Lowey Denounces Trump Jewish Disloyalty Charge

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey released a statement Wednesday in response to the President’s comment accusing Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats of disloyalty:

The president’s charge that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats are disloyal plays off a longtime anti-Semitic trope. His rhetoric has enabled white supremacy, hate, racism and even violence. It is unconscionable that the U.S. President stokes such dangerous division.

President Donald Trump had said American Jews who vote for Democrats show "either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty." The comment came amid Trump's ongoing feud with Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who are Muslim.

Lowey, a Democrat, is Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. She represents Rockland County and part of Westchester.

Trump has closely aligned himself with Israel, including conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The congresswomen are outspoken critics of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and Trump has accused them of hating Jews.

The president first attacked Omar and Tlaib, and two other Democratic congresswomen of color, last month by telling them to "go back" to their home countries. All four are United States citizens.

"Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel?" Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

Both lawmakers support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a global protest of Israel.

At Trump's urging, Israel last week blocked Omar and Tlaib from entering the country. Israel later agreed to a humanitarian visit for Tlaib to visit her grandmother, who lives in the West Bank. Tlaib declined, saying her grandmother had ultimately urged her not to come under what they considered to be humiliating circumstances.

Trump called Omar a "disaster" for Jews and said he didn't "buy" the tears that Tlaib shed Monday as she discussed the situation.

Trump's comments were denounced swiftly by Jewish American organizations.

"At a time when anti-Semitic incidents have increased — due to the president's emboldening of white nationalism — Trump is repeating an anti-Semitic trope," said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

Logan Bayroff of the liberal J Street pro-Israel group said it was "no surprise that the president's racist, disingenuous attacks on progressive women of color in Congress have now transitioned into smears against Jews."

The Republican Jewish Coalition argued that Trump was speaking about people being disloyal to themselves rather than to Israel.

"President Trump is right, it shows a great deal of disloyalty to oneself to defend a party that protects/emboldens people that hate you for your religion," the group said in a tweet.

American Jews don't necessarily support everything that Israel does, nor are they the most single-issue voters. A Pew Research Center poll conducted in April found that among Jewish Americans, 42 percent said Trump is favoring the Israelis too much, 6 percent said he's favoring the Palestinians too much and 47 percent said he's striking the right balance. Jews were more likely than Christians to say Trump favors the Israelis too much, 42 percent to 26 percent.

Accusations or insinuations that Jews are less loyal to the United States than to some external power have been made about members of other religious groups, including Catholics.

Hudson Valley resident Samuel Morse, the famous inventor, was a political activist, his theory in 1835 being that there was a Catholic conspiracy to destroy the United States. Catholics were more loyal to the Vatican, he said.

Then "In the early 20th century, the backlash against Catholic and Jewish immigrants found its most powerful expression in the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan," Professor Josh Zeitz wrote in "When America Hated Catholics."

Fears that Catholic citizens would put the Pope in control of the government resurfaced during John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1959-60.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.