WATCH: Nazi flag unfurls as Bernie Sanders says hello at rally in Arizona
A Nazi flag is unfurled behind Bernie Sanders at a campaign event in Phoenix on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Image by Twitter/SiddakAhuja
By Aiden Pink March 6, 2020
Editor’s Note: Read an interview with one of the rally participants who encountered the man with the flag here.
Updated 2:30 p.m.
A protester disrupted Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign rally in Phoenix on Thursday by waving a Nazi flag.
“It was absolutely wild,” Brianna Westbrook, a national surrogate for the Sanders campaign, told The Washington Post. “I never thought I would have seen a swastika at a political event. It’s gross.”
Members of the crowd booed the protester, and those nearby him snatched the flag away from him. The protester was escorted from the premises by security.
Sanders did not appear to have seen the protester, who was positioned above and behind him. A spokesperson later told BuzzFeed News that Sanders had been informed of the incident and was “disturbed” by it.
A man brought a literal Nazi flag to the rally of a Jewish Socialist candidate for President
He was escorted out by security forcespic.twitter.com/KOLhyJJFxZ
— Siddak Ahuja (@SiddakAhuja) March 6, 2020
Sanders is Jewish, and has spoken about how his relatives were killed in the Holocaust.
The incident was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League. “Targeting a Jewish candidate with a Nazi flag represents a new level of depravity,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. “There is no place for hate in politics. Disagree on issues, but all good people should flat out reject this kind of poison when it appears in the 2020 race.”
The ADL identified the protester as white supremacist Robert Sterkeson, a self-described “stunt activist” who often targets Jewish and Muslim events and posts video on YouTube or his website, BombIslam.com.
For example, in October 2018 — the day after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, in which 11 Pittsburgh Jews were killed by a white nationalist — Sterkeson unfurled a Nazi flag at an Arizona hotel that was hosting a conference for the Jewish National Fund.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.