Gingrich: Romney Made Survivors Eat Treyf!
Josh Nathan-Kazis January 31, 2012
Mitt Romney forced Holocaust survivors to eat non-Kosher food, a Gingrich robocall claimed today.
The claim ties longstanding criticism over a 2003 veto Romney signed as Massachusetts governor to the specter of mistreated Holocaust survivors in an 11th-hour bid for south Florida’s Jewish vote.
The call, available here, references a bill Romney vetoed as governor that would have continued funding of kosher food in nursing homes.
And while the veto has been covered heavily in the past, and reported on as recently as this week, the charge that Romney’s decision specifically hurt Holocaust survivors appears to be a novel one.
“Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher,” the recorded caller intones. “Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich.”
The call comes in the context of a tough battle over south Florida’s sizable Jewish vote – a battle Gingrich appears to be losing. Interviews in south Florida last week suggested that Jewish seniors in the area lacked enthusiasm for Gingrich, expressing particular concern over his character.
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 still need 300 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.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
