Donald Trump has gone too far this time. He is inciting violence against Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. His tweet calling Rashida violent and crazy and saying that she “hates all Jewish people” is disgusting and has already unleashed a torrent of violent attacks against these congresswomen.
He wrote his hateful, lying tweet right after the representatives held a beautiful, heartful press conference with members of the Jewish and Muslim community. At the press conference, Cong. Omar said: “Donald Trump would love nothing more than to use this issue to pit Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans against each other." We can’t let that happen, and we can’t sit by and watch these courageous women be ferociously targeted by the president of the United States and his racist followers.
Now it the time for mainstream Jewish organizations to speak out against the president’s outrageous attacks on these two congresswomen.
Dear Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Hillel, AIPAC, B’nai B’rith, Jewish Federations of North America, Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and other major American Jewish organizations,
We are appealing to your with urgency to speak out against the dangerous incitement to violence that Donald Trump is engaging in. On August 20, 2019, he wrote a vile tweet falsely saying that Congresswoman Rasida Tlaib “hates Israel and all Jewish people,” and trying to paint the entire Democratic party as being antisemitic.
Trump’s campaign to pit Muslim and Jewish Americans against each other--with very dangerous possible consequences--acts as a distraction from the very real and growing threat right now of white nationalism.
Whatever one’s opinion of Representatives Tlaib and Omar and their positions towards the state of Israel, one would be hard-pressed to find any evidence that they hate the Jewish people. In fact, Tlaib and Omar’s press conference held the day prior to Trump’s vile tweet, included a number of Jews.
As America’s largest organizations, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to counter this incitement to violence by speaking out publicly against Trump’s August 20 tweet and his other hateful, Islamophobic statements against Representatives Tlaib and Omar.
The Jewish teaching of tikkun olam, defined by acts of kindness to repair the world, must be our guiding principle in this dangerous moment of division, hate, and violence. We hope you will step up to heed this call.