Tyler Durden,
As President Trump plans to visit Pittsburgh and the Squirrel Hill neighborhood that was the cite of Saturday’s horrific shooting, a group of 11 rabbis have published an open letter condemning the president, saying he wouldn’t be welcome in Pittsburgh unless he “denounces white nationalism” and stops targeting minority groups, migrants and refugees – effectively laying the blame for the shooting at Trump’s feet.
By blaming Trump for this latest incident, the rabbis who signed the letter have apparently forgotten about the more than 600 incidences of uncivil and threatening behavior directed at conservatives. More to the point, Trump’s allies stepped up to defend him. And last night, as he took the stage at a rally in Illinois where he condemned the shooting, Trump again blamed the media for inciting violence.
The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country. Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018
The rabbis were members of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. And in the letter they accused Trump of attacking minority groups from transgender people to immigrants and demanded that he let up on his attacks.
“Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted,” the group wrote. “You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.”
The letter was reminiscent of the backlash that Trump faced after he said there was “blame on both sides” after last summer’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. Using familiar phrasing, the group accused the president of “spreading lies and sowing fear.”
“The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. This means all of us,” the leaders wrote. “In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God.”
They also pointed out that Squirrel Hill is the neighborhood where Fred Rogers – of “Mr. Rogers” fame – was born and raised. And that by visiting the neighborhood, Trump would be sullying Mr. Rogers’ reputation with his divisive rhetoric.
“Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far,” they wrote.
Trump has blasted the gunman as a “wacko” and demanded that the US come together to extract “the hateful poison of antisemitism” from this world. The shooting was the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history, leaving 11 dead and six wounded.
But, of course, the letter makes no mention of those remarks. Unsurprisingly, one detail that most mainstream media outlets left out of their coverage of the letter is the fact that George Soros’ son Alexander Soros is the chairman of Bend the Arc’s board, and even helped the organization launch a ‘Jewish political action committee’ a few years after Bend the Arc was created, according to this 2015 Politico story.
Read the full letter below:
President Trump,
Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.
For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.
Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.
The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.
The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
This means all of us.
In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God. While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.
Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh
Jamie Forrest
Joshua Friedman
Jamie Harris
Tammy Hepps
Harry Hochheiser
Sasha King
Jonathan Mayo
Elinor S. Nathanson
Avigail S. Oren
Kate Rothstein
Yael Silk
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