Trump's Ambassador to the Netherlands Visits Nazi Graves on Jewish Day of Mourning
Trump’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, visited and posted an image from a graveyard where German soldiers from WWI and WWII are buried. WWII German soldiers were Nazis; therefore to mourn German soldiers who fought in WWII is to mourn Nazis.
Members of the Waffen SS, a unit responsible for murdering Jews, are buried at the Dutch site. Neo-Nazis have previously gathered at the site to honor the Nazi soldiers buried there.
Critics pointed out that Hoekstra posted about his visit on Tisha B’Av, a day in Jewish tradition to mourn catastrophes endured by and destruction of Jews throughout history. On this day of mourning, Hoekstra could have chosen to visit the nearby graves of Allied soldiers, or the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Instead, he visited the graves of Nazis.
Hoekstra, a former Republican Congressman from Michigan, had previously been criticized for anti-Muslim comments he made in 2017, when he falsely claimed there were “No-Go zones in the Netherlands” due to Muslim influence.