By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — President Trump’s rebuke of Jewish “disloyalty” on Tuesday is disturbing on many levels, but primarily he was preaching to 5.7 million fellow Americans who he must think should be told what is best for them.
Our president was patronizing any American Jew who does not go along with the program undoubtedly espoused by his closest Jewish advisors. Consider his initial words carefully:: “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
He must believe that most Jews – as 75 percent on average vote for Democrats – cannot think for themselves and are in desperate need of a father-figure – like Israel’s prime minister or Britain’s chief rabbi – to tell us how to think and what to do.
This “great disloyalty” requires clarification. Disloyalty to whom? To Israel? To Trump? Preceding his statement were his words, “Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel?”
These “two people” are U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit and Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis who have at best been insensitive to the same 5.7 million Americans and hostile to Israel. Others bluntly tag them as anti-Semites bent on Israel’s destruction.
Both are Muslims who were denied entry to Israel last week after Trump pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bar them. The Israelis cited a recent law that prevents visits from anyone who supports economic boycotts of Israel, mainly via the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Those favoring the Tlaib-Omar visit argue that Israel must allow all members of Congress into the country.
America’s relationship with Israel has usually remained in the shadows of presidential and congressional elections, even though tensions have steadily risen over the last several years. Omar and Tlaib transformed Israel into a full-fledged policy and campaign issue once they were elected to Congress last November. Their activism has created predictable anxiety among Democrats and Jews who favor both Israel’s progress and liberal domestic policies such as gun control and full health care coverage.
Trump supplied clarification on Wednesday when he told reporters: “If you want to vote Democrat, you are being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
Jews like myself need no one to dictate to us that we must support Israel. I think I can say that most Jews back Israel as a matter of course. Israel is central to our heritage, and we feel a strong emotional tie to the country. Not only that, but most Jews have friends and relatives who are among its 6 ½ million Jewish citizens.
Obviously, many Jews chafed when they heard Trump’s comment. Jews are not dummies, much as Trump might believe that most Jews – just like all average Americans – are minions in need of his counsel.
As Jewish Insider reports, his most prominent rival in the 2020 election – former Vice President Joe Biden – respects our intelligence, saying: “The American Jewish community is extremely well informed and they come from a core value set. You know there’s an expression and I can’t say it in Yiddish, but ‘what comes from the heart goes straight to the heart.’…They understand that and Trump does not understand it at all.”
Most likely, Trump genuinely cares about Israel and in his own curious way respects Jews. That does not make him or the Republican Party good for Israel. As an example, President Bush’s rush to invade Iraq created Israel’s most powerful threat – Iran’s threatened plot to build a nuclear arsenal and destroy Israel. Until we ousted Saddam Hussein, Iraq and Iran were too consumed fighting one another to focus on Israel. The rest is history.
On the other side, some Jews and other Democrats have been too defensive about the Somali-born Omar and Tlaib, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from the West Bank. That is likely due to growing criticism of Israel among more liberal Democrats whom the party needs to oust Trump in 2020 while maintaining control of the House and winning control of the Senate.
Tlaib and Omar both responded to Israel’s decision in their usual disingenuous style, as reported in The New York Times. “We know Donald Trump would love nothing more than to use this issue to pit Muslims and Jewish Americans against each other,” said Omar, who has been “pitting” everyone against American Jews long before she was elected to Congress.
Tlaib proclaimed, “You don’t let anybody tell you that you’re less than or humiliate you.” Tlaib sure made me feel humiliated with her abrasive, distorted accusations against Israel.
The strangest aspect of Trump’s outbursts is his call for Jewish loyalty to Israel. We have endured a history being accused of dual loyalty, and now comes a Christian president who admonishes Jewish Democrats for “great disloyalty.” I wish these people would make up their minds.
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Ticker is a freelance writer and columnist based in Philadelphia.