Jewish Group Condemns Raese’s Hitler Remark - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Jewish Group Condemns Raese’s Hitler Remark

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CHARLESTON (AP) -

An international Jewish human rights group is condemning remarks by West Virginia U.S. Senate candidate John Raese.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center says it was inappropriate for Raese to equate anti-smoking laws with the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.

But Raese on Thursday said he doesn't care about the group's reaction. The Morgantown Republican says he was reciting history.

A video posted on YouTube (http://bit.ly/IoHcRs ) shows Raese criticizing his home county's indoor smoking ban. He said requiring stickers on buildings declaring them smoke-free is like how "Hitler used to put a Star of David on everybody's lapel."

The Wiesenthal Center on Thursday said the remark betrays an ignorance of the horrors inflicted by the Nazis and demonstrates callousness to the millions of Jews they murdered.

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