A Holocaust museum has joined the chorus of criticism against the anti-vaccination movement, after pictures from protest rallies posted online show activists wearing yellow Star of David badges to symbolize their persecution.
The Poland-based Auschwitz Memorial museum slammed the movement after pictures on Twitter showed anti-vaccination media personality Del Bigtree, with a yellow star on his chest during a recent Vaccine Choice demonstration in Texas.
“Instrumentalizing the fate of Jews who were persecuted by hateful anti-Semitic ideology and murdered in extermination camps like #Auschwitz with poisonous gas in order to argue against vaccination that saves human lives is a symptom of intellectual and moral degeneration,” the museum said.
The demonstration was one of several to take place across the US, prompted by an emergency ban of unvaccinated children from public spaces in Rockland County, New York on March 27, following a measles outbreak.
One protester in Rockland County wore a yellow star with “No Vax” written across it on her backpack.
“This is a strategic attack on religion,” she was reported saying by a local media.
She continued: “The first step is fear of the Jews. The second step is violence. The last step is the gas chamber.”
However, the stunt has gained much criticism for the anti-vaxxer movement from social media commentators.
“Jewish Twitter: Have you seen how the anti-vaccine lobby exploits Holocaust imagery?” asked one user. “It’s disgusting, hateful, & deeply offensive.”
Other accused anti-vaxxers of belittling the Holocaust.
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