An angry and frustrated Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz lashed out this week against individuals who have made anti-Semitic comments about the county Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein, who is Jewish, and likened Poloncarz to Hitler on social media.
"The doctor is not going to say it, but I'm going to," Poloncarz said Thursday. "Unfortunately, there have been some very serious, anti-Semitic attacks against Dr. Burstein in social media, direct accusations against her and her religion. And then there's, of course, attacks on her integrity and the work that she's doing."
He described the criticism as "unacceptable and unconscionable."
"I actually had someone post on my Facebook page today that Covid-19 is the monetization and attempts to destroy the white Catholic race," he said. "Well, I'm Catholic. That is not the case. We need to realize there is science, and science comes above all. But the nastiness, the racist, bigoted and anti-Semitic tones that I've been seeing from people in our own community is unacceptable."
He noted that he has been likened to Hitler and shared that a relative of his grandfather was killed in Auschwitz because she was a Polish freedom fighter.
"My God, folks. Do you really understand the past?" he said.
"The accusations that we're Hitler, that we're Nazis, because we are implementing protocols to create the safer society for all is just ridiculous," Poloncarz said. "I'm going to call it out every time I see it. So to those of you who are fomenting hate, shame on you. The protocols that have been put in place are there to protect the public, to save lives. Nobody wants to do it.