Activist compares Netanyahu to Hitler, drawing condemnations

The protester tweeted on Thursday saying he stood by what he had said and that "there is a person who is... destroying the country. Wake up before it is too late."

By EVE YOUNG
Image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an Adolf Hitler mustache, taken from Palestianian social media (photo credit: screenshot)
Image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an Adolf Hitler mustache, taken from Palestianian social media
(photo credit: screenshot)
Sadi Ben Shitrit, an Israeli activist, compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler at a demonstration Wednesday night, sparking denunciations. Ben Shitrit, seen in a video that was shared on social media, can be heard saying "In the 30s, there was a bitter enemy of the Jews. He was in Germany, and he acted just like you; divided, incited, destroyed."
Ben Shitrit tweeted on Thursday, saying that he stood by what he had said and that "there is a person who is... destroying the country. Wake up before it is too late."

President Reuven Rivlin responded to Ben Shitrit on Twitter saying that "comparing Prime Minister Netanyahu to the enemy of the Jews Hitler is not a legitimate protest. This kind of dialogue shocks the foundations of the common building that we have all built, and we must all condemn it."

Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz tweeted on Thursday that he condemned an activist's statement comparing Netanyahu to Hitler.

"There is no room in Israeli society for comparisons of this type that hurt the memory of the Holocaust. Even if there are intense divisions and disagreements over Netanyahu's way, this is not the way to express it," said Gantz.
Former IDF Chief of Staff MK Yair Golan responded saying that although "Netanyahu is not Hitler" and the statement was made in poor taste, the harsh denunciations were misplaced.
"One Sadi Ben Shitrit sends the whole country into an uproar. Netanyahu's delicate soul was hurt and everyone hurries and runs to protect the helpless," Golan said. "But 'the Left are traitors' is a common call and no one is denouncing it. The right-wing networks are full of filth and no one is making it a media affair. Death wishes against those who oppose Bibi have long-ago become standard, and no one says anything about them."
"Incitement and political violence are mostly on the right. So to all those who are shocked I say one simple thing - calm down."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the comparison on Twitter, saying that "the comparison of Netanyahu to Hitler is no less than crazy and I strongly condemn it."
"The radical Left calls Bibi Hitler, the radical Right harasses bereaved families, in the middle stands that sane center and asks 'have we gone crazy?' No, we have not gone crazy, these people do not represent us, they are not us, they are not the real Israel, we will not let them take over our lives and make us hate."

The Black Flags movement, one of the organizations leading the protests against Netanyahu, said that "the statement should be condemned."

 


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