Ellison, in run-up to DNC chair election, calls for party to fight anti-Semitism

Rep. Keith Ellison callS for Democrats to speak out against anti-Semitism and reject hatred of refugees during a debate for candidates to head the Democratic Party.

Ellison also says that he supports Israel and has strong support from the Jewish community. He is vying with seven others to chair the Democratic National Committee.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and other House Democrats stand in opposition to the president's trade deal during a press conference on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Victoria Burke/AP)
Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and other House Democrats stand in opposition to the president’s trade deal during a press conference on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Victoria Burke/AP)

He notes his “long, strong history of interfaith dialogue, interfaith communication” and calls suggestions that he is personally anti-Semitic – based on his involvement with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam while he was in college – “smears.”

“I just want to say, it is critical that we speak up against this anti-Semitism because right now, you have Jewish cemeteries being defaced and desecrated. Right now, you have Jewish institutions getting bomb threats. We have to stand with the Jewish community right here, right now, four square, and that’s what the Democratic Party is all about,” he says.

— JTA

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