Did Ivanka And Jared Cite Jewish Faith To Force Bannon Firing?

Image by Digital Colorization by Ben Park; By Justin Lane/EPA/Rex/shutterstock

By Dave Goldiner August 21, 2017

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner made little secret of their animosity to White House supremo Steve Bannon.

But did the couple cite Judaism as a reason to push President Trump to fire the far right-wing strategist?

“Jared and Ivanka helped push him out,” a source told the Daily Mail. “They were concerned about how they were being viewed by the Jewish community.”

Bannon’s ouster was no less than a move “to save the (Trump) presidency,” a source close to Ivanka claimed. “(It) changes everything.”

Pressure has been building on the couple and other associates of Trump since his bizarre reaction to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville when he proclaimed there were “good people” among the far right wing and neo-Nazi marchers.

Even Jewish Republicans and allies of Trump have lined up to denounce his remarks.

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, who oversaw Ivanka Trump’s conversion to Judaism, wrote a letter condemning “this resurgence of bigotry and anti-Semitism and the renewed vigour of the neo-Nazis, KKK and alt-Right” in a letter posted on his synagogue’s website.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at goldiner@forward.com, or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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