Israeli Settler: Blame Muslims And Leftists For US Anti-Semitism
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Sam Kestenbaum February 21, 2017
Who’s to blame for rising anti-Semitism in America? Nazis? White nationalists?
No, says the former mayor of a settlement in the West Bank — it’s leftists and Muslims.
“We need to be talking about the Islamo-Nazis and the far left Nazis,” said David Rubin, onetime mayor of the Shiloh settlement north of Jerusalem. He spoke Tuesday on Fox News with host Stuart Varney. They discussed a recent spate of bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers and the vandalizing of an historic Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. Police are investigating the cemetery defacement as a possible hate crime. No suspects have been announced.
In his interview, Rubin added that he was frustrated by liberal Jews rallying against Trump’s executive order limiting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“I know that there were many Jewish liberals who were out there at these ridiculous ‘I am a Muslim too’ rallies. Does that mean that they support jihad?” Rubin asked.
Rubin championed Trump during the presidential campaign because he believed Trump would support further Israeli settlement in Jerusalem. Events seem to have proven Rubin right. In a meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, Trump said the US would no longer insist on the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a peace agreement — a break from two decades of policy in the region.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected]
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
