ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOX) - Jewish leaders in St. Louis are speaking out after recent comments at a County Council meeting comparing face mask mandates to the Holocaust.
In recent weeks there have been many outspoken St. Louis County residents voicing concerns against a proposed mask mandate. Some of them compared the public health measure to the Nazi's extermination of more than six million Jews in Europe.
"The overt antisemitism displayed at our most recent County Council meeting makes me afraid for my congregation and the Jewish community in our region and across our state," says the founder of the only Jewish congregation in the city of St. Louis, Rabbi Susan Talve of Central Reform Congregation. "By daring to dismiss the horrors of the Holocaust, by comparing the loss of freedom of over 11 million who were slaughtered, gassed and burnt, including a million and a half children, comparing that to a mask mandate is not only disrespectful, but it’s dangerous."
You can watch the full press conferecne in the video at the top of this page.
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With the delta variant of COVID-19 surging in St. Louis County, Page sought to require masks in indoor public places. A judge earlier this month issued a temporary restraining order against the mandate after the County Council voted to overturn it.
"This feels more like Nazi Germany, not America, land of the free," said one speaker at last week's County Council meeting, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“There is no virus; it’s a scam. What did the Nazis say? The bigger the lie, the more will believe it," said another speaker at the meeting.
Executive Director of Progress, Stacey Newman said she was "appalled" by the public commentary that was allowed.
"It was not only appalling to me, but it was offensive to our entire St. Louis Jewish community," Newman says.
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St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page and others who spoke on Monday were critical of County Council Chairwoman Rita Heard Days, a Democrat, for failing to intervene and “gavel out” those making the Holocaust comparison.
Heard Days said in a statement that racial and religious epithets, and “cheap comparisons to the Holocaust” are unacceptable. She did not respond to the concerns that she failed to stop such comparisons at recent meetings but said she will “swiftly use my gavel and admonish” antisemitic comments.
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