Action film star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger published a 12-minute YouTube video last month calling on people to fight rising antisemitism and urged movements spreading hate against Jews to stop.
In the video, Schwarzenegger talked about his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 2022 and the thoughts that came to him after his tour. His goal was that something like this should never happen again.
"Once you've spent the time to really think about [what happened in Auschwitz during the Holocaust], then your imagination has no choice but to start the real work: How do we stop this from ever happening again? You know, after a trip to Auschwitz, you would never question why 'Never Again' is the rallying cry of all the people who fight to prevent another Holocaust. You would never question that. But today, I don't really want to talk to those people. I don't want to preach to the choir here. Today, I want to talk to the people out there who might have already stumbled into the wrong direction, into the wrong path," Schwarzenegger said.
He explained he was reaching out to people who may have "heard some conspiracies about Jewish people or people of any race of gender or orientation and thought, 'That makes sense to me.'"
"I don't want you to be a loser"
"Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don't want you to be a loser."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
He continued: "Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don't want you to be a loser."
Schwarzenegger added: "It's easier to make excuses that the Jewish people conspired to hold you back than it is to admit that you just needed to work harder. It's easier to hate than it is to learn.
"Nobody who has chosen the easy path of hate has gotten to the end of the road and said, 'What a life.' No. They die as miserably as they lived."
He concluded: "So the bottom line is, I don't care how many hateful things you may have written online. I don't care how often that you've marched carrying that hateful flag or what hateful things you may have said in anger. There is still hope for you. There is still time for you. Choose strength. Choose life. Conquer your mind. You can do it."