Israel lobbyists shield white supremacists after synagogue attack

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, center, meets with members of the congregation of the Chabad Jewish community center, the day after a deadly shooting took place there, on Sunday, 28 April 2019, in Poway, California. Goldstein was shot and lost a finger on his right hand.

 K.C. AlfredSan Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Ali Abunimah Lobby Watch 29 April 2019

In the wake of another deadly shooting attack on a US synagogue, some of Israel’s most extreme supporters are again shielding white supremacists and shifting the blame to supporters of Palestinian rights.

On Saturday, a gunman with an assault rifle attacked the Altman Family Chabad Community Center in Poway, California, during services marking the last day of Passover.

Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed and the temple’s Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was among three others injured.

Police arrested a 19-year-old student, John T. Earnest, in Saturday’s attack.

The morning of the attack Earnest reportedly posted an online manifesto filled with quotes from the bible, referencing Hitler and identifying himself as a “white supremacist” and “anti-Semite.”

Earnest also reportedly took credit for an arson at a mosque in Escondido, California, last month, claiming inspiration from the massacre by a white supremacist of 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The shooting in Poway came six months after a gunman murdered 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The white supremacist arrested for that attack also spouted anti-Semitic hatred to justify his act.

Yet some of Israel’s most ardent supporters are trying to obscure the role of white supremacism, thus shielding some of Israel’s key allies.

ZOA attacks SJP

The Zionist Organization of America issued a statement condemning the Poway attack, but making no mention of the alleged perpetrator or his white supremacist, anti-Semitic motive.

(((Ron Kampeas)))@kampeas

.@ZOA_National statement on Poway does not mention white nationalism, does not mention the alleged perpetrator, does mention figures and organizations having nothing to do with the attack. what's going on @MortonAKlein7?

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12:24 PM - Apr 28, 2019

Instead the ZOA used the attack as an occasion to incite against individuals and organizations with absolutely no connection to the shooting.

The hardline Israel lobby group demanded that congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar – critics of Israel – be removed from their committee positions, and that universities crack down on Students for Justice in Palestine.

Similarly, Melissa Weiss, the national campus director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, tried to draw a connection between the Poway attack and an academic conference about Gaza held last month at the University of North Carolina.

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