(JTA) — Anti-vaccination activists are using the yellow Star of David that Nazis forced Jews to wear during World War II to promote their cause.
Activists are using a star that has the words “No Vax” in Hebrew-stylized letters on social media, while others are wearing yellow stars at events, according to a Friday report by the Anti-Defamation League.
Del Bigtree, CEO of the anti-vaccination group ICAN, wore a yellow star last week at a rally in Austin, Texas, and activists in suburban New York’s Rockland County likened a ban on unvaccinated children in public spaces to combat a measles outbreak to Nazi treatment of Jews, The Washington Post reported.
The ADL slammed the comparisons.
“It is simply wrong to compare the plight of Jews during the Holocaust to that of anti-vaxxers,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the group’s national director, told the Post. “Groups advancing a political or social agenda should be able to assert their ideas without trivializing the memory of the 6 million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust.”
The anti-vaccination movement has risen in popularity in recent years. Recent measles outbreaks have been traced back to Orthodox Jewish communities, where some parents are refusing to vaccinate their kids.
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