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A Saskatchewan rabbi is calling for more reflection after a Moose Jaw news outlet published an editorial comparing COVID-19 public health measures to "what Hitler did to the Jews."
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Parent company Glacier Media posted a statement on Monday expressing its 鈥渞egret for this error鈥� over the editorial, which was posted to its Moose Jaw Today website last Wednesday. It also ran on page A4 of the associated Moose Jaw Express newspaper the same day.
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Glacier said the editorial, which has since been removed from the website, did not meet the company's standards.
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"The editorial inappropriately compared (COVID-19) pandemic-related lockdowns to the Holocaust,鈥� it said in the post.
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Rabbi Jeremy Parnes, from Regina鈥檚 Beth Jacob Synagogue, said 鈥渦sing the Holocaust as analogous to (the pandemic) seems way out of line and inappropriate."
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Parnes said he wishes Moose Jaw Today would 鈥渄o a little bit more to think about what it is they鈥檙e publishing before they go ahead and publish it, and not have to send regrets, but rather avoid the situation in the first place.鈥�
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He鈥檚 also concerned that, 鈥淓ven though the paper expressed regret and says they鈥檝e pulled the article, it鈥檚 still out in the online media, and the hard copies are still out there in circulation, because obviously they can鈥檛 be withdrawn.鈥�
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Titled Questions with no solid answers, the editorial by senior editor Joan Ritchie asked whether gathering restrictions meant to fight the spread of COVID-19 are a "a violation of human rights," and suggested they could lead to "lockdowns in internment camps."
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Moose Jaw Express publisher Robert Ritchie responded to the Leader-Post in an email that 鈥渢his is an internal issue that we are currently dealing with.鈥� He did not respond to follow-up questions about whether there would be any sort disciplinary or cultural sensitivity training process for the editor.
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Glacier鈥檚 corporate office has not yet responded to email and phone-call requests for comment.
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Lockdown measures for the pandemic and the Nazis鈥� imprisonment and murder of Europe鈥檚 Jews in the Holocaust are 鈥渢wo completely different realities,鈥� Parnes said. He added that likening the two "is to take it out of context, and that鈥檚 not helpful.鈥�
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鈥淚t seems to me irresponsible,鈥� he said.
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Parnes added the editorial 鈥渕ight be perceived as hurtful to some, especially people who have had family that suffered in the Holocaust.鈥�
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