficulty that’s about saving lives in 2023 – regardless how you are feeling about vaccines or masks or the rest – it is inappropriate, it is insulting and it is horrific,” mentioned Roberta Clark, Head of the Jewish Federation of Better OKC.
Nonetheless, John Bennett backs up his use of the Star of David analogy regarding vaccine mandates and passports.
“They offer them a star to placed on them. They could not go to the grocery retailer. They could not exit in public. They could not do something with out having that star,” mentioned State GOP Chair John Bennett, in a video he launched over the weekend. “If we do not do one thing now, it is going to finish in the identical precise end result as we noticed when no person stood up at any time when the Jews have been instructed that they needed to put on that star.”
Jewish leaders saying it is by no means acceptable to make use of Holocaust analogies for something.
“It fuels the hearth for individuals who are already anti-Semitic or already suppose that approach and it empowers them to spew their hatred as a result of they really feel like somebody agrees with them,” mentioned Clark.
On Friday, a number of main Oklahoma Republicans issued a joint statement. The Oklahoma Speaker of the Home’s Workplace and the Governor’s Workplace telling KFOR they stand behind the assertion, saying,
“It’s irresponsible and fallacious to check an efficient vaccine—developed by President Trump’s Operation Warp Pace—to the horrors of the Holocaust. Folks ought to have the freedom to decide on in the event that they take the vaccine, however we must always by no means evaluate the unvaccinated to the victims of the Holocaust.”
Bennett taking intention at fellow Republicans for that assertion in his video.
“The larger downside is at any time when folks communicate out and communicate the reality… My very own fellow Republicans got here out in opposition to me,” mentioned Bennett.
Some within the Republican Social gathering say it is time for a change on the State GOP workplace.
“I assumed the video was ridiculous,” mentioned Chad Alexander, former head of the State GOP.
The political discuss present host and a former head of the State Republican Social gathering says Bennett is performing like a dictator and driving away GOP donors along with his radical rhetoric.
“I believe the vast majority of the State Committee must do their jobs and put in a state celebration chairman that may unify the Republican celebration,” mentioned Alexander.
Alexander says it’s as much as the three folks instantly below Bennett to name a particular election.
Information 4 reached out to see if a transfer is being thought-about. They are saying they’re at present getting suggestions from their members and contemplating what to do in regards to the state of affairs.
As for John Bennett, our calls and emails for remark haven’t been returned.
