Ex-ADL Head: Donald Trump Hand-Raising Gesture Was ‘Offensive, Obnoxious and Disgusting’

“We’ve seen this sort of thing at rallies of neo-Nazis. We’ve seen it at rallies of white supremacists”

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Former Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Donald Trump asking supporters to raise their right hands and promise to support him.

“As a Jew who survived the Holocaust, to see an audience of thousands of people raising their hands in what looks like the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute is about as offensive, obnoxious and disgusting as anything I thought I would ever witness in the United States of America,” former ADL director Abe Foxman told The Times Of Israel.

Foxman was speaking about a moment at Saturday’s Trump rally in Orlando, Florida.

“Let’s do a pledge. Who likes me in this room?” Trump asked the crowd. “Raise your right hand: ‘I do solemnly swear that I — no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions, if there’s hurricanes or whatever — will vote, on or before the 12th for Donald J. Trump for president.’”

Foxman was born in Poland in 1940, and said he was reminded of Nazi rallies in the 1930s and ’40s when he saw the display. He feels Trump knew exactly what he was doing.

“We’ve seen this sort of thing at rallies of neo-Nazis. We’ve seen it at rallies of white supremacists. But to see it at a rally for a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States is outrageous,” Foxman said. “It is a fascist gesture. He is smart enough — he always tells us how smart he is — to know the images that this evokes.”

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