Jewish community responds to Mayor Deegan’s controversial remarks on deportation and concentration camps

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A member of the Jewish community addressed the recent controversy surrounding Mayor Donna Deegan’s comments comparing former President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan to “concentration camps.”

“If this becomes a thing, then we can readdress this. She mentioned one word it’s not like she dammed to eternal damnation,” Rabbi Shmuli Novack, director of Chabad of Jacksonville Town Center & UNF said.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Rabbi Novack said that’s the message he got from many members of the local Jewish community.

“I think in general, it’s never ideal to invoke concentration camps, Hitler, or the Nazis. That’s typically not advised, and I always discourage people from doing so,” Rabbi Novack said.

Read: Jacksonville Mayor gets backlash from local leaders over immigration comments on London radio

He said Mayor Deegan was no exception when she made this comment in an interview with the London Times Radio.

“To put people in what would really amount to a concentration camp-type situation to round them out of the country doesn’t seem to me to be a very American thing to do,” Mayor Donna Deegan said.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Republicans like Jacksonville sheriff T.K. Waters went after those comments calling them inappropriate.

“The immigration issue or the illegal immigration actually affects us. And to take it and use a term like concentration camps is kind of strange,” Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

“The people I’m speaking to are not in anger or frustration,” Rabbi Novack said.

Rabbi Novack said he believed this was just a poor choice of words.

“The mayor has been engaged with the Jewish community and I’m sure that she’ll continue to be engaged. I think it is a great opportunity for us to reflect on the language that we use,” Rabbi Novack said.

Rabbi Novack said he didn’t want this debate to distract from celebrating Sukkot, a significant Jewish holiday that began this evening.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.