Jewish employee calls out Jared Kushner for Trump ‘Star of David’ tweet
NY Observer writer blasts paper’s owner for ignoring anti-Semitic imagery in father-in-law’s campaign
A writer at the New York Observer has called out Jared Kushner, the paper’s owner and the Jewish son-in-law of GOP presumptive candidate Donald Trump, accusing him of pandering to white supremacists and of “playing dumb” on an image tweeted out by Trump claiming corruption by his rival Hillary Clinton alongside a six-pointed star reminiscent of a Star of David.
Trump deleted the image, but many found the image to be the latest in a series of messages from his campaign with anti-Semitic undertones.
Kushner is heavily involved in Trump’s presidential campaign, as is his wife Ivanka Trump.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Kushner, a 35-year-old real estate developer, “has become involved in virtually every facet of the Trump presidential operation, so much so that many inside and out of it increasingly see him as a de facto campaign manager.”
In an open letter to him on Tuesday, entertainment writer Dana Schwartz described the anti-Semitic vitriol she received online when she criticized the image and the Trump campaign’s refusal to understand, or acknowledge, the nature of the symbolism and instead blaming the media and the Clinton camp for distorting the message.
“It takes only a basic knowledge of world history or an understanding of how symbols work to see a wall of cash, a Star of David, and the accusation of corruption and not see the subtext,” Schwartz wrote, adding that Kushner was allowing his father in law to foster anti-Semitism.
https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/750388691600801792
“The worst people in this country saw your father-in-law’s message and took it as they saw fit. And yet Donald Trump in his response chose not to condemn them, the anti-Semites who, by his argument were obviously misinterpreting the image, but the media,” she wrote.
In an online gallery, Schwartz posted some of the tweets she received in response to her criticism of the image including anti-Semitic imagery and calls to “move to Israel.”
One Twitter user responded with “a world without Jews would be a far more pleasant one”; another called her “an insecure Jew”; a third accused her of bring a “Trump-hating Jew.”
Schwartz received dozens of such messages. In her letter to Kushner, she said her “worst fears were realized” when she saw that the tweet “was seen as a winking promise to this nation’s worst and most hateful individuals.”
“You went to Harvard, and hold two graduate degrees,” she wrote to Kushner. “Please do not condescend to me and pretend you don’t understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty. I’m asking you, not as a ‘gotcha’ journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: how do you allow this? Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this.”
“And now, Mr. Kushner, I ask you: What are you going to do about this? Look at those tweets I got again, the ones calling me out for my Jewish last name, insulting my nose, evoking the holocaust, and tell me I’m being too sensitive. Read about the origins of that image and see the type of people it attracted like a flies to human waste and tell me this whole story is just the work of the “dishonest media.” Look at that image and tell me, honestly, that you just saw a “Sheriff’s Star.” I didn’t see a sheriff star, Mr. Kushner, and I’m a smart person. After all, I work for your paper.”
Trump’s camp issued a statement Monday doubling down on its message denying the anti-Semitic reference.
“These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says ‘Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever’ with anti-Semitism is ridiculous,” Trump’s representatives responded in a statement.
“I’m not sure who tweeted this out,” Trump aide Ed Brookover said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”
“We corrected it. There was never any intention of anti-Semitism. There’s no anti-Semitism in Mr. Trump’s body, not one ounce, not one cell,” he said.
Schwart allows that Trump may not be anti-Semitic — “to be perfectly honest, I don’t think he is. But I know many of his supporters are, and they believe for whatever reason that Trump is the candidate for them” — but in remaining silent, Kushner allows the anti-Semitism to fester.
“This hate is directed to one of your employees, but the message applies equally to your wife and daughter.
“When you stand silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law, you’re giving his most hateful supporters tacit approval,” she wrote.
JTA contributed to this report.
