Trump campaign rejects accusations of anti-Semitism

“When you criticize people who happen to be Jewish, that’s not anti-Semitism if you’re criticizing them because of their policies,” says Trump adviser David Friedman.

Several news sites and a number of prominent American Jewish organizations have slammed presidential candidate Donald Trump for his final campaign video, alleging that the Republican candidate evoked images of anti-Semitism reminiscent of the Holocaust era.

Just one of many examples: The Washington Post published a prominent opinion piece with the headline, “Anti-Semitism is no longer an undertone of Trump’s campaign. It’s the melody.”

The basis for such a serious accusation? Those targeted by Trump for alleged corruption happen to be Jewish.

“On Friday, he released a closing ad for his campaign repeating offending lines from that speech, this time illustrated with images of prominent Jews: financier George Soros (accompanying the words ‘those who control the levers of power’), Fed Chair Janet Yellen (with the words ‘global special interests’) and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (following the ‘global power structure’ quote). The ad shows Hillary Clinton and says she partners ‘with these people who don’t have your good in mind,’” said the Post‘s opinon writer, Dana Milbank.

The Trump campaign took issue with the widespread claim of anti-Semitism. David Friedman, Trump’s Jewish adviser, told the Jewish Insider, “The Jewish community has to be able to distinguish between real anti-Semitism and fake anti-Semitism. We’ve experienced enough anti-Semitism, unfortunately, over the course of our lives and our parents’ lives and our entire history. We ought to know the difference between real anti-Semitism and fake anti-Semitism.”

“Real anti-Semitism is something you see in Iran. Real anti-Semitism is something that you see among Hamas, the Palestinians. Fake anti-Semitism is criticism of people in America whose policies are antithetical to most Americans. When you criticize people who happen to be Jewish, that’s not anti-Semitism if you’re criticizing them because of their policies,” Friedman stated.

In August, JNS.org published a report about the website DC Leaks’ release of a confidential report composed of documents showing that Jewish Hungarian-American business magnate George Soros contributed large sums of money to anti-Israel causes.

“In addition, the leaked documents also revealed how Soros and his network’s efforts to promote awareness of perceived Israeli violations against Palestinians, while at the same time making an effort not to draw attention to this goal,” according to the JNS report.

By: Atara Beck, World Israel News

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