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Jewish groups increase criticism of Bannon as Trump’s chief strategist

AJN.- The Anti-Defamation League says it opposes the appointment of Bannon because he and the alt-right movement he represents are «so hostile to core American values.»

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hace 9 años

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Antisemitismo. EE.UU.: Organizaciones y referentes judíos expresan inquietud por designación de supremacista

AJN.- American Jewish organizations are expressing deep concern at the prospect that a white nationalist will have the ear of the next president of the US based on what they have heard about Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s choice for chief White House strategist.

Their leadership is speaking up at an unusual time and in harsh tones, as Trump, the president-elect, is working to hire more than 4,000 new people to fill his administration.

The Anti-Defamation League, among several others, offered a rare statement of alarm at his hiring. And Jewish Democratic figures are calling for Trump to reconsider Bannon’s appointment.

“Of utmost concern is ensuring that policies proposed and put into place make good on President-elect Trump’s Election Night promise, for the benefit of all citizens of our too-divided country, and address the central concerns of the American people and our allies around the world,” said Jason Isaacson, a senior American Jewish Committee leadership figure.

The ADL was more blunt.

“It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ – a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed antisemites and racists – is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house,’” said its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt.

ADL first praised the president- elect for his choice of chief of staff in Reince Priebus, currently the chairman of the Republican National Committee. But Greenblatt went on to say that the organization opposes the appointment of Bannon because he and the alt-right movement he represents are “so hostile to core American values.”

The ADL called on Trump to instead “nominate Americans committed to the well-being of all our country’s people and who exemplify the values of pluralism and tolerance that make our country great.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee declined to comment on the hire, maintaining what it described as a longstanding policy against commenting on presidential appointments. But its leadership is said to be as concerned as their colleagues across the organized community.

Meanwhile, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, a political action committee that had opposed Trump, warned the public about “the elevation of an avowed bigot to a position of incredible official power.”

The National Jewish Democratic Committee said the selection showed that Trump was not serious about Jewish sensibilities, despite his oft-repeated defense that his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish.

“No amount of Jewish family members or potential White House Shabbat dinners will overshadow the fact that Trump has hired a man like Bannon as one of his most senior staffers,” the NJDC said. “We won’t forget.”

In a rare moment of agreement with ADL, the Jewish Voice for Peace, which is on the former’s list of Top 10 anti-Israel organizations, also panned the appointment of Bannon. Branding him as a “leading white nationalist,” JVP views the choice as a confirmation of fears raised by Trump’s campaign: “the open endorsement of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism.”

“From our work on Israel, we are familiar with the deepening violence, hatred and repression that comes from a far-right government,” said Rabbi Alissa Wise, deputy director of JVP. “We can not sit by and watch that take place here – this is not a time for business as usual.”

Wise urged individuals and organization to refuse to cooperate with policies by the incoming administration that are racist, sexist, Islamophobic, antisemitic and/or infringe on civil liberties.

Matthew Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said, “I’ve never met Steve Bannon. There’s a lot there just because of the relationship that I don’t know.”

American Jewish Congress chairman Jack Rosen, however, was more optimistic, and told The Jerusalem Post, “He has a point of view but we respect him. He’s a solid individual.”

“I think Bannon has to answer for some things he has said and done,” Rosen added, acknowledging that he has been “a demagogue,” as well as pointing to the “racist and antisemitic tones in the publication that he headed.” However, he said, the president-elect has the right to appoint whomever he wants and the question moving forward will be how he uses Bannon in his administration.

Rosen’s stance toward Bannon reflects his general attitude toward the incoming Trump administration.

He believes that following a divisive campaign, Trump must now be given a chance.

“America is a democracy,” he said.

“We are proud of our values… [Hillary] Clinton lost, Trump won and he will be the president. And we have to be committed to supporting the president of the United States.

“There are still a lot of unanswered questions and we need to give him an opportunity to set out his agenda,” he asserted, opining that despite the current tumultuous atmosphere, most Americans will adjust.

“We’ve gone through difficult times before,” he said, referencing Rev. Jesse Jackson’s tense relations with members of the Jewish community in the 1980s, when he was running as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“We found our way in America and I think we will do that here. Trump’s history as a New Yorker should give us solace in knowing his New York values.”

A strain of the Republican Party loosely categorized as a coalition of the “alternative Right” has found a home in recent years on the pages of Breitbart.com, a site that has offered a controversial brand of reporting and conservative commentary since its founding a decade ago. Bannon helped run the site – which he characterized as the “platform for the altright” and a “fight club” during his tenure there – before Trump tapped him to help run his presidential campaign.

On the day that Bannon joined Trump’s struggling campaign, Breitbart featured an article calling the Anti-Defamation League a “once hallowed” organization that had been transformed and was now defending Jew-haters by condemning “Trump’s call Monday to ban antisemites from entering the United States,” referring to his proposal to introduce religion and ideology tests for new immigrants and asylum- seekers. “Sadly, for most American Jews, liberalism is much more than an element of Judaism, it is their Judaism, and hence their religion,” the article reads.

“As American Jews move farther to the Left, they grow not only less attached to Israel but increasingly hostile to it… Things have become so Orwellian inside the mainstream liberal Jewish world,” the article continues.

In a Bloomberg News profile of Bannon, reporter Joshua Green said he had spoken with Andrew Breitbart before the website founder’s death. According to Green, Breitbart “described Bannon, with sincere admiration, as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Tea Party movement” – referring to the Nazi propagandist and director of the Hitler-commissioned film Triumph of the Will.

And in court proceedings over an alleged assault altercation, Bannon’s ex-wife accused him of being overtly antisemitic himself.

“The biggest problem he had with Archer is the number of Jews that attend,” Mary Louise Piccard told a court in 2007, referring to their family discussions about where to send their daughters to school in Los Angeles. “He said that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.”

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Argentina. Milei reflected on the Torah: «Those who play in all directions are the worst»

Publicado

hace 7 meses

el

29 noviembre, 2024

Por

Milei Kotel

Agencia AJN.- Argentinian President, Javier Milei, once again resorted to the Torah, the sacred book of Judaism, to make a «reflection», such is the title of a post on his personal profile on the social network X that alludes to the political situation in his country, although in general terms.

On this occasion he referred to the current parashah (weekly reading portion of the Torah), Toldot, corresponding to the Book of Breishit (Genesis), which extends from perek (chapter) 25 and pasuk (verse) 19 to 28:9.

«The parasha says that Rivka, the wife of Yitzchak (Rebekah and Isaac), was worried when she was pregnant, because when she passed by a place of sanctity she felt that her son wanted to go there and when she passed by an impure place, too. And she was worried. and she went to consult with a prophet. The prophet answered her: you have two sons in your womb. One will be a leader of the people of Israel (Yaakov, Jacob) and another Esav who will be very evil, and will want to harm Yaakov and his offspring. And then she calmed down,» said the South American president.

«The question: does Rivka calm down after she is sure that she has a completely evil son, and before when she thought she had only one son she didn’t know what he would be like she was very disturbed?,” he asked.

«The answer: Rivka, when she thought that she had a single son, that he was LUKE without ideology and played for both sides, that worried her a lot. But then she found out that she has two, and it is clear that one plays for one side and the other completely the other way around, she calmed down,» Milei answered.

«Moral: Those who play for all sides are the worst of all, even much worse than the one who is completely evil. Because the one who is evil and shows himself as such, we have identified him. On the other hand, the other behaves like a good person and we never know what his attitudes and his evil intentions are,» he concluded, before saying goodbye with a «SHABAT SHALOM.»

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Argentina | Holocaust and Heroism Day. President Milei’s major speech against anti-Semitism and terrorism

»Therefore, in keeping with our history and with what we consider to be true, we ratify today our spirit of friendship and collaboration with the State of Israel and we offer Argentina’s candidacy for the International Presidency of the IHRA», expressed Milei.

Publicado

hace 1 año

el

9 mayo, 2024

Por

portada milei

Agencia AJN.- At an event organised on Wednesday by the Delegation of Argentinean Israelite Associations (DAIA) and the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to commemorate Holocaust and Heroism Day, the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, President Javier Milei announced ‘Argentina’s candidacy for the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’ (IHRA).

The IHRA is an intergovernmental organisation of 35 states whose aim is to combat acts of anti-Semitism, intolerance and discrimination that can lead to genocides such as those experienced by humanity in the 20th century.

The main event was also attended by Nazi survivors, relatives of people kidnapped by Hamas, national, provincial and municipal authorities, judges, political leaders, diplomats, representatives of different religious denominations, community leaders, among others.

President Milei’s full speech:

At the outset, I would like to pay tribute to Lior Rudaeff, an Argentinean living in Israel who was kidnapped and murdered by the Hamas terrorist organisation on 7 October.  I would like to extend my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones, and call for the return of his body so that he can be given a proper farewell by them. Baruch Dayan Haemet to him and to all the victims of Islamic terrorism in Argentina and the world.

Today more than ever there can be no doubt that the scourge of Islamic terrorism on Israel and the Jewish people is not a problem alien to us Argentines, but one that affects us directly. First, because 21 Argentines were murdered by Hamas on that tragic day, 20 more Argentines were kidnapped and today, seven months after the attack, there are at least eight compatriots for whom we still do not know whether they are still among us or whether they have passed on to another life. Secondly, because when a battle is fought between good and evil, between freedom and oppression, between civilisation and barbarism, taking sides is not one option among others but a moral obligation.

Today we are here to remember perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind, we are doing so under the name of Holocaust and Heroism Day, and I would like to pause to discuss with you this second concept, heroism. Because I believe that the heroism and virtue of men is the flip side of tragedy, it is the only thing that can make the righteous prevail over those who seek to oppress them and rob them of their freedom. And because I believe that in times of darkness, when speaking out is costly and when the majority prefer to turn their backs on righteousness for their own convenience, promoting virtue is a commandment and a duty.

We remember today the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto, where 300,000 souls were imprisoned in inhumane conditions for three years by the Nazi regime, only to be transferred to extermination camps as we all know. We remember that one day in 1943 the prisoners took what few weapons there were and put up a fight. For 27 days they fought for their freedom, under unequal conditions and with virtually no chance of success. They fought for their freedom, which is a just cause in every time and place, and they chose to die fighting rather than be killed.

adentro milei

The struggle for freedom against adversaries always more powerful than themselves has been a constant in the history of the Jewish people, and has forged for them a heroic spirit, a warrior spirit. This is already clear in the sacred scriptures, it is seen in the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, escaping from the yoke of Pharaoh, leaving behind slavery to embrace freedom. The revolt of the Maccabees is clear when, despite being in a distinct minority, the least against the most, the weak against the powerful, they drove out the Greek invader and recaptured Jerusalem. It was never the number of soldiers that mattered, but the forces that came from heaven.

Fighting battle upon battle for over 4,000 years, though many were lost and though the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed twice, the Jewish people persisted. And today again, being under threat, surrounded by enemies who pursue a goal akin to the goal of those who imprisoned more than 300,000 souls in the ghetto 80 years ago, because the intention of Hamas on 7 October was the same as that of the Nazis, to directly and deliberately murder innocent people, if they did not do it on a larger scale, it was not because they did not want to but because they could not.

Today, we see in parallel to these sad events a recognition in the world of both intolerant Islamic fanaticism and anti-Semitism in its different versions. And to make matters worse, we see how all these phenomena are not perceived by the free world with the sharp condemnation and firm action they demand, but with discomfort and ambiguous gestures. I look around me at the rest of the leaders of the free world, especially the leaders of the great nations that should be the pillars of global freedom, and I see indifference in some and fear in others to stand on the side of truth.

Today the world is silent while there are still more than 100 hostages suffering, eight of whom are fellow Argentines. Not to mention the blatant anti-Semitism that has become commonplace on the campuses of educational institutions entrusted with the professional and human training of the West’s elites. I believe that the heroism we talk so much about and want to promote is also to defend the truth, to speak the truth when around us the truth is silenced.

That is why when the world is silent, we have an obligation to speak out, because it is the silence of the good that allows the barbarity of the bad, and because speaking out, looking straight and not turning a blind eye, even though it is difficult, even though for many it is inconvenient, is the only way to ensure that the Shoah is not repeated.

And because God will not accept justifications or exculpations when it comes to rendering his ultimate judgement, we will not be able to tell him what, but I could not or what virtue was not convenient at the time, he will not judge us for what we thought, believed or wanted, but for having done the right thing in life. That is why today remembering the Shoah, remembering heroism and denouncing Islamic terrorism is an obligation, because without heroes we are defenceless in the face of an ever darker and longer night.

In closing I would like to thank Marcelo Mindlin, Jorge Knoblovits and the rest of the authorities of the DAIA and the Holocaust Museum for organising and inviting me to be part of this commemoration at such a difficult time for the Jewish people that demands that we all work back-to-back.

I also want to tell you that Argentina is a historic friend of the Jewish people. We were the first country in the region to recognise the existence of the State of Israel and today we proudly have the largest Jewish community in Latin America and the tenth largest in the world. Together with the Jewish community, we have suffered the cowardly attacks by the Iranian government, not only on the Jewish-Argentine community, but on the Argentinean people as a whole, which, thanks to the persistent efforts of those who seek the truth, are now, three decades later, beginning to be clarified.

Therefore, in keeping with our history and with what we consider to be true, we ratify today our spirit of friendship and collaboration with the State of Israel and we offer Argentina’s candidacy for the International Presidency of the IHRA (video), an institution whose value takes on new relevance and urgency every day, at a dark time, when the rest of the world is turning its back on Israel, they will find us at their firm side always.

Finally, and lastly, I would like to conclude with a letter from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, which seems to me to be very pertinent to the times we are living in and which should be present in our lives every day. This letter says: ‘Those who are convinced that their opinions are true and correct must express them constantly and at every opportunity with candour, and without regard to the degree of support they have and the level of opposition they will encounter. Lies need supporters to succeed; lies need the authority of majorities to fill what they lack in the rightness of their argument. Truth, on the other hand, will always win out in the end. Even if it takes time, noble, courageous and pure, expressed with all the ardour of conviction and with all the clarity of a sure conscience, expressed again and again on every occasion, it will eventually win the respect and esteem of even those who refuse to accept it. The only truth that has been lost without the possibility of regaining it is that whose possessors have not the courage to speak frankly of it. Truth was never defeated by the forces of resistance, it was only defeated when its possessors were too weak to defend it’.

Thank you very much.

 

 

 

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