(JTA) — Anthony Scaramucci’s self-described news outlet reposted a controversial survey question on Twitter about the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, saying it was an educational exercise.
The Scaramucci Post originally tweeted out the poll on Oct. 17, asking, “How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?” and offered multiple choices: “Less than one million, between 1-2 million, between 2-3 million, more than 5 million.”
The historical figure, 6 million, was not offered.
https://twitter.com/ScaramucciPost/status/920274523324329985
The resulting outcry included a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League anti-Semitism watchdog, which said the poll could lend credence to Holocaust deniers.
Noting that he is Jewish, Scaramucci’s partner in the enterprise, Lance Laifer, took responsibly for posting the survey, removed the tweet and apologized “if anyone was offended.”
Scaramucci, President Donald Trump’s short-lived communications director, also promised to donate $25,000 to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization that combats anti-Semitism. He reportedly lost at least one speaking gig over the controversy.
And yet the poll reappeared Saturday on the Scaramucci Post Twitter account with the statement: “The correct answer is six million. Please fill in the proper answer and retweet this poll.”
Laifer and Scaramucci both retweeted the post, adding: “Please vote & retweet. Do not let Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites control this poll.”
The Scaramucci Post feed defended reposting the poll in a series of tweets. It said the purpose of the poll was to make people aware that the memory of the Holocaust is fading.
“We are extremely worried about the disinformation campaign about the genocidal tragedy, the Shoah, which took the lives of 6,000,000 Jews,” the account said. “We are putting the poll back up because if it helps educate even just one person it will have been a worthwhile endeavor for us.”
https://twitter.com/ScaramucciPost/status/921427763709521920
The account also railed against what it called the “mob-like behavior” of journalists against the Holocaust tweets.
More than a few people apparently need educating. With an hour of the original poll being posted, 4,776 people responded, with 68 percent answering more than 5 million, 21 percent saying less than 1 million and the rest split between the other two options.
On Oct. 16, a day before posting the Holocaust poll, the Scaramucci Post tweeted: “Before we move on we will spend the next half hour digging on one question: How many Jews were alive worldwide in 1939?”
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