Historian Doug Brinkley's comparison of the events of Jan. 6 to the Holocaust, the 9/11 attacks, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor was a "ridiculous, absurd, breathtakingly insensitive analogy" and was made to "paint an uglier picture and to frighten Americans" Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, tells Newsmax.
Klein also told Newsmax's "Cortes & Pellegrino" Thursday night that he lost grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in the Holocaust, and they would "demand a profuse and heartfelt apology" from Brinkley for his comparisons.
Brinkley's comments came during a panel discussion on MSNBC, when he said that getting Jan. 6 attack videos was similar, historically, to when Dwight D. Eisenhower made sure that the Holocaust camps were filmed.
Brinkley strerssed that it was important to remember the Jan. 6 incidents in the way the other events are recalled.
"How dare he show this breathtaking insensitivity to the Jewish people and to civilized people around the world by comparing this one-day, out-of-control protest to 6 million Jews and millions of others murdered?" asked Klein.
"He did this because he is a partisan, left-wing historian," Klein said. "He wants to implant in the minds of American people as ugly and frightening a picture of Jan. 6 as is possible, and that's why he made this analogy."
But, Klein argued, the Jan. 6 protests were on just "one very terrible day" and just one person, protester Ashli Babbitt, was killed.
"In 9/11 and in Pearl Harbor, 3,000 people died in each one, and in the Holocaust, we had 6 million Jews murdered and millions of others," said Klein.
Further, the Holocaust was carried out by Germany, a "major country with a major army and with major weapons" but the Jan. 6 attack was a "one-day protest that went out of hand, with no weapons," said Klein.
"No protesters killed anyone," he added. "There's only one person who died and that was a protester killed by policemen. [Brinkley] also didn't mention that we saw the pictures of the police opening up the gates, essentially inviting people into the Capitol area."
Klein further said he thinks that Brinkley and others on the left want to distract Americans from the "real problems," by creating a focus around the Jan. 6 incidents.
"We have illegals entering our borders by the millions, roaring inflation, incredible increases in crime and murders," said Klein.
He also demanded to know why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't talking about threats made by Iran to murder former President Donald Trump, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and President Joe Biden.
"That's what should be talked about, not one-day, out-of-control protests," said Klein.
He also demanded to know why Deborah Lipstadt, Biden's nominee to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, hasn't spoken out about the comparisons of Jan. 6 to the Holocaust.
"She has said nothing about this because she herself has compared Trump to Nazis and made videos comparing the Trump administration to the Nazi administration," said Klein. "She is unfit."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.