Limbaugh Draws Fire for Remarks About Jews

By JTA January 22, 2010

Radio talk show host Rush LImbaugh is being criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for remarks on Jews and the banking industry.

During a broadcast Wednesday following Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Limbaugh wondered if Jews – nearly 80 percent of whom backed Barack Obama in 2008 – were having second thoughts about the president.

“To some people, ‘banker’ is code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting?” Limbaugh said, according to the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters. “He’s assaulting bankers. He’s assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there’s – if there’s starting to be some buyer’s remorse there.”

The comment drew a rebuke from the ADL.

“Limbaugh’s references to Jews and money in a discussion of Massachusetts politics were offensive and inappropriate,” said the ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman. “While the age-old stereotype about Jews and money has a long and sordid history, it also remains one of the main pillars of anti-Semitism and is widely accepted by many Americans. His notion that Jews vote based on their religion, rather than on their interests as Americans, plays into the hands of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. When he comes to understand why his words were so offensive and unacceptable, Limbaugh should apologize.”

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