It’s no surprise that many American Jews are among Donald Trump’s most vocal opponents, or that many claim to oppose him specifically as Jews. But, writes Bari Weiss, this position has been leading some of them to ignore the anti-Semitism of their potential political bedfellows. Among the leaders of the anti-Trump women’s movement are Linda Sarsour—a dedicated proponent of BDS who has commented that “nothing is creepier than Zionism” and displayed callousness toward the mistreatment of women in Muslim lands—and Rasmea Odeh, a convicted Palestinian terrorist who participated in two bombings in Jerusalem, one of which left two dead and nine wounded:
A movement that has so much to say about the value of black lives, of transgender lives, of women’s lives, of Latino lives, of Muslim lives, of the lives of the disabled and the poor and the weak, but becomes mealy-mouthed and contingent about the lives of Jews when those Jews happen to live in the land of Israel should make any person of conscience question [its] sincerity.
Indeed, what’s perhaps even more disturbing is the increasing tendency on the part of Jews to silence themselves on these fundamental moral matters in order to fit in or to avoid accusations of being soft on Trump. On this, [Jewish] leaders must do better, even though it will surely mean [less social-media praise] from popular progressives. It’s incumbent upon those who assert themselves as representatives of the Jewish community not to paper over this disturbing hypocrisy. . . .
Somehow it seems that Jews are always the ones being asked to check their identity at the door in movements driven by identity politics. . . . If asking for something so minimal—to disassociate from and to condemn a woman who murdered innocent Jews—seems impolite or greedy, then perhaps the compromise we have made is rotten.
Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/226013/sarsour-odeh-anti-trump-movement