The prominent US rabbi, who delivered prayers at Donald Trump’s inauguration in early 2017, called on the former president to condemn rapper Kanye West and white supremacist and anti-Semitic Nick Fuentes. Florida last week.
Meetings last Tuesday included former Vice President Mike Pence Trump’s former Israeli ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and Jewish groups such as the Zionist Organization of America, which honored Trump just two days before he took office. , garnered much criticism of the former president. The 2024 presidential election will begin in his mid-November.
Rabbi Marvin Heer, founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), said in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter that Trump had “hosted two anti-Semites named Kanye West and Nick. I was shocked when I found out,” he said. Fuentes, at his Mar-a-Lago resort last week.
Hier writes: It would have seemed like they were hosting the KKK’s Dinner Leader.
“A man with Jewish grandchildren was the first president to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jews by moving the U.S. Embassy to the Holy Land, and he made this native of New York’s Lower East Side his leader. I can’t believe I invited my country, who was praying at President Trump’s inauguration, to make such an unthinkable decision.The couple raised their three children Jewish. increase.
Hear said that even if Trump had never heard of Fuentes, as the former president claims, he “has repeatedly abused and threatened Jews on social media. He must have known everything about Mr. West.”
Then-President-elect Donald Trump raises his fist as he arrives for the 58th presidential inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Since last month, West has been embroiled in a scandal over anti-Semitic comments and threats on social media and in interviews, leading to a (temporary) suspension from the platform and the termination of ties with major companies such as Adidas.Hier quoted West’s recent comment. [the Jews] Ability to create anything on your own.I think they were born with money” and “Jews own money [the] Black voices…we will no longer be owned by the Jewish media. ”
West also said, “We need a Christian government,” adding, “Jews can be here, but they can’t make our laws.”
Fuentes, on the other hand, is a vehement anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, whose comments include calling Jews a “hostile tribal elite” and Israel as an “antichrist.” is included. He also questions the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Fuentes is considered a white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Department of Justice, and was accused of the racist right-wing rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and the January 6 theft. attended a rally to stop the .
Far-right activist Nick Fuentes holds a rally at the Lansing Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, November 11, 2020. (Nicole Hester/ Ann Arbor News via AP)
Fuentes produced the “America First” podcast, which he used to amass a legion of supporters known as the “Groiper Army,” who were openly anti-Semitic and racist. His YouTube channel was permanently suspended in early 2020 for violating the platform’s hate speech policy.
Since last Tuesday’s dinner, Trump has yet to acknowledge Fuentes’ long history of racist and anti-Semitic remarks, nor has he condemned either man’s defamatory remarks.
Heer said he was “heartened by the voices of some prominent Republicans who joined the Democratic Party condemning the meeting with Trump, West and Fuentes,” adding that “we need to speak up more.” added. He noted that “American political and civic discourse is collapsing,” and that the American Jewish community “has been hit from all sides” by his FBI Director Christopher Wray’s recent quoting a comment from , said anti-Semitism was on the rise in America. ”
Ray says that about 63% of religious hate crimes are motivated by anti-Semitism and that “it targets groups that make up about 2.4% of the American population.”
Hier said these numbers “do not reflect the latest tidal wave of anti-Semitic hatred dominating social media in the wake of the Kanye ‘Ye’ West incident.” [Louis] A pernicious Farrakhan-esque anti-Semitic outburst ensued. ”
Kanye West watches the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers on March 11, 2022 in Los Angeles. (AP/Ashley Landis)
The rabbi suggested that there is now a “swamp” of Nazism and anti-Semitism in the United States.
Heer said that the late Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, for whom the SWC is named, loved the United States and said, “It was the United States that saved him in May 1945. I never forgot that I was the GI of
“He was fascinated by the stars on the American flag, each of which not only represents a state, but also represents the values of freedom and justice in America. , replied that if he wanted to fight the scourge of Nazism and Jewish hatred, he must carry the battle out of the quagmire.
Addressing Trump at the end of the column, Herer said, “Our Jewish faith does not believe that anyone is perfect,” adding, “Instead of distracting, I would like to point out the two people you hosted. We encourage you to clearly and clearly condemn prejudices and everything they stand for.
Former presidents have a long history of failing to outright condemn hate speech. During the 2016 campaign, Trump said in a television interview, “David he knows nothing about Mr. Duke,” when asked to condemn the KKK after being endorsed by his former KKK leader. I was confused.
In the aftermath of white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump was widely criticized for saying “both sides are to blame” for the violence. And his rallies frequently feature inflammatory rhetoric from figures like Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke earlier this year at a far-right conference hosted by Fuentes.
