Brazilian Jewish Lawmaker Sues Over ‘Nazi’ Jibe
A Jewish politician from Brazil said he would sue a colleague for suggesting he was a Nazi.
Isaac Tayah, president of the city council of Manaus, said he would file charges in a federal court for racism, libel and defamation, according to A Crtitica, a Brazilian news site.
Earlier this month, councilman Mario Frota published in his blog a photomontage of Tayah’s face on the body of Adolf Hitler wearing a Nazi uniform.
Frota told several newspaper that it was a “bad joke,” but Tayah said he would not let it go.
“I can’t just ignore this. Even of the trial goes on for 10 years, Frota will have to answer for this,” he told A Critica. If Frota wanted to make a joke, Tayah added, “he could have presented me as a ballerina. He wanted to create a polemic.”
The umbrella organization of Jewish communities of the Brazilian state of Amazonas – the capital of which is Manaus – expressed “solidarity” with Tayah.
“Comparing Jews to Nazism is offensive to the Jewish people and religion,” a recent statement by the organization, CIAM, read. It added Tayah was a “prominent member” of the Jewish community of Amazonas.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
