Police slam depiction of police chief as Hitler

Flyer also features photos of Jewish prisoners from Holocaust contrasted with images of protest in Mea Shearim.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Jerusalem Nazi flyer 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Jerusalem Nazi flyer 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A flyer showing Jerusalem police chief Nisso Shaham as Adolf Hitler distributed to mailboxes in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) areas drew sharp condemnation from police officials on Tuesday.
The flyer shows Shaham’s head pasted onto a photo of Hitler, with the words, “Adolf Nisso Shaham – Genocide!” and “We made it through Hitler, and we will make it through his successor.”
RELATED:Haredi use of Holocaust symbols reaps condemnation Ultra-Orthodox protest ‘incitement' and 'hatred’ The flyer also featured photos of Jewish prisoners from the Holocaust alongside images of Saturday night’s protest in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim neighborhood, during which protesters wore yellow stars and dressed up in striped outfits, claiming they were oppressed as Jews were oppressed during the Holocaust.
“Marking a man with this sickening label is undermining the foundations of democracy and legitimizes violence and catastrophes against the State of Israel’s commanders and police, even encouraging physical harm against the officer and his family,” said Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino.
Danino added that the police took every incident of incitement seriously. He ordered the investigations unit Lahav 443 to investigate any issues of provocation from the haredi sector against police officers.
Saturday’s protest and the use of Holocaust imagery created an uproar among survivors and institutions that deal with the Holocaust.
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Weisenthal Center in Israel, said the protest was “an obvious abuse of the memory of the Holocaust, insulting to all Jews and Holocaust survivors.”
“They want to lash out against the last holy cow of Israeli society, so by using the Shoah in this manner they are spitting in the face of the Israeli public,” Zuroff said earlier this week.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.