Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis in New York. (Creative Commons)

Four-hundred prominent rabbis from across the nation published an open letter to Rupert Murdoch on Thursday to criticize Fox News’ use of Holocaust imagery.

The letter, which appears as part of a $100,000 advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, calls for host Glenn Beck to be “sanctioned by Fox News for his completely unacceptable attacks on [George Soros,] a survivor of the Holocaust” and demands that Fox News president Roger Ailes “apologize for his dismissive remarks about rabbis’ sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air.”

Soros, a successful Jewish financier who grew up in Nazi-occupied Hungary, has received decidedly sympathetic media coverage since the announcement of the anticipated letter, with Reuters dubbing him a “frequent target of conservative commentators.”

However, Fox News has maintained their staunch right-wing stance, funneling politically-charged statements through senior VP of development Joel Cheatwood, who accused the group of four-hundred rabbis of being a “George Soros backed left-wing political organization that has been trying to engage Glenn Beck primarily for publicity purposes.”

Signed by the heads of the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, the publication of the open letter coincides, interestingly enough, with Google’s globally accessible Internet release of 130,000 Holocaust images and documents from Israeli museum Yad Vashem. The library at Yad Vashem holds more than 130 million documents in total.

“This is a great step forward; we are harnessing technology for the benefit of millions around the world to permit them to access new information,” said Avner Shalev, director of Yad Vashem. Shalev described the project as a tribute to the day of Holocaust remembrance, an international holiday observed annually on January 27.

With Holocaust-centered news currently on the forefront of both politics and technology, this year’s day of remembrance will undoubtedly be a day to remember, acting as the backdrop of heated debate and international interest.

Reach reporter Julia Deng here.

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