The forty fifth president dined at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 22 with West, who has espoused anti-Semitic views, and Fuentes, a distinguished Holocaust denier.
Rabbi Marvin Hier is the founding father of Los Angeles’ Simon Wiesenthal Heart and its Museum of Tolerance and Moriah Movies. He's the one rabbi who has ever been a member of the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, and he has gained two Oscars as a producer of documentaries in regards to the Holocaust.
It isn’t each day that an Orthodox rabbi is invited to ship a prayer on the inauguration of an American president, however there I used to be on January 20, 2017 doing simply that. To be clear, because the founding father of the Simon Wiesenthal Heart, I've by no means endorsed any candidate from both occasion. However I used to be honored, as an American Jew born of poor immigrant dad and mom, to face earlier than the nation and the world and, flanked by presidents Invoice Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and incoming president Donald Trump, say these phrases:
“The freedoms we get pleasure from aren't granted in perpetuity, however should be reclaimed by every technology!”
In 2022 it's no secret that America’s political and civil discourses are damaged. American Jews, who characterize 2.4 % of the U.S. inhabitants, are targets of 63 % of all spiritual hate crimes. These aren’t my statistics; they’re from the FBI. FBI director Christopher Wray stated earlier this month that Jews had been “getting hit from all sides.” And people numbers don’t even replicate the newest tsunami of anti-Jewish hate dominating social media within the wake of Kanye “Ye” West’s [Louis] Farrakhan-esque pernicious anti-Jewish outbursts that adopted.
In opposition to this backdrop, I used to be shocked to the core to study that former President Trump hosted two anti-Semites, Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, at his Mar-a-Lago resort final week.And I couldn’t assist however marvel, what would different former presidents like Washington and Lincoln and Truman and Reagan, or civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bayard Rustin, say about such a gathering? It could have been like them internet hosting for dinner leaders of the KKK.
I can not consider that a man with Jewish grandchildren, who was the primary president to acknowledge Jerusalem because the everlasting capital of the Jewish folks by shifting the U.S. Embassy to the holy metropolis, and who invited this native of New York’s Decrease East Aspect to guide our nation in prayer at his inauguration, might make such an ill-conceived choice.
Our Heart’s namesake, Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, cherished the USA of America. He by no means forgot that it was American GIs who saved him in Might 1945. He was mesmerized by the celebrities on the American flag, with every signifying not solely a state but in addition America’s values of freedom and justice. Once I requested him why he didn’t transfer to the U.S., Simon responded that when you wished struggle the scourge of Nazism and Jew-hatred, you needed to carry the struggle from the swamp. If Simon had been alive at present, he would have relocated right here.
Simon can be shocked to study of the previous president’s assembly with somebody like Fuentes, whose model of “America First” contains white supremacy and hatred of Judaism, and who, in 2019, “jokingly” denied the Holocaust, evaluating Jews burnt in Nazi demise camps to cookies baking in an oven.
Even when President Trump hadn’t heard of Fuentes earlier than, absolutely he knew all about West, who has railed towards and threatened Jews on social media repeatedly. Amongst his latest remarks: “I’m going demise con 3 on the Jews,” “I don’t suppose that [the Jews] have the power to make something on their very own. I feel they had been born into cash” and “Jewish folks personal [the] Black voice… we’re not going to be owned by the Jewish media anymore.” He additionally declared “we'd like a authorities of Christians,” including, “Jewish folks may be right here, however they'll’t make our legal guidelines.”
Democrats and Republicans might proceed to disagree on political and social points however not on the core rules of democracy which have at all times made America nice. I'm buoyed by the voices of some distinguished Republicans who've joined Democrats in denouncing Trump’s assembly with West and Fuentes. However way more want to talk out.
President Trump, our Jewish religion doesn't consider that anybody is ideal. As an alternative of deflecting, I urge you to obviously and unequivocally denounce the 2 bigots you hosted and every thing they stand for.