{"id":3415,"date":"2020-12-22T13:57:29","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T13:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=142258"},"modified":"2020-12-22T13:57:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T13:57:29","slug":"the-antisemitism-behind-kelly-loefflers-open-letter-to-the-jewish-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/22\/the-antisemitism-behind-kelly-loefflers-open-letter-to-the-jewish-community\/","title":{"rendered":"The Antisemitism Behind Kelly Loeffler\u2019s \u201cOpen Letter To the Jewish Community\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

WASHINGTON – Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Monday in response to Sen. Kelly Loeffler\u2019s \u201copen letter to the Jewish community,\u201d<\/a> accusing Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock of antisemitism while focusing exclusively on policies relating to Israel:<\/p>\n

\u201cKelly Loeffler is either unable or unwilling to understand the simple fact that Jewish Americans are Americans, period,\u201d said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. \u201cThe implication that American Jews have some kind of \u2018dual loyalty\u2019 is textbook antisemitism, and has been used for centuries<\/a> to demonize Jewish people and justify persecution and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Loeffler is borrowing a page out of Donald Trump\u2019s playbook by pointing her finger at her opponent for antisemitism and claiming to care about the Jewish community, despite her history of appealing to white nationalists and using racist and antisemitic dogwhistles<\/a> to spread division and fear among Georgia voters. Her attempts to make bigotry part of her campaign strategy make Jewish Americans less safe, whether we\u2019re walking down the streets of our neighborhoods or through the doors of our holy spaces. Her claim to speak for our community when her campaign puts us in danger is disgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Polling<\/a> has repeatedly shown that Israel is a lower priority issue<\/a> for American Jewish voters than domestic issues such as health care and the economy. Loeffler\u2019s decision to focus exclusively on Israel in a letter targeting American Jews is rooted in the antisemitic idea that Jews\u2019 primary loyalty is to Israel. President Trump has faced widespread criticism for using similar tropes, such as referring to Israel as \u201cyour country\u201d<\/a> in a call with American Jewish leaders in September.<\/p>\n

Accusing powerful Black faith and political leaders of antisemitism appears to be a core part of Loeffler\u2019s campaign strategy, along with attacks about \u201cradical socialists\u201d reminiscent of attacks on the Civil Rights Movement<\/a>. Loeffler made similar baseless accusations<\/a> against the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer, and has frequently attempted to use these same smears against Warnock and other Democrats as well. She also accused former President Barack Obama of antisemitism<\/a>, and even tried to smear Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, as antisemitic and anti-American.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cKelly Loeffler clearly thinks the best way to revive enthusiasm and distract voters from her photos with neo-Nazis and her insider trading scandal is to tokenize and scapegoat Jewish Americans while cozying up to the worst elements of the GOP base,\u201d added Cotler. \u201cGeorgia voters of all backgrounds are joining together to reject Loeffler\u2019s attempts to use antisemitism and bigotry to hold onto power, and choose senators who represent kindness and decency instead of division and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Monday in response to Sen. Kelly Loeffler\u2019s\u00a0\u201copen letter to the Jewish community,\u201d\u00a0accusing Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3416,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions\/3416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}