|
By David Swindle
(September 25, 2024 / JNS) Most Jewish organizations are opting to remain silent publicly after former President Donald Trump stated that Jews would be to blame if he lost the upcoming election and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice-presidential nominee, appeared alongside podcaster Tucker Carlson, who has hosted antisemites on his program.
Speaking last week at the Israeli-American Council annual summit in Washington, D.C., Trump said that if he loses the presidential election in November, “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.”
Vance sat for an interview with Carlson at a campaign event in Hershey, Pa., on Saturday. It was the podcaster’s 11th interview on the vice-presidential candidate’s tour, per the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa.
Carlson, formerly a host on Fox News, has drawn criticism recently, including from Jewish House Democrats and Yad Vashem, for giving a platform to a Holocaust denier.
JNS sought comment from major U.S. Jewish organizations about both Trump’s comment and Vance’s interview with Carlson. Most did not respond. Some declined to comment.
Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, told JNS that Carlson “has given unmistakable approbation to Holocaust denial and those who traffic in it.”
“The right thing would have been to have turned down the interview,” he said of Vance.
“While we appreciate former President Trump’s comments on the threats posed by Iran and terrorism to Israel, preemptively blaming Jews in the event of a potential election loss undermines any message he might have on combating hate,” B’nai B’rith wrote on social media.
Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told JNS that “Trump was speaking to a Jewish audience basically pleading for deserving Jewish support.”
“Trump is simply stating a fact that in this very close election, Jews surprisingly continuing to not vote for him—despite his extraordinary support for Israel and having strengthened Title VI to more effectively fight campus antisemitism—could make the difference between winning and losing,” he said. “He’s obviously not antisemitic. His daughter, grandchildren, and son-in-law are Orthodox Jews.”
Klein added that “no decent person should appear with Tucker Carlson and give him credibility unless they’re going to debate him.”
“Carlson clearly is hostile to Jews and the Jewish state,” he added. “He never even mentioned Israel when he had his Fox television show.”
| 
