Trump plays down anti-Semitism
Wave of bomb threats against Jewish schools, centres in U.S., Canada
A wave of bomb threats against Jewish schools and centres in the United States and Canada may be “reprehensible” but may not be antiSemitism, U.S. President Donald Trump is reported to have said.
In a meeting Tuesday with state attorneys general, Trump is reported to have played down the possibility that the threats — 100 in two months —have been the work of anti-Semites, and said it could be provocateurs trying to make “others” look bad.
The most recent wave of threats Monday targeted 31 facilities, including a community centre in Calgary that was evacuated just before 6 p.m.
David Posner of the Jewish Community Centre Association of North America responded with a plea to federal officials, including the White House, to speak out “against this scourge of anti-Semitism impacting communities across the country.”
But according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who arranged a conference call with reporters to relay Trump’s comments Tuesday, the president said the recent threats and vandalism against Jewish institutions were “reprehensible” but might not necessarily reflect antiSemitism, the Pittsburgh PostGazette reported. Sometimes, the president said, “the reverse can be true,” Shapiro reported, according to the PostGazette. “Someone’s doing it to make others look bad.” Shapiro said he found the comment “a bit curious.”
Trump’s comments echoed those of his adviser Anthony Scaramucci, who wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning that it’s “not yet clear” who is behind the threats, suggesting it could be a false flag operation. “Don’t forget (Democrats’) effort to incite violence at Trump rallies,” he wrote, linking to a Breitbart story claiming trained agitators were to blame for violence at Trump election events.
Calgary’s Jewish Community Centre was the second in Canada to be caught up in the rash of threats. A centre in London, Ont., received a similar threat on Jan. 31. In all cases in Canada and the United States, the threats have proven to be unfounded.
Judy Shapiro, associate executive director of the Calgary Jewish Federation, said the threat was phoned in at about 5:45 p.m. “It’s always a shock, but was it unexpected? Not really, because it’s been happening all over the States,” Shapiro said in an interview.
She said police were called and the building was emptied for the evening while staff did a sweep to make sure there were no suspicious items. On Tuesday morning, she said, the parking lot was full as people returned to the centre undeterred by the threat.
“Obviously the community is responding the way we should, which is, we’re not going to let crazies who are trying to make us fearful take over our lives,” she said.
Ryan Hartman, director of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ national community security program, said the calls received in Canada, like those in the United States, featured an automated or altered voice. One message obtained by the Jewish news agency JTA in January warned of a “bloodbath” and said “a large number of Jews are going to be slaughtered.”
Hartman said the large number of threats in the United States has led to heightened vigilance in Canada. “We are very much prepared for this type of thing,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has happened in the past, but not at the same volume as we’re seeing, particularly in the U.S.”
B’nai Brith, which tracks antiSemitic incidents in Canada, has not noticed an unusual increase since Trump’s election. Ryan Bellerose, the Jewish group’s Western Canada advocacy co-ordinator, said antiSemitic acts surge slightly for a few months after any major world event.
“Until they investigate these bomb threats and can find who are the actual culprits, I would hesitate before I would say this is right-wing anti-Semitism that’s attributable to what’s going on in the States,” Bellerose said.
“Anti-Semitism is one of the few kinds of hatreds that is agreed upon by far-left and far-right extremists.”