Huckabee not backing down after Holocaust remark

Mike Huckabee is not backing away from his strident criticism of President Barack Obama and the Iranian nuclear deal — even as his fellow Republican presidential candidates distance themselves from his remarks.

A day after making an explicit comparison to the Holocaust in denouncing the agreement, the former Arkansas governor continued to make his case on Twitter.


In an earlier interview with Breitbart News published Saturday, Huckabee said that Obama is “naive” in trusting Iran to uphold its part of the deal. “By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”

The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors anti-Semitism, immediately denounced Huckabee’s language.

“Whatever one’s views of the nuclear agreement with Iran — and we have been critical of it, noting that there are serious unanswered questions that need to be addressed — comments such as those by Mike Huckabee suggesting the president is leading Israel to another Holocaust are completely out of line and unacceptable,” ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “To hear Mr. Huckabee invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel’s greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening.”

But Huckabee didn’t back down.

“Tell Congress to do their constitutional duty & reject the Obama-Kerry #IranDeal,” he tweeted on Sunday, along with a graphic repeating his controversial comments.

On Sunday night, Huckabee’s official account sent out a series of messages featuring quotes from top Iranian officials and the leader of Hezbollah making anti-Israel, genocidal remarks.

Ayatollah Khamenei's Iranian Martyr Foundation rep: "We have manufactured missiles that allow us...to replace Israel...with a big holocaust" — Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015

"It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region." - Ayatollah Khamenei http://t.co/tMBfHPHZk2 — Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015

"If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." - Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader — Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 27, 2015

Congress has not yet reached an agreement on the terms laid out by Iran and six world powers earlier this month, though the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the deal last week.

It’s not the first time Huckabee has invoked the Holocaust to make a political point.

In 2007, the ADL asked the presidential candidate to stop referring to the “holocaust of liberalized abortion.”

Speaking before reporters in Ethiopia on Monday, Obama called the remark part of a pattern of comments “that would be considered ridiculous if it wasn’t so sad.”

“Maybe it’s just an effort to push Mr. Trump out of the headlines,” he added.

When asked whether or not Donald Trump finds with Huckabee’s rhetoric offensive, Michael Cohen, the executive vice president of Trump’s campaign, told CNN, “I don’t think so.”

“I’m not offended by the words, and I lost 90 percent of my family at that point,” Cohen, who is Jewish, added.

Huckabee fired back at Obama in a statement.

“What’s ‘ridiculous and sad’ is that President Obama does not take Iran’s repeated threats seriously. For decades, Iranian leaders have pledged to ‘destroy,’ annihilate,’ and ‘wipe Israel off the map’ with a ‘big Holocaust,’” the Republican candidate said.

“‘Never again’ will be the policy of my administration and I will stand with our ally Israel to prevent the terrorists in Tehran from achieving their own stated goal of another Holocaust,” he added.

Huckabee later sent the same message to supporters in a fundraising appeal.

“We must kill this deal with Iran,” Huckabee wrote. “Will you stand with me and co-sign my letter to Congress telling them to do their constitutional duty and not go on summer vacation until they reject the Obama-Kerry nuclear deal with Iran?”

On the campaign trail, Huckabee’s fellow GOP contenders took swings at the remarks to varying degrees.

Speaking at an event for pastors in the Orlando area, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the Iran deal “horrific,” but added that “we need to tone down the rhetoric, for sure.”

Acknowledging that he respects Huckabee, Bush said using “that kind of language” is “just wrong.”

“This is not the way we’re going to win elections. That’s not how we’re going to solve problems,” he added.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said that as he did with Donald Trump, he would let Huckabee speak for himself.

“Well, I’m certainly not gonna say it, but I’m telling you, they can speak for themselves. I’m gonna tell you what I’m for and you’re not hearing me use that sort of language. What I’m talking about are the issues and the specifics,” he told NPR’s On Point in a Monday interview from the road in Godfrey, Illinois.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton called Huckabee’s comments “offensive” and over the line.

“Comments like these are offensive and have no place in our political dialogue. I am disappointed and I am really offended personally,” Clinton said at an event in Des Moines, Iowa. “I know Governor Huckabee. I have a cordial relationship with him. He served as governor of Arkansas. But I find this kind of inflammatory rhetoric totally unacceptable.”

Huckabee fired back: “You finally come out of hiding to attack me for defending Israel?” he tweeted. “What’s ‘unacceptable’ is a mushroom cloud over Israel.”

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another Democratic contender, also denounced the Holocaust imagery, tweeting that Huckabee’s remarks were “offensive” and “overlook” the “reality” that GOP “policies have led us into 12yrs of conflict.”

Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary for George W. Bush who is on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he shared Huckabee’s broader concern that the Iranian nuclear deal is a bad one, but called the language “insensitive and too blunt.”

“Within the Jewish community, the Holocaust, the words associated with it, are unique,” said Fleischer, who does not speak for the RJC. “And even a sympathetic politician who wants to make certain the Holocaust is not repeated needs to be culturally aware of the unique words that should apply only to the Holocaust.”

The language Huckabee used, he said, “probably rubs everyone the same wrong way.”

But he was skeptical that there would be measurable political impact for the former Arkansas governor.

“Mike Huckabee’s success is going to depend on what happens in Iowa,” he said. “The number of voters in Iowa who vote on word usage associated with the Holocaust is rather small.”

Isaac Dovere reported from Ethiopia; Hadas Gold reported from Des Moines, Iowa; Katie Glueck contributed to this report.