The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has denounced claims that Donald Trump’s speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition Thursday carried anti-Semitic undertones.
After reviewing the GOP hopeful’s remarks, which included several jokes about Jewish stereotypes, ADL’s chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt concluded they were not meant to offend the audience.
“We do not believe that it was Donald Trump’s intention to evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes,” Greenblatt wrote in a statement.
“He has made similar comments about spending his own money on the campaign, and not asking for money from donors, to many other groups,” he continued, referring to Trump’s guarantee Thursday that he wasn’t seeking contributions from the predominantly Jewish crowd.
The self-funded billionaire also spoke of his business skills, telling the packed auditorium, “I’m a negotiator like you folks. This room negotiates a lot … perhaps more than any room I’ve ever spoken to.”
“In this case, [Trump] is speaking to a group of Jewish Republicans, a significant portion of whom are business people. We do not believe he intended his comments regarding negotiations and money to relate specifically to their Jewishness, but we understand that they could be interpreted that way,” Greenblatt wrote.
He added, “We encourage [Trump] to clarify that this was not his intention, and that he rejects the traditional stereotypes about Jews and money.”
The ADL has previously criticized Trump for his infamous “rapists and criminals” remark about undocumented Hispanic immigrants and his refusal to condemn a questioner at a campaign rally of his who asked when the U.S. can “get rid” of its Muslim population.
But in this case, Greenblatt noted, “context is everything.”
“Mr. Trump’s presentation was completely supportive of Israel and the Jewish community, even if one might disagree with him on some of the other issues he raised,” he wrote.
