Argentine President Criticized for Comparison of Covid-19 Pandemic Deaths to Holocaust

Argentine President Alberto Fernández is facing criticism from Jewish groups after drawing a comparison, for the second time in recent months, between the Covid-19 pandemic and the Holocaust.

Speaking at a Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) event in Buenos Aires on Aug. 18, Fernández said, “We still don’t know how many people have died in the pandemic. The United Nations says between 6 million and 10 million people have died. We don’t have the exact, precise number. But anyway, we know that the pandemic has killed between one and two Holocausts. It’s a ton of people.”

DAIA — the umbrella organization for Argentina’s Jewish community — responded, “The systematic slaughter of six million Jews practiced by Nazism cannot and should not be equated with another situation.”

Nuevamente desde la primera magistratura de la República Argentina, y en el cierre de la cumbre de la CELAC, se ha comparado la pandemia y sus efectos devastadores con la tragedia única e inigualable que significó el Holocausto. pic.twitter.com/BMm8WW5S0T

— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) August 19, 2022

B’nai B’rith International said Fernandez’s comments were “simply unacceptable” and demonstrated “disrespect to the victims of the Holocaust.”

“Nothing compares to this unique tragedy in the history of mankind,” it added.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández’ recent comments comparing the COVID-pandemic to the SHOAH are simply unacceptable, and show disrespect to the victims of the #Holocaust. Nothing compares to this unique tragedy in the history of mankind.

— B’nai B’rith Int’l (@BnaiBrith) August 19, 2022

Back in May, Fernández said in a Radio Con Vos interview, “Humanity is not aware of what it has experienced. We are living through a pandemic, more than 6 million people died, almost the same number of people whom we will never forget [who died in] the Holocaust.”

In recent years, the trivialization of the Holocaust has unfortunately become an all-too-common trend in the public sphere worldwide.

A comprehensive Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) database of Holocaust trivialization incidents reported in the media can be accessed here.

To learn more about the disturbing rise of Holocaust trivialization, please visit: holocaust.combatantisemitism.org