Trump’s Israel adviser denies anti-Semitism among supporters

Donald Trump’s Israel affairs adviser on Tuesday denied the GOP candidate’s campaign has been marred by anti-Semitic sentiments among its supporters. Instead, he argued in an interview to Israeli television that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s backers were the ones spreading anti-Jewish vitriol.

Responding to inquiries about anti-Semitism among the Republican presidential candidate’s supporters, David Friedman told Israel’s Channel 2, “No, there’s anti-Semitic sentiment among Clinton supporters.”

When it comes to anti-Semitism, Friedman said, “The danger in the United States is not on the right…. The movement that you ought to be concerned about is the movement on the left.”

As for anti-Semitic attacks online targeting Jewish journalists, as highlighted in a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League, Trump’s aide said “I can’t speak about a particular group of victims.”

The ADL’s task force, convened last June, found that roughly 800 reporters were subjected to anti-Semitic harassment from August 2015 to July 2016, for which roughly 1,600 accounts were responsible. The report also said there was a total of 2.6 million tweets during that time containing language commonly associated with anti-Semitic rhetoric, and estimated those tweets had 10 billion impressions.

While the ADL report did not suggest Republican nominee Donald Trump or his campaign is culpable for the onslaught, those who do engage in such hateful conduct were disproportionately self-identified Trump supporters. Many were associated with the alt-right movement, which is defined by an extremist ethos and commitment to preserving the influence of the “white race.” Of the 1,600 Twitter attackers’ biographies on the site, many included descriptions like “conservative,” “nationalist,” “white” and “Trump,” according to the report.

Friedman, however, lashed out at the ADL, saying the organization “has lost, frankly, all credibility” under its new director, whom he called “a former J Street advocate.”

ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt did not previously work for J Street, the left-leaning pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, but was criticized earlier this year by conservatives for addressing a meeting of J Street U students.

Friedman also denied Trump was lagging behind Clinton in all the polls, despite the fact that poll averages show that Clinton, the 68-year-old former secretary of state, is ahead nationally by 5.1 points, according to RealClearPolitics.

“I’m not sure why there’s such an emphasis on the polls in which Hillary is winning,” he said, naming a handful in which he said Trump was leading.

The aide said to just wait two weeks and see how the election turns out.

He also maintained that Trump would accept the election results in the event of a clear win.

Eric Cortellessa, AFP contributed to this report.