Bernie Marcus, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member
and the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, rose to the
defense of Stephen Bannon Tuesday, calling attacks on him
“nothing more than an attempt to undermine the incoming
Trump administration.”
Using the Yiddish word for “scandal,”
Marcus, who donated more than $7 million to the Trump
campaign, said in a statement that “what is being done to
Steve Bannon is a shonda.”
On Sunday, U.S. President-elect
Donald Trump announced that Bannon, his campaign’s chief
executive and the former chairman of the conservative
website Breitbart News, will serve as his chief strategist
and senior counselor.
The White House appointment has
proved controversial, with a host of organizations,
including Jewish groups, criticizing the move. Leading
the charge in the Jewish world has been the Anti-Defamation
League, whose CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has charge that
Bannon, as a self-proclaimed leader of the "alt-right,"
harbors anti-Semitic and white nationalist views that are
"hostile to core American values."
The statement defending Bannon was
issued by the RJC on the organization’s letterhead. Marcus
wrote: “I have known Steve Bannon for many years. I have
been shocked and saddened to see the recent personal attacks
on Steve. Nothing could be further from the truth. The
person that is being demonized in the media is not the
person I know.”
Marcus said that Bannon was a
“passionate Zionist and supporter of Israel” who felt so
strongly about the Jewish state that “he opened a Breitbart
office in Israel to ensure that the true pro-Israel story
would get out.”
Marcus came out publicly in support of Trump and said he
would “help him at any turn” in June, chiding Republicans in
the “Never Trump” camp for indirectly helping Hillary
Clinton. “As a GOP donor who stood steadfastly behind Jeb
Bush – and who has contributed to candidates for a
generation – I urge all Republicans to stand up and be
counted in support for Donald Trump.”
He was a member of the minority of RJC board members who
chose to support Trump’s presidential bid. According to a
JTA survey of federal campaign contribution records,
more than 80 percent of the RJC board did not donate
directly or indirectly to the Trump campaign, in sharp
contrast to past presidential races.
Several national Jewish organizations
have publicly denounced Bannon's appointment, including the
Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, J Street, and the
National Jewish Democratic Council.
But many, including some of the
largest and most influential groups, have not expressed any
opinion on Bannon, and their silence has not gone unnoticed.
An article on the Politico website
headlined
”Pro-Israel groups avoid denouncing Bannon" cited
sources as saying that the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC
“is likely mindful of preserving its influence over the
incoming administration’s Middle East policies” and
therefore “has declined to weigh in.” It quoted one unnamed
Washington Jewish activist as saying “On a personal level
I’d like to go bananas about it. On a professional level it
would be malpractice.”
A Washington Post report
observed that “the differing responses to the Trump
presidency have highlighted tensions among Jewish Americans,
who find themselves faced with what is perhaps a no-win
decision.
"On the one hand, they fear that if
Jews complain too shrilly now, they could be shut out of the
decision-making process in the White House for four years.
On the other, they fear assenting quietly as the terrifying
anti-Semitism of the alt-right bubbles up from the depths of
the Internet all the way into the highest seat of power.”
Meanwhile, criticism of AIPAC for its
position on social media has been vociferous:
Allison Kaplan Sommer
Ha'aretz Correspondent
