Last updated on April 8th, 2019 at 04:43 pm
Donald Trump was heckled as he spoke on Saturday by ten young Jewish American protesters who chanted denouncing white nationalism.
The group IfNotNow issued a statement about their action:
We took action today two weeks before the Jewish holiday of Passover, when Jews are commanded to remember the bitterness of slavery and our own oppression. Trump is a modern-day Pharaoh, and IfNotNow calls on our community to reject the plagues of Occupation and white nationalism.
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RJC’s embrace of Trump and Netanyahu goes against the Jewish moral tradition by giving political cover to their racist, violent agendas — which are a threat to people around the world and to the future of the American Jewish community.
Trump and other Republican leaders conflate their unquestioning support of Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu with support for American Jews — a view that the RJC promotes as well. However we know the opposite is true: President Trump and the Republican party have incited and emboldened racist and white nationalist violence in this country, which culminated in last year’s massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 of our Jewish elders were killed during Saturday morning prayers by a self-identified white nationalist. Meanwhile, the current Israeli government continues to find common cause with antisemites, racists, and Holocaust revisionists, from Poland and Hungary, to Brazil and the United States, putting Jews around the world at risk from nationalist violence. Just this past week, Netanyahu welcomed the openly racist and homophobic Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who, while in Israel as Netanyahu’s guest, claimed that the Nazis were leftists. The Israeli prime minister, with the RJC and Trump’s support, is actively fostering Holocaust revisionism.
American Jews must act while President Trump and the Republicans use their vocal support for the right-wing Israeli government as cover for fomenting violent hatred — towards Muslims, immigrants, Jews, and other historically marginalized people in the United States. No to Trump, no to occupation, no to antisemitism, and no to white nationalism! Our tradition demands freedom and dignity for all.
We call on our community to reject Trump, Netanyahu, and the RJC, who all promote separation of families, endless occupation, attacks on refugees, and more bloodshed. Violence begets violence; walls and dehumanization will never keep our community safe. The overwhelming majority of American Jews align ourselves instead with those people targeted by Trump and Netanyahu’s racist and violent agenda. Our generation is helping build a flourishing, liberated community based on a vision of safety and security, grounded in solidarity, for all people.
Our generation refuses to allow Trump, Netanyahu, and the RJC to use our people as a cover to justify the daily nightmares of occupation in Israel-Palestine and militarized immigration regime of family separation and internment camps for asylum seekers at the U.S-Mexico border.
Video:
BREAKING: 10 young American Jews just interrupted President Trump’s speech at the @RJC! “Jews are here to say, the Occupation is a plague. Jews are here to say, white nationalism is a plague.”
Freedom and dignity for all!
Press release and statement: https://t.co/aSBOlqUE3A pic.twitter.com/3vEGHRhbWq
— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) April 6, 2019
Trump gets heckled by Jews who he claims love him
Trump has been not only fanning the flames of white nationalism but also trying to paint Democrats as hating Jews. Trump and the Republican Party think that campaigning against American Jews who overwhelmingly support Democrats is a winning strategy. This protest action is a good reminder that people shouldn’t buy into Trump‘s framing. Not all Jews support Netanyahu and Trump, and at least America, Trump‘s efforts to spread division and hate are backfiring with American Jews.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
