Holocaust Denier Accused Of Stealing Muslim Group's Logo For Congressional Campaign Ad
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier who has openly expressed anti-Semitic views, has stirred up plenty of controversy in his bid for Congress. Now he's accused of stealing an Arab-American group's logo to boost his campaign.
Jones will never be mistaken for a friend of Jews or Israel.
"I'm saying the overwhelming majority of the Jewish population of this country are either Zionists, which means they put the interest of Israel first, of they're communist," Jones said when asked if he's anti-Jewish.
Jones won the GOP primary in the 3rd Congressional District when no other Republicans ran against him. He's facing six-term Congressman Dan Lipinski in the general election.
Searching for Muslim support, Jones placed an ad in an Arab-language newspaper, The Future, but it contained the logo for Yalla Vote, the voter registration campaign of the Arab American Institute.
The group views Jones as a hatemonger.
Arab American Institute founder James Zogby described Jones as "a white nationalist who has anti-Semitic, homophobic, and anti-immigration views."
"We don't want to be identified with that at all," he said.
Zogby sent Jones a "cease and desist" letter, telling him to stop using their logo.
Jason Hanson, a write-in candidate who says he's running to give Republican voters an alternative, called Jones' ideology repugnant.
"We can't normalize these kinds of candidates' presence on ballots in America," he said.
Jones pointed out the same logo is on a large image of Democratic candidate for governor J.B. Pritzker in the same newspaper. He said the publisher, not he, put the logo on his ad.
"He thought if there was a Republican with some guts willing to put an ad in his paper, he was willing to take the ad, and he put it in there, and just encouraged people to vote," Jones said.
A representative of the Arab American paper confirmed a layout editor, who doesn't speak English, placed the Yalla Vote logo on Jones' ad.
While Jones hoped his anti-Israel views would appeal to Muslims, it's clear some want nothing to do with him.
