Monday, August 14, 2017

SWC: Charlottesville Killing is Domestic Terrorism, Commends Arnold Schwarzenegger for Standing Up to Hate

 
The following was submitted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC). 

The car-ramming that killed activist Heather Hayer and wounded some 26 others on Saturday night, should be “treated as a deliberate act of domestic terrorism," said SWC officials.

The death, violence and chants of "Blood and Soil" that followed the torchlight march at University of Virginia was reminiscent of Nazi rallies where the same chants were used by marchers at mass rallies in Nuremberg and elsewhere in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.

The Center also called on American leaders, regardless of their political affiliations, and led by President Trump to “specifically condemn the extreme alt-right, white nationalists and neo-Nazis who sow seeds of hate, distrust and violence. They and all other extremists, left or right, have no place in the mainstream of our nation.”

In response to the events in Charlottesville, the Center commended former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for speaking out against the white supremacist violence. The Center also thanked Schwarzenegger for his generous gift to support the Center’s work fighting against hate, bigotry, and anti-Semitism. 

Schwarzenegger announced the gift of $100,000 in a Facebook post yesterday, saying “My message to them [white supremacists] is simple: you will not win. Our voices are louder and stronger.”

“Arnold has been a supporter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for over three decades. We’ve never been prouder of his leadership than when we saw his tweet last night challenging everyone to do more in the fight against hate,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

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