US President-elect Donald Trump (R) with his chief strategist, Steve Bannon
Photo: AFP
Nadav Eyal
Photo: Ido Erez
As US Jews suffer, silence falls on Jerusalem
Op-ed: For the first time in two generations, America’s Jews are witnessing the infiltration of anti-Semitism into the American political discourse. The State of Israel, meanwhile, has yet to express any concern or solidarity with their situation.
Donald Trump is not an anti-Semite. He has worked with Jews all his life, and has never been known for anti-Semitism. His daughter converted to Judaism, and his closest associate is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Granted, the ex-wife of Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, testified that her ex-husband did not want his daughters to study with Jews—but that testimony was given as part of a divorce trial, and Bannon has worked with and employed Jews in senior positions on his website, Breitbart.
White supremacists salute 'Hail Trump' at Washington conference
Since winning the US presidential election, Trump has stressed that he will be the president of “all Americans” and has condemned racist assaults.
These are facts, but here are a few more facts: Trump ran a dividing campaign and was repeatedly condemned by his party members over comments viewed as racist, including his desire to disqualify a judge who discussed a case directly concerning him for being “Mexican,” although he is an American born in the United States. Or his statement that Mexico was sending “rapists and criminals.”
His desire to ban the entry of all Muslims to the US has now been replaced with an initiative he has yet to personally renounced—a “registry” of the Muslims in the US. His campaign distributed a poster with a red Star of David on the background of a stack of dollars and Hillary Clinton. His devout supporters attacked Jewish journalists on Twitter and Facebook, forcing them to shut down their social media accounts following violent harassment and threats, with pictures of concentration camps and promises that American Jews would soon be rounded up and taken to the camps.
Since Trump’s election, America is experiencing a wave of ugly acts of racism, which the anti-Defamation League defines as “a rash of anti-Semitic vandalism.” Trump has managed to attack the New York Times at least six times on his Twitter account since his election, but has not said a single word there about the acts of violence taking place across America, like students who are shouting at their Hispanic schoolmates, “We’ll build the wall,” people who are attacking Muslims, saying “Trump won. Now you get out of here,” and more.
The Alt-right, the “alternative right” movement, held a conference in Washington several days ago. Its speakers included the person who invented the concept of the white people as “crusaders,” as “occupiers” who are the “children of the sun” and have the blood with the “potential for greatness” flowing in their veins. The conference also dealt with Jewish influence, and concluded with “Hail Trump!” and Nazi salutes performed by the participants.
White supremacists 'hail Trump' with Nazi salute
What does this have to do with Trump? Steve Bannon said that his website was the “platform for the alt-right.” Well, it turns out that the founder of this term is a Nazi.
The Jewish organizations in the US are very concerned. For the first time in two generations, they are witnessing the infiltration of anti-Semitism into the American political discourse, including a CNN caption reading “Alt-right founder questions if Jews are people.” The bottle holding America’s demons has been shattered, and the demons are walking about quite wildly; they are affecting all minorities, not just the Jews, who are the richest and strongest minority in America.
And what about the State of Israel, the Jewish state? Silence has fallen on Jerusalem. Long and aggressive responses are dedicated to every journalistic report that hurts the prime minister’s feeling, but what the Jews of America—the largest and most important diaspora—are going through has not been addressed so far. The prime minister cannot and should not attack the Trump administration which has yet to be established; but expressing concern over the events or solidarity with the Jewish community is required.
It’s possible that by the time you read this, our politicians will have finally said something, but the rise of the radical right—from Europe to the US—is not a marginal phenomenon. It calls for a coherent Israeli policy, just like the policy against the anti-Israel boycott movements. It’s an Israeli duty, and it’s a Jewish duty.
Nadav Eyal is Channel 10's chief international correspondent.
