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Alabama Democratic Party compares convicted killer’s execution, the Holocaust

The party made the antisemitic equation in response to an International Holocaust Remembrance Day post by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.

Alabama State Capitol
Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) posted on social media about remembering “the millions of lives lost to unfathomable hatred—mindful that antisemitism still tries to resurface in our world.”

“To never again see such evil carry out, we will always continue to preserve the memory of this painful history,” the governor wrote.

That anti-evil post rubbed the Alabama Democratic Party the wrong way. “A man was gassed to death for 22 minutes Thursday with your permission but yes, tell us more about ‘never again seeing such evil carried out,’” the party posted.

The state’s Democratic party referred to the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, who was convicted of killing Elizabeth Sennett, 45, in 1988. The victim’s son noted that Smith “had been incarcerated almost twice as long as I knew my mom,” the Associated Press reported.

Smith was executed using nitrogen gas “a first-of-its-kind method that once again placed the U.S. at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment,” the AP reported. “The state said the method would be humane, but critics called it cruel and experimental.”

To Alabama Democrats, however, the execution of a convicted killer was comparable to the genocidal massacre of Jews during the Holocaust.

“The Alabama Democrats’ social media has a history of trying to compare Republicans to Nazis,” reported the Alabama-based Yellowhammer News. “Late last year they tried to say U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) was acting like a Nazi.”

The Anti-Defamation League criticized Alabama Democrats at the time for the comparison.

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