Bipartisan group of lawmakers condemn anti-Semitic attacks on Parkland students

A bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a statement on Friday condemning anti-Semitic attacks on students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Four lawmakers from Florida and New York said they condemn “anti-Semitism in all its forms and reject any inappropriate evocation of the Holocaust or comparison to Nazis.”

{mosads}The letter — signed by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Eliot Engel (R-N.Y.), who co-chair the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism — comes after anti-Semitic and anti-gun control fliers were left adjacent to the campus of American University this week.

Yahoo News reported on Monday that police arrested a person was caught trying to hang anti-Semitic fliers that pictured a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February. Adolf Hitler was also pictured on the flier.

“It is shameful for anyone to attack students — especially survivors of gun violence — with anti-Semitic slurs and Nazi comparisons. Policy differences are never an excuse for anti-Semitism,” the lawmakers’ statement reads. 

Police and campus administrators did not say which Parkland student was pictured in the fliers. Five of the 17 people killed in the Parkland shooting were Jewish.

Students from the school organized a national campaign to reduce gun violence and toughen America’s gun laws in the wake of the shooting, and have been subjected to attacks from right-wing media figures and social media in response.

“Particularly given that these posters were found during a week in which we remember those who were lost in the Holocaust, we understand how hurtful and deeply offensive this can be to our Jewish community and to all who mourn in solidarity with them,” Dr. Fanta Aw, vice president of campus life and inclusive excellence at American University, said in a statement.

“As I have stated previously, we reject hate, bigotry, intimidation in all its forms and firmly believe that they have no place in our society,” she added.

This story was corrected at 2:35 p.m. to indicate the individual was stopped by police while trying to enter campus.