Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) today expressed outrage at allegations that U.S. military personnel at Guantánamo Bay are dissuading detainees from seeing legal counsel – and using anti-Semitic stereotypes to do it.

According to a March 27 report in The New York Times, American interrogators have attempted to use anti-Jewish sentiment to instill mistrust of lawyers in detainees.

“This is a travesty twice over,” Congressman Nadler said.  “It’s a violation of American principle that Military personnel at Guantánamo are trying to scare prisoners away from legal representation.  To do so by encouraging cultural hatred is despicable.”

According to the Times article, interrogators have reminded clients of Jewish lawyers that “Jews have betrayed Muslims throughout the years,” and that “a Jew won’t help a Muslim unless he gets something more out of it.

Nadler announced that he would seek a full investigation of the allegations.

“Our soldiers around the world fight for an America that values both tolerance and due process,” Nadler said. “If those precepts are being trampled on by even a small segment of our personnel, we need to know about it.”