Republican opposition to antisemitism is a political ploy to glean money from Jewish donors, said Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) at a “Jewish Democratic summer conference.”
Audio of her remarks was captured and published at the Washington Free Beacon:
There has been a lot of discussion for the past 9 months or so, 8 months, about, anti-Semitism. We have, what I believe is a full-on attempt by the Republican Party to grab a different community and bring them into the fold, and I will just be very honest, right, they are not looking for our votes, because we are a relatively small community, they are looking for our donors, right? They are looking for our donors, and they are trying to sway us.
LISTEN:
“I think people feel the need to be very clear about what we mean by anti-Semitism, how it affects us, and that there’s just such a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in events, in violent events, that we just feel the need to be vocal about it,” Slotkin told the Detroit News.
In May, Slotkin would not respond to a reporter’s question about “antisemitic tweets” from Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Omar similarly framed Republican support for Israel as a function of Jewish political procurement. In February, she tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” in response to Glenn Greenwald’s characterization of political leaders “defending a foreign nation [like Israel] as “stunning.”
J Street — a left-wing organization funded by George Soros’s Open Societies Foundations and marketing itself as both Jewish and pro-Israel — supports Slotkin. The Washington Free Beacon noted the origin of J Street’s support for Slotkin as her vocal support for the “Iran Nuclear Deal” arranged by the Obama administration.
The Republican Jewish Coalition addressed Slotkin’s remarks via a statement, saying:
Recordings have recently surfaced of Democrat Elissa Slotkin (MI-8) saying that Republicans don’t care about Jews, they only care about getting money from Jewish donors. Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks released the following statement:
Congresswoman Slotkin’s remarks are factually wrong and ugly. Slotkin thinks so little of our fellow Jews that she believes Republicans “are not looking for [Jewish] votes, because we are a relatively small community.” While Jews are a small community, they vote in far greater percentages than other ethnic groups. Jewish votes have tipped the scales in state and federal elections in key states, including Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Slotkin’s dismissive attitude towards our Jewish community is reflective of her party’s views, and is one of the reasons we see Jews moving to the Republican Party. In fact, Republicans continue to earn more and more votes from the Jewish community every election cycle and approximately one-third of Jews aged 18-30 support President Trump.
Congresswoman Slotkin should refrain from denigrating her fellow Jews by saying that they are only wanted for their money. She could do better for the Jewish community if she had the courage to stand up to the blatant anti-Semitism of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib in her own party.
In March, Slotkin accused President Donald Trump of pushing antisemitism:
Slotkin has not accused either Omar or Tlaib of advancing antisemitism.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.
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