Anger at Trump’s ‘racist’ attack on congresswomen
JEWISH GROUPS in the United States accused Donald Trump of using Israel as a shield to echo “the racist talking points of white nationalists” after he repeated a call this week for four congresswomen to leave the country.
The President said the four Democratic politicians — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley — could go back to their “broken and crimeinfested” countries if they hated America.
“We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own country,” he tweeted on Monday, referring to Ms OcasioCortez and her three colleagues. He added: “We will never be a socialist or communist country. If you are not happy here, you can leave!”
Ms Omar responded on Twitter, telling Mr Trump that he was stoking white nationalism because “you are angry that people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hate-filled agenda.”
The President’s comments were condemned almost unanimously by Democrats as well as by several members of his own party.
Mitt Romney, a Republican senator in Utah who was the party’s presidential nominee in 2012, said Mr Trump’s words were “destructive, demeaning, and disunifying.”
Jewish groups also criticised the language.
“As Jews, we are all too familiar with this kind of divisive prejudice,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League.
“While ADL has publicly disagreed with these congresswomen on some issues, the President is echoing the racist talking points of white nationalists and cynically using the Jewish people and the state of Israel as a shield to double down on his remarks.
“Politicising the widespread, bipartisan support for Israel and throwing around accusations of antisemitism is damaging to the security of Israel and the Jewish community.”
The liberal Jewish group J-Street said it was “appalled by the ongoing torrent of racist incitement that President Trump continues to direct against progressive women of colour in Congress.
“We refuse to allow the real threat of antisemitism to be weaponised and exploited by those who themselves share a large part of the responsibility for the rise of white nationalist and antisemitic violence in this country.”
There was also anger in Britain. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the world was calling out for moral leadership to “quench the flames” of hatred and bigotry.
“Sadly,” he added, Mr Trump’s comment “will achieve just the opposite.”
Edie Friedman from Jcore, the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, said the “go home” trope has been used for centuries, including against Jews, while Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl said it was “wrong to drag Israel in to these undignified tirades.”