White House press secretary Sean Spicer apologized during “The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days” forum at the Newseum on Wednesday. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

When White House press secretary Sean Spicer shocked listeners by saying that Hitler “was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that Assad is doing” when he murdered millions of Jews, some of the nation’s most prominent fighters of anti-Semitism didn’t even know about it. It was the first day of Passover — and as part of observing the Jewish holiday, many staff members at the Anti-Defamation League had their phones and televisions off.

When they turned them back on again Wednesday night, they had a surprise waiting for them. While they had been off the Internet, celebrating the Jewish exodus from Egypt in the time of the Pharaoh, Spicer had said in a press briefing that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s actions were worse than Hitler’s, though Hitler took Jews to “the Holocaust centers.”

Spicer has apologized. Now, the ADL said Thursday, it’s time for him to brush up on his history.

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