Brazilian blogger slammed for likening COVID-19 patients to Holocaust victims
Jewish group says comment by Allan dos Santos, a Bolsonaro supporter, ‘disregards the suffering of the victims’; official calls him a ‘scoundrel’

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Several Brazilian Jewish groups have slammed a popular political blogger who compared the lack of use of a drug to treat COVID-19 patients to the murder of Jews in the Holocaust.
“Omitting the use of chloroquine is the same as leaving Jews in doubt between shower and gas chamber,” wrote Allan dos Santos on Wednesday on his social media channels, which have more than 500,000 followers.
The comment came amid a political turmoil involving infectologist David Uip, coordinator of the coronavirus contingency center in Sao Paulo. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who backs the use of chloroquine, questioned Uip publicly if he used the drug to recover from COVID-19 a few days ago. Uip answered that he has the right to privacy, G1 news portal reported.
“Mr. Santos disregards the suffering of the victims of the Holocaust. At times like this, anti-Semites and opportunists are always on the prowl to attack Jews and other minorities,” read a Wednesday note by the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, Brazil’s umbrella Jewish organization.
Santos, who is an open supporter of Bolsonaro, is the founder of a conservative news portal called Terca Livre. Last year, he was interrogated by the national committee that investigates fake news in the political arena.
“This scoundrel showed his true anti-Semitic face, contrary to what President Bolsonaro has always expressed in relation to the Jewish community and Israel,” Persio Bider, president of the Organized Jewish Youth, told The Times of Israel.
“Relativizing or comparing anything to what happened to Jews in the Holocaust is the vilest way that anti-Semites use to attack Jews.”