This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Trump to discuss American-Israeli relations. Despite how the two leaders made it a priority to discuss protecting the Jewish people, one Jewish group is claiming Netanyahu and Trump don’t speak for them.
On Wednesday, the group IfNotNow DC held a march to “resist the Trump-Bibi alliance.” As part of the "#JewishResistance," IfNotNow opposes what they call the Israeli “occupation” of Palestine. They also claim to stand up against “Islamophobia and anti-refugee sentiment.”
MRCTV attended IfNotNow DC’s “We Will Tear Down Their Walls” event, where speakers said Trump and Netanyahu betrayed what they consider Jewish values. Some speakers alleged Trump is an anti-Semite, but none of the speakers referenced Trump’s Jewish daughter, Ivanka, or his Jewish grandchildren, while making such claims.
“President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are two sides of the same coin," one speaker said. "Their hateful policies betray our values and threaten our future.
"Netanyahu clearly espouses the same values as Trump: building ethnic borders, encouraging Islamophobia, dehumanizing black people, turning away refugees. These are their values, but they are not Jewish values."
Another speaker tried to make the point that dubious claims of anti-Semitism hurt Jews, while at the same time labeling Trump as an anti-Semite despite his Jewish family members.
“Let’s make something really clear," the speaker said. "Supporting Israel is not the same as supporting Jews and criticizing Israel is not the same as anti-Semitism. Supporters of the occupation want to hide this truth."
“Supporting Israel is not the same as supporting Jews and criticizing Israel is not the same as anti-Semitism," she continued. "The establishment’s pro-Israel at any cost position upholds the brutal occupation of the Palestinians and it also puts Jews in danger. When our leaders cry anti-Semitism any time Israel is criticized--no matter how valid the criticism--that makes it harder for us to point out actual anti-Semitism."
The female speaker added that Trump has appointed “known white nationalist Steve Bannon” and claimed that the President “repeatedly used anti-Semitic dog-whistles” during his campaign.
She went on to say Trump giving his son-in-law Jared Kushner a position in his administration is actually an example of anti-Semitism.
“Trump has also appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner in a clear violation of anti-nepotism laws," she said. "Kushner is Jewish and the press loves to keep mentioning that. The Trump administration loves to keep mentioning that. He repeatedly points to his Jewish son-in-law if that’s some kind of proof that he’s not anti-Semitic. It is textbook anti-Semitism to put a few Jews in visible positions of power. It makes it easier for demagogues to scapegoat all of us in our community when populist anger grows too threatening to those who are in real positions of power.”
The speaker also stated that anti-Semites and evangelical Christians actually support the existence of Israel because they “don’t want Jews living in the U.S.”
“Support for Israel is often used as a cover for anti-Semitism these days," she argued. "Many anti-Semites actively support Israel because they don’t want Jews living in other countries like the U.S. Many of Israel’s most vocal supporters in the U.S. government are white evangelical Christians. Their support for Israel is not support for Jews."
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