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KAHNTENTIONS

KAHNTENTIONS is a blog post written by Gilbert N. Kahn, Professor of Political Science at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Beginning in 2011 KAHNTENTIONS was hosted by the New Jersey Jewish News which recently ceased written publication. KAHNTENTIONS presents an open and intellectually honest analysis of issues facing the United States, Israel, as well as Jews world-wide.

BY GILBERT N. KAHN

"These are the times that try men's souls."

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One Hundred Million Dollars of Jewish Money Only Produces More Attacks Against Jews


It has been reported that Miriam Adelson, the wife of the late Las Vegas casino magnet Sheldon Adelson, has pledged to donate up to $100 million to former President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.  Trump and the Republican Party stand once again to be the beneficiaries of the Adelson billions.


Since 2016 when Donald Trump became a presidential aspirant the Adelsons’ ties and support have known virtually no limit.  Throughout the years, Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam—who grew up, studied, and was trained as a physician in Israel—together, as well as she alone since his passing—received numerous honors as well as personal invitations from the former President as well as from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. 


The Adelsons’ deep-seated backing for the right-wing both in Israel as well as in the United States has been supported with their very deep pockets for both Trump and Netanyahu. It projected them to a level of political givers that has been virtually unrivalled, certainly within the Jewish community.  


In response, at least in part, to her political pledges and generosity, former President Trump has expanded his previous attacks on Democrats and Jewish voters who are not supporting his candidacy in 2024. Speaking twice last Thursday in Washington, Trump attacked Vice-President Kamala Harris for her “weak” support for Israel as well as blaming her and the Biden Administration for the scourge of anti-Semitism which has ratcheted up so dramatically over the past year.  (Trump’s dismissal of the extensive support that President Joe Biden has extended to Israel, the fact that Harris is married to a Jew, and the fact that much of the anti-Semitism exploded already during his term in office was ignored or dismissed by the former President.)


Trump is now stating repeatedly that Israel will disappear if he is not re-elected. He is attacking Jews who are continuing to support Harris and Democratic candidates by reportedly 70-75%, for being ungrateful for all Trump did for Israel during his term in office. He called out many classic tropes against Jews but packaged them in the name of being a friend of the Jewish people. Trump even suggested that there was more Christian support for Israel than there is among many segments of the Jewish community. At the same time, while praising Miriam Adelson’s financial support, the former President is once again waving the flag of Jewish money. He is demonstrating in an unflattering manner how much money some Jews have that they are able to extend themselves to support him.


There are two critical factors which should be considered in the way Trump is using Jews and support for Israel. First, Donald Trump continues to refuse to dismiss the support for his candidacy from right-wing, anti-Semitic extremists. The Proud Boys and The Goyim Defense League, among others, represent organizations with which the former President and his backers continue to associate. Ye (Kanye West) and Nick Fuentes, White Nationalist extremists and known anti-Semites, are people with whom Trump has dined at Mar-a-Lago.

Yet, while addressing the Jewish audience on Thursday about the scourge of anti-Semitism, Trump suggested that if he loses the November election it will be Jews who supported “the enemy” who will be responsible for his defeat. He even implied that this would be a cause for why his “friends” the Proud Boys may well attack Jews, synagogues, schools, etc., in blaming Jews for his defeat. Recently former President Trump even has endorsed for Governor in North Carolina, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who has proudly referred to himself a “Black Nazi.”


Despite this extremist conduct and inflammatory language, the major American Jewish organizations advocating on behalf of Israel—the Conferences of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the American Public Affairs Committee—to date have yet to respond to Trump’s attacks. Except for the Reform movement, there has been little response condemning Trump’s exploitation of Jews and Israel from the Orthodox rabbinical world.


Their silence is deafening. Despite the rather remarkable fact that recent polls do show Trump leading Harris among modern Orthodox (70%) and ultra-Orthodox (charedi) Jews (90%), rabbis appear to be unwilling to address the very dangerous rhetoric spewing forth from the former President. This type of bankrupt rabbinic leadership is appalling, 90 years after Hitler effectively stirred up a country to carry out his plan to exterminate the Jews; then, too, so many rabbis were silent.


Vile and incendiary language can lead to tragic consequences even when it’s accompanied by millions.

 

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