Amazon removes Nazi paraphernalia following criticism

Amazon was slammed for continuing to peddle anti-Semitic products on its site despite the e-retail giant scrubbing a few Nazi-related items.

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center lashed out at Amazon on Thursday for “allowing the marketing and sale of Nazi and neo-Nazi paraphernalia on their website.”

The organization said that it sent a letter to Amazon demanding the removal of several items.

Taking down the listings will “end the monetization of hateful products,” according to the Wiesenthal Center.

The Jewish organization provided screenshots of several items, including a swastika pendant that attaches to a necklace; patches that bear “pirate skull crossbones” images; a skull badge metal pin brooch; and several other items said to contain neo-Nazi overtones.

“Amazon needs to immediately remove and update their site to stop recommending all Nazi, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist paraphernalia,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean and director of global social action at the Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement.

Cooper cited a letter that his organization sent to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos last year, which prompted the Seattle-based e-commerce retailer to take down more than 20 Nazi propaganda films that were offered up for sale on Amazon’s web site or were available for streaming on its Prime Video service.

The rabbi demanded Amazon put a system in place to promptly remove such items in the future.

“It’s simply not acceptable for the biggest economic giant on the block to play games of Wack-a-mole rather than fix things,” Cooper said.

“We don’t need to know what your algorithm is. What I’m interested in knowing is if this is something that could be fixed easily by Amazon, without making any significant dent in their bottom line.”

Cooper added: “And the fact that they haven’t done so on their own is bad enough.”

Several of the items were removed from the site. The tech news site Gizmodo was the first to report the removals.

When reached by The Post, a spokesperson for Amazon referenced the company’s policies as they relate to “potentially offensive products.”

“Our offensive products policy prohibits the sale of products that promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views, as well as listings that graphically portray violence or victims of violence,” the company writes.

“To enforce our policies, we have proactive mechanisms in place to catch offensive listings before a customer ever sees them,” Amazon says.

“Our technology continuously scans all products listed for sale looking for text and images that we have determined violate our policies, and immediately removes them.”

“The realm of potentially offensive products is nuanced and diverse, and we review thousands of products every day against our policies to ensure compliance.” 

Last year, Amazon refused to ban a controversial film with anti-Semitic themes that was promoted online by Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving.

The movie, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” was available for purchase on Amazon’s Prime Video service as of Friday.

The film, which is based on a 2015 book of the same title, promotes anti-Semitic tropes and bogus claims, including one which says the Black Hebrew Israelite community are the true descendants of biblical Israelites.

The movie also alleges a global Jewish conspiracy to oppress black people and that Jews were partially to blame for the African slave trade.

Irving, the Nets’ mercurial star, took to Twitter and posted a link to the film. After news reports highlighted the anti-Semitic content in the movie, Nets owner Joe Tsai released a statement condemning Irving for the tweet.

When Irving refused to renounce the film and its anti-Semitic claims, he was suspended for several games by the Nets, who came under pressure from the Anti-Defamation League and other groups who demanded disciplinary measures.

Irvin eventually apologized and was reinstated by the team.