Author and former Israeli Air Force pilot Tal Keinan ripped as “disingenuous” media reactions to President Donald Trump’s comments about Jewish Americans being “disloyal.”
During a Saturday afternoon appearance on “America’s News Headquarters” with Fox News anchor Gillian Turner, Keinan drew an “important distinction” borne out in Turner’s playing of the entire clip.
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“In my opinion, the Democrats have gone very far away from Israel,” Trump said this week. “In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people, and you’re being very disloyal to Israel.”
Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov took personal offense as a Jewish American, calling Trump’s comments “disgusting.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency listed several Jewish individuals and groups taking issue with the president, including some who called them antisemitic.
Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, said that “President Trump’s abhorrent statement today accusing the vast majority of Jewish Americans who oppose him of ‘disloyalty’ is textbook antisemitism and should be called out as such, without hesitation.”
… Halie Soifer, the executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, slammed the president’s comments.
“If this is about Israel, then Trump is repeating a dual loyalty claim, which is a form of anti-Semitism,” she said in a statement. “If this is about Jews being ‘loyal’ to him, then Trump needs a reality check.”
Turner’s guest, however, took a different approach, arguing that Trump’s “disloyalty” comment referred to disloyalty to Israel, not the United States, which would have specifically been the “old canard.”
“First of all, I’m glad you played the whole clip, because I think the president makes it clear he’s talking about disloyalty to the Jewish people and to Israel, not disloyalty to the United States, and that’s an important distinction,” said Keinan. (RELATED: Bill Maher Says He Is ‘Glad’ David Koch Is Dead, Hopes End ‘Was Painful.’ Greg Gutfeld’s Response Said It All)
“There’s been some disingenuous reactions to that,” the “God Is In The Crowd” author added. “He was not raising the old canard. This is neither an attack, nor defense of Donald Trump’s statements, but we should be honest in how we’re looking at this. That disloyalty canard, I understand why it evokes that sort of reaction among Jews. It’s been raised from the times of the pharaohs in Egypt until present day Europe as a way to stoke hatred against Jews. I just don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”
Keinan also pointed out that there is a “distinction between disloyalty and dual loyalty,” the latter of which is “compatible” with loyalty to the United States.