Anti-Defamation League chief to Trump: ‘Enough’

The head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday criticized President Trump for promoting a movement urging Jews to leave the Democratic Party over alleged anti-Semitism.

Responding to Trump’s tweet touting the so-called “Jexodus” movement, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said the Jewish community is harmed and the country grows more divided when anti-Semitism is “repeatedly politicized.”

“At a time when #antiSemitism is rising, we need leaders to lead and fight #hate rather than point fingers and cast blame. Enough,” wrote Greenblatt, who worked in the Obama administration.

When #antiSemitism is repeatedly politicized, it not only hurts the Jewish community, it fosters division. At a time when #antiSemitism is rising, we need leaders to lead and fight #hate rather than point fingers and cast blame. Enough. pic.twitter.com/SFRIbN9bfp

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) March 12, 2019

{mosads}The comments reflect the uneasiness among some Jewish leaders about Trump’s heated criticism of Democrats for their response to remarks made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that were widely criticized as anti-Semitic.

Trump on Friday called Democrats an “anti-Jewish party” and later, during a closed-door fundraiser in Florida, he reportedly said “Democrats hate Jewish people.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday refused multiple times to say whether the president actually believes that accusation. 

Then on Monday, Trump highlighted the group called Jexodus, which says it represents millennials who have become alienated by the Democrats over allegations of anti-Semitism in their own ranks and the party’s stance toward Israel.

The president’s latest message came in response to a “Fox & Friends” appearance by the group’s spokesperson, Elizabeth Pipko, who worked for the Trump campaign in 2016.

Many Jewish leaders criticized Omar after she accused pro-Israel lobbyists of urging “allegiance to a foreign country,” saying it evoked the charge of dual loyalty that has been used against Jews for centuries.

But Trump has also received blowback from Jewish Democrats, who accuse the president of hypocrisy because of his past controversial statements about Jews and white supremacists.

Democrats have repeatedly brought up Trump’s August 2017 statement that there were “very fine people on both sides” at a rally in Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist killed a counterprotester and marchers displayed Nazi banners and chanted “Jews will not replace us.”