A Spanish politician has come under fire for his crude jokes on the treatment of Jews by Nazis during the Holocaust.
Guillermo Zapata, a city councilman in Madrid, tweeted, ” How would you fit five million Jews in a Seat 600 (like a Fiat 500)? In the ashtray.”
According to a website, The Spain Report, this is not the first time Zapata has used Twitter to express his anti-semitic notions. Apparently in 2011 and 2012 he tweeted a number of anti-Jewish statements.
Spanish media has reported that Zapata has apologised for his tweets and denied any wrongdoing, he claimed he had ‘always like black, cruel humour’ (sic).
“I find the Holocaust to be deplorable and terrible,” Zapata wrote in an apology on Twitter. “I am absolutely not an anti-Semite, on the contrary, I have always been interested in Jewish culture and have always been against the criminalization of the Jews.”
Zapata has since deleted his old Twitter account and started a new one with a similar handle. However, all of this might be too little too late, as the public is already roused by his remarks. The hashtag #ZapataDemision (Resign, Zapata) was trending in Spain, and a number of public groups have written to their councilmen to have him removed, including the mayor of Madrid.