After working for years to support the U.S.-Israel relationship and combat antisemitism, it’s not terribly easy for news to surprise our team, but this week, we’ll discuss two events that caught us off guard.
Deeply Troubling News out of Mar-a-Lago
Last week, former President Donald Trump met with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. West was recently dropped from numerous contracts and publicly pilloried for blatantly antisemitic comments he posted on social media. Fuentes is a Holocaust denying neo-Nazi in a suit, who, among numerous other grotesque statements, claimed to be “just like Hitler.”
President Trump has stated that he did not know who Fuentes was when the bigot showed up to Mar-a-Lago, but Mr. Trump knew who West was
and that meeting should’ve never happened. West and Fuentes are the dregs of the American body politic. They are bigots who revel in anti-Jewish hatred. They are evil men, and no one should meet with them, least of all a former President of the United States (seeking to return to that office).
Longtime supporter of Israel, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said on Sunday, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for a leader that’s setting an example for the country or the party to meet with (an) avowed racist or anti-Semite. And so it’s very troubling and it shouldn’t happen and we need to avoid those kind of empowering the
extremes.”
Amb. David Friedman, who served as President Trump’s Ambassador to Israel tweeted this in reaction to news of the meeting, “To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable. I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”
And the recently reelected Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, had this to say about the matter, “Racism, antisemitism and denial of the Holocaust have no place in the Republican Party and are completely un-American.”
Hutchinson, Friedman and Kemp are right. Moreover, in rebuking a member of their own party, these men of valor have exhibited the courage of their convictions and the moral clarity that seems to elude so many partisan cowards in Washington.
Former Presidents have a right and responsibility to know with whom they are meeting. Failing that, it is incumbent upon individuals of such stature to renounce such bigots, and such is exceptionally vital after such hateful individuals are granted an audience.
Iranians Continue to Stand up
Farideh Moradkhani is the niece of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and she has shown herself to be a brave and righteous woman. In the midst of the most robust anti-government protests Iran has seen in years, Moradkhani spoke out against her uncle’s despicable regime without equivocation.
In a video
recently posted to YouTube she said, “How long do we have to witness oppression by political autocrats in any part of this world? Isn't the experience of Hitler, Mussolini, Ceaușescu, Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Khomeini and his last one, Khamenei, enough?”
She went onto to refer to the Islamic Republic as a “murderous and child-killing regime.”
Her statements resulted in her arrest, which she must’ve known that was going to happen. But she, like thousands of Iranians across the country, is taking a righteous and courageous stand against the brutal and autocratic rule of Tehran’s Tyrants.
Every person of conscience must support the protestors in Iran. And we’re proud to say that the U.S. Soccer Federation offered their support recently as the eyes of the world are on the World Cup. According to CNN, “The federation had temporarily displayed Iran’s national flag on its official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
accounts without the emblem of the Islamic Republic.”
Iran has (predictably) called for the U.S. to be kicked out of the World Cup over this act of free speech. That’s unlikely to happen, but it’s certainly a risk worth taking. If Women like Moradkhani are willing to go to prison for their beliefs, and others have died for theirs’, the consequences of taking a shot on social media against the Islamic Republic in order to bring more awareness to the horrors the people living under that regime must endure are hardly worth worrying about.
As Members of Congress begin to return to Washington, we’ll no doubt have some policy-oriented topics to discuss during next week’s Update. In the meantime, we hope you had a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving, and as always, we are thankful for you who serve as the tip of the spear in the effort to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship and combat antisemitism.
Sincerely,
