RI Business Owner Stands by His Comments That Holocaust Is a Hoax and Israel Is Anti-America
Friday, August 14, 2020
Westerly businessman Patrick Sunderland, whose Facebook post has been flagged as anti-Semitic by one Rhode Island group, is standing by his comment.
Sunderland posted on Facebook on a story promoting a "stop anti-semitism" sign on the Big Blue Bug, “Hell with Israel they lied about the holohoax and they don’t care about NATO and they don’t care about NATO and they bomb crap out of Gaza and they support the downfall of America.”
When asked if he regretted making the Facebook post Sunderland responded, “Nope.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe group Rhode Island Coalition for Israel identified Sunderland and other posts that the group deemed as anti-Jewish.
“Anti-Semitic comments we received showed that the 2000-year old virus is, unfortunately, alive and well in Rhode Island,” says Mary Greene, President of RICI.
According to Greene, negative comments included Holocaust denial, accusations of dual loyalty and treason, genocide, global domination, mass immigration, and responsibility for Marxism, among others. “Basically the Jews and Israel are being held responsible for every evil in the world. That has always been the case.”
But Sunderland dismissed RICI’s criticism. He is the owner and founder of Dedicated Painting in Westerly.
“As far as them sending out a press release that is there right as an American to freedom of speech and freedom of the press just as I am allowed my freedom of speech. If they want to label me anti-Jew that's cool that's they're right," said Sunderland in a Facebook message to GoLocal.
"I've had a better class of people insult me and drag my name through the mud than an organization that has no bearing on my life..funny how they whine about other people's views,” said Sunderland in a Facebook message to GoLocal.
In a column in Forbes published in January by Ewelina U. Ochab, she writes, “Holocaust denial and distortion is the dismissal of irrefutable and established facts that Holocaust happened. It belittles the suffering of the victims and survivors of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. Holocaust denial and distortion are a form of hate speech that dehumanize the victims and survivors and aims to question and justify the acts.” Six million Jews were exterminated by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
Facebook has updated its policies on antisemitic speech on its platform, Facebook’s Vice President for Integrity, Guy Rosen, announced in a blog post on Tuesday.
Facebook has come under criticism over its policy on hate speech after cases of Holocaust denial and antisemitism were allowed to remain on the social media platform. According to the company, it is now taking steps to more closely conform with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of antisemitism, which includes making dehumanizing or stereotypical allegations about Jews, such as the myth of a world Jewish conspiracy or Jews controlling the media.
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