Famed anti-Semitism watchdog Abe Foxman sees danger in a second Trump term
President Trump is asking voters to see him as a friend of American Jews and Israel.
Abraham Foxman sees something very different.
Last month, the man who led the Anti-Defamation League for 28 years said Trump’s reelection would be “nothing less than a body blow for our country and our community.” He called Trump “a demagogue” who“threatens American democracy .”
Foxman noted that during his half-century with the ADL — “working for the Jewish people” — he did not endorse candidates. He only spoke up because “after decades of progress … Jews are filled with fear and anxiety. President Trump shoulders a good measure of the blame.”
Trump supporters will note that Foxman made his comments in an article for the Times of Israel. Owner Seth Klarman is a major Democratic donor.
Foxman’s article just hit South Florida households via a mailer from Independence USA. That’s former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-Trump political action committee.
Criticizing the sources, however, does not weaken Foxman’s message. When it comes to advocacy for American Jews, he’s the reliable source.
Trump brags that he moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He touts recent deals in which Arab countries normalized relations with Israel.
Foxman acknowledged that he supported the embassy move, but offered a much broader perspective of the Trump presidency as it relates to Jews and Israel.
“In spirit and deed,” Foxman wrote, Trump has “given succor to bigots, supremacists and those seeking to divide our society.” He and others in the White House “undermine the civility and enlightened political culture that have allowed Jews to achieve what no Diaspora community outside Israel can claim in two millennia.”
Foxman sees Trump’s support for neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. He sees Trump’s praise for Viktor Orban — the president of Hungary, where anti-Semitic authors are required reading — and Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland. He was accused of “scapegoating” Jews during his campaign.
In addition, Foxman sees Trump’s embrace of the Proud Boys, which the ADL says is aligned with white supremacists. He sees Trump’s comment last year that American Jews who vote for Democrats are being “very disloyal to Israel” and his statement this year to U.S. Jewish leaders that “we love your country also.”
Foxman said Trump is not an anti-Semite. More relevant for voters, though, is whether his leadership has “lifted America” and “made Jews feel more secure.” Can he address “the twin crises of a pandemic and a reckoning with racism?”
Until Trump, Foxman said, the U.S. had been a “force multiplier for world Jewry.” At the ADL, he saw the impact. “Here, too, there is no doubt in my mind that Trump’s failings of character and America’s dismal global standing have hurt Jewish interests.”
If Trump is gaslighting Jewish voters, he’s also gaslighting Black voters. Trump talks about record low pre-pandemic unemployment and money for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Most Black voters, though, see not one Black among Trump’s 53 appeals court appointments. They see Ben Carson as the only Black member of his Cabinet, and he’s focused on weakening rules against housing discrimination.
They also see the same embrace of white supremacists and use of racist stereotypes. At a rally in Virginia last month, Trump told suburbanites that he had saved them from having “a project” in their neighborhood.
As Trump talks about what he has done for Israel, Foxman worries about what the president has done to longstanding bipartisan support for Israel. “Trump has damaged this necessary consensus,” he said, “and we cannot permit Jews and Israel to be weaponized for anyone’s narrow political interests.”
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cultivated Republicans for his own interest. Yet even Netanyahu wouldn’t choose sides in the election.
On a speakerphone, Trump asked Netanyahu, “Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi? Sleepy Joe?” Netanyahu responded, “Um, well, Mr. President, we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what you’ve done.”
Trump hasn’t begged Jewish voters as he has suburban women. Still, the president believes that, based on his record, he deserves their support. Foxman agrees that the record is clear — and so is the danger.