Voice of the Jewish News: Trump uses race hate as a weapon
This week's editorial reflects on the American president's allegedly 'racist' comments about four minority ethnic representatives
The late, great professor David Cesarani was once branded “more dangerous than David Irving” by esteemed Jewish journalist David Guttenplan for his comments on Holocaust denial and free speech.
What caused the criticism? Cesarani had said: “The fractional loss of liberty entailed in penalising the expression of neo-Nazi views or Holocaust denial seems a small price to pay compared to what can follow if the far right is shielded all the way into power.” In other words, the British professor had argued that it was worth destroying a little of something sacred if that something “shielded the far-right all the way into power”.
The idea sprung to mind this week after Donald Trump told four US Democratic Congresswomen of colour to “go back” if they didn’t like his draconian border policies for migrant families. To three of the four, there was no “back” – they were born in the United States. The fourth moved there when she was a young child refugee.
That the comment was racist is not even debatable. That the comment touched a nerve was evident as soon as this newspaper sought reaction. We cannot recall
a time when so many Jewish leaders were so quick to respond so strongly in such
a traditionally sensitive area. That tells you everything.
Trump has not learned that being a friend of Israel’s is not the same as being a friend of Jews. Friends of Jews do not go out of their way to divide and incite diverse domestic populations based on race, religion or origin, because they know where it leads. The president of the United States is playing with racial hatred using Twitter as a child plays with ants using a magnifying glass.
And he’s doing so during a heatwave.
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