“The ADL should spend less time frothing at the mouth, defaming popular Republican candidates, and more time reflecting on its own track record of brazen hypocrisy.”
By Josh Plank, World Israel News
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) have condemned a campaign ad by Laura Loomer, Jewish Republican candidate for Florida’s 21st congressional district, and have requested that Loomer apologize.
Loomer’s campaign didn’t take it sitting down and hit back, calling out the ADL’s hypocrisy and coziness with anti-Jewish groups it’s meant to defend the community against.
Loomer’s campaign ad, published last week, says that her Jewish Democrat opponent, Lois Frankel, “loves Black Lives Matter,” adding, “That is meshuggah [Hebrew for crazy].”
The ad says that Black Lives Matter is “part of an Islamic and Socialist coalition that says Israel is guilty of genocide against the Palestinian people.” It also uses images from the holocaust.
ADL Florida called the ad “disgusting” in a tweet that was retweeted by the main ADL account Tuesday.
“She should take it down and apologize,” they said.
On Sunday, DMFI called the ad “repulsive” and “bigoted,” accusing Loomer of “falsely fanning the flames of racism at a time when we all need to be battling it.”
“As the Jewish community enters the days of repentance, Ms. Loomer owes an abject apology to Congressman Frankel, the people of South Florida, the Black community, and all Americans. The Republican Party must also join in condemning this pollution of our politics,” they said.
“Sorry to be the bearers of bad news. But we will not be issuing any such apology,” Karen Giorno, senior advisor to the Loomer campaign, said in a statement to DMFI on Tuesday.
“It is Lois Frankel who should be apologizing — for her unrepentant bragging about mentoring ‘the Squad,’ at least two of whom are blatant anti-Semites and who refuse to condemn Hamas,” the statement said.
“It is Lois Frankel who should be apologizing — for supporting Marxist, jihadist organizations like Black Lives Matter and Antifa, both of whom are racked with Jew-hatred and viciously oppose the state of Israel.
“And it is Lois Frankel who should be apologizing — for standing silently as her Party drifts to the far-Left and into scorn and contempt of Jews and American interests,” the statement said.
In a separate statement to the ADL, the Loomer campaign said, “The ADL should spend less time frothing at the mouth, defaming popular Republican candidates, and more time reflecting on its own track record of brazen hypocrisy.”
The statement pointed out that the ADL has partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which the Loomer campaign called “a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“Not only has the ADL lost all moral authority to call out anti-Semitism or critics of Israel, but the ADL has made friends with some of the most virulent and dangerous anti-Semites in the world,” the statement said.
Last month, the ADL was one of more than 600 Jewish groups to sign a letter published on a full-page ad in the New York Times in support of Black Lives Matter.