At this past year’s White House Chanukah Party, President Trump talked to those assembled about his excellent relationship with “their” country—Israel. A few weeks ago, at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition(RJC), held in Las Vegas (home of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson), Trump elaborated upon his friendship with “their Prime Minister,” Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. In both of these instances, Trump was addressing audiences that were overwhelmingly made up of American citizens.

I am an American Jew and, while I have a deep affection for Israel, it is certainly not my country, nor is Netanyahu my Prime Minister. I resent the labelling and, especially, Trump’s obvious and explicit intent: Jews, like their Muslim, Hispanic, etc. fellow citizens,  cannot be “true” Americans.  After all, don’t we each maintain a loyalty to other countries?

Jews, and so many other ethnic and religious groups, have been subject to charges of dual loyalty on a regular basis, most recently in Charlottesville, Virginia, when neo-Nazis and other white supremacists shouted as they marched, “Jews will not replace us.” To Trump, as he explained later on, some of these protesters were “good people.”

At the same meeting of the RJC noted above, Trump proudly discussed his attempts to close America’s doors to new asylum seekers and others seeking entry to the United States. The predominantly Jewish crowd applauded the President. This is a shameful response, and the silence of Jewish leaders and organizations—with the notable exception of J Street, was shameful as well. As one newscaster observed, referring to the Holocaust and the mantra to “Never Forget,”  perhaps that should now be replaced by a new slogan, “Never Remember?”

For those who need a reminder,  in 1924 Congress approved, and the President signed, an immigration act that significantly reduced the number of Jewish refugees allowed into the country. These restrictive immigration policies would last until the end of World War II, thereby doing little to help save those fleeing Genocide in Europe. Thus, when Jews applaud an American leader for again “closing the door,” it is a tragedy. The American Jewish community must instead speak out, demonstrate, and condemn such behavior. Otherwise, they are not being true to their Jewish traditions and belief in social justice.

When asked of many Jewish Trump supporters why they are enamored of a man whose family history and own behavior is racist, the answer is largely two-fold: he is good for Israel and his daughter and her children are Jewish. Such answers are misguided and wrong. For the sake of brevity, I will leave to my next blogpost an explanation of why that is the case.