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A NEW AD campaign from Democratic New York City Assemblyman Dov Hikind warns city dwellers that their neighbour might be a Nazi.

“Nazis are living freely among us,” declares a banner on Hikind’s website.

According to an announcement posted on his site on Tuesday, Hikind’s ads asking, “Would you be a Nazi’s neighbor?” would be appearing in newspapers and bus stops around New York this week. The announcement describes the ads as “part of Hikind’s campaign to rid the United States once and for all of illegal Nazi war criminals.”

Hikind, who represents a district in Brooklyn with a large Orthodox Jewish population said the campaign was inspired by the case of a former Nazi guard who lives in Queens.

“Jakiw Palij, an ex-Nazi slave-labour camp guard, continues to live comfortably in Jackson Heights, NY, because the United States has, thus far, found it difficult to get rid of him,” Hikind said in a statement accompanying the announcement about the ads.

This is unacceptable. I’m certain that all decent people, regardless of their nationality, would also find this unacceptable if they were aware of it, so I intend to bring this reprehensible situation to everyone’s attention. Decent people don’t want Nazi neighbours.

According to Hikind’s website, the assemblyman is “in contact with the US Department of Justice, Office of Special Investigations” with the goal of having remaining “illegal Nazis” in the US deported to Germany.

“Palij has had it pretty good in Queens,” said Hikind. “That’s an insult to decency. It is an affront to justice. Worst of all, it is a vile slur to the innocent souls of the men, women and children murdered by Nazis.”

Based on a version of Hikind’s ads posted on his Facebook page, they will feature links to his Twitter account and a Change.org petition he created to “deport known Nazis who live in US” Images posted on his site as part of the campaign feature vintage photos of Nazis pointing weapons at women and children alongside the question, “Would you be a Nazi’s neighbor?”

Hikind did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the campaign from Business Insider.

The assemblyman’s dramatic imagery and rhetoric might seem over-the-top to some viewers, but Hikind is no stranger to controversy. In February 2013, Hikind made national headlines after her posted photos on Facebook showing him wearing a blackface costume at a party for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Hikind initially defended the getup as a fitting part of the Purim festivities.

View the version of Hikind’s ad that was posted on Facebook below.

- Hunter Walker