Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia called Jews “termites,” also compared President Trump to Adolph Hitler.
By World Israel News Staff
The two Democratic candidates in Georgia campaigned over the weekend with a congressman who called Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria “termites” and recently compared President Donald Trump to Hitler.
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are vying for the two Senate seats in Georgia’s runoff election that will take place on January 5. They campaigned over the weekend with Congressman Hank Johnson, who compared Jews living in Judea and Samaria to “termites.”
The trio appeared together on Saturday during a drive-in rally hosted by local Democratic Party committees.
During an appearance at a 2016 Democratic National Convention event in Philadelphia that was sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, an anti-Israel organization that promotes Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Jewish state, the congressman from Georgia stated:
“There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever-increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming.”
His comments were widely condemned, and Johnson was forced to make a half-hearted apology in which he claimed he said the comment referred to the action of undermining the peace process, not the people themselves.
“Referring to those you don’t like as sub-human should be beyond the pale in decent human society,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “Mr. Johnson shames not only himself, but Congress, and the House Armed Services Committee on which he serves, which is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping our brave men and women in the military safe.”
Last year Johnson came under fire for comparing President Trump to Adolph Hitler.
“Americans, particularly black Americans, can’t afford to make that same mistake about the harm that could be done by a man named Hitler or a man named Trump,” Johnson said in a keynote speech at an event hosted by the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP.
Johnson later clarified that he wanted to make a point that “our democracy is under severe threat … and that if we are not vigilant we can allow tyranny to set in,” but Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted that Johnson’s remarks were “disgusting.”