Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) said Wednesday that his invoking of the Holocaust in opposition to the Iran nuclear deal has been warmly received by the Jewish community.
"The response from Jewish people has been overwhelmingly positive. The response from Holocaust survivors, from the children of Holocaust survivors," Huckabee, a 2016 presidential candidate, said in an interview on the "Today" show .
His comments -- in which he warned that President Barack Obama is marching Israelis to "the door of the oven" -- were condemned by Democrats, the Anti-Defamation League, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), and even the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer. Some Jewish Republicans in Iowa, however, had no qualms about it.
Huckabee denied the suggestion that he had made the controversial remark as a way to command attention in the press following several weeks that have been dominated with coverage of real estate mogul Donald Trump.
"If I was going to make noise about this, don't you think I'd have a better forum than a weekend satellite radio show that I didn't think that many people would even be listening to?" he asked. "And by the way, it's nothing that I haven't said for the past 42 years having been in and out of Israel."