Jewish protesters urge Trump to fire Stephen Bannon
Demonstrators accuse former Breitbart news head of giving platform to anti-Semites and bigots
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Hundreds of Jews and their supporters demonstrating in southern California called on President-elect Donald Trump to fire Stephen Bannon as his chief White House strategist.
The protesters rallying Sunday in front of Breitbart News headquarters in Beverly Hills also said Trump should denounce Bannon, the former executive editor of the right-wing website.
Between 300 and 400 people attended the rally organized by the IfNotNow movement, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Members of the Jewish community, leading one segment of the march, accused Bannon of building a political career out of targeting Muslims, immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community and other minorities, according to CBS.
Protesters carried signs reading “Never is now,” “Bannon = Goebbels,” and “Freedom and Dignity for all.”
Hundreds protest Trump hire as anti-Semitic and racist and want Steve Bannon fired https://t.co/oAieccotPw pic.twitter.com/25zCVcrtQF
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) December 5, 2016
IfNotNow calls itself “a Jewish movement to end the American Jewish community’s support for the Occupation and gain freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.” The group also is leading the #JewishResistance protests against the Trump administration.
Bannon has been previously accused of being an anti-Semitic, as his ex-wife alleged in 2007 divorce papers that he did not want his daughters going to school with Jews because “he said he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiney brats.'”
Ben Shapiro, who worked under Bannon at Breitbart News and is an Orthodox Jew, said that while he never saw “any direct evidence that Bannon was an anti-Semite,” Bannon was “willing to pander to the worst of the worst in terms of the alt-right anti-Semites.”
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report
The Times of Israel Community.