REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
On November 16th, the New York Times (NYT) released a story called “Are Jared and Ivanka Good for the Jews?” claiming that Trump’s daughter and her husband are symbols of division within the American Jewish Community.
According to the NYT, Trump’s presidency led to the rise of anti-Semitism in the US, while his pro-Israeli policies had found little support, even among parts of the US Jewish Community.
It is also an “open secret” that the Trump administration’s hardcore pro-Israeli policy has brought the Middle East into an open crisis, regarding Syria, the Palestinians, among other things.
Amy Chozick and Hannah Seligson are the authors of the story and they cited liberal critics of the Trump administration within the Jewish community who argue, effectively, that Kushner and Trump ought to be excommunicated for their roles at the White House.
The NYT story reads:
“They certainly won’t be banned, but I don’t think most synagogues would give them an aliyah,” said Ethan Tucker, a rabbi and president of the Hadar yeshiva in New York, referring to the relatively limited honor of being called to make a blessing before and after the reading of the Torah. (Mr. Tucker is also the stepson of Joe Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate to run on a major party ticket in the U.S.) “I don’t think people generally honor people they feel were accomplices to politics and policies they abhor,” Mr. Tucker said.
The article also appears to blame the growth of the Lubavitch Chabad movement for the divisions in the Jewish community:
“The growth of Chabad correlates with fierce divisions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a small but growing contingent of American Jews who prioritize Israel above any other political or social issue.”
Breitbart, however, reported that it is unclear why the article blames the Chabad movement, since it been rapidly growing for several decades. Before the advent of J Street and other left-wing Jewish organizations that oppose the current Netanyahu Israeli government.
The article cites Kushner’s role in U.S. policy toward Israel, including the opening of the U.S. embassy in Israel. “That embrace [of Israel] has only exacerbated tensions with secular Jews who overwhelmingly vote Democratic and oppose Mr. Trump,” the authors wrote.
The NYT story appeared to backfire, as it received a strong backlash from the Jewish community, as can be seen in Twitter posts.
https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1063940016152477697
https://twitter.com/Zach_Petrizzo/status/1064030143784644608
https://twitter.com/OSINT220/status/1064172834275147776
https://twitter.com/ProducerKen/status/1064194558580408321
Some users even called the story “absurd.”
https://twitter.com/noa_peretz25/status/1064200512592117760
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1064190636474085376
Journalists also called the article “beyond questionable” and the title being “outrageous.”
https://twitter.com/Kredo0/status/1063965949802541056
https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1064028845253279744
Jewish community members defended Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism. Some also said that the piece is in fact just another attack by liberals on Trump and his inner circle.
https://twitter.com/jpodhoretz/status/1063824838039621633
It is more than apparent that the Trump administration’s pro-Israeli policy is bringing instability to the Middle East. However, the NYT story simply appeared to be building its own version of events to blame Trump only.
