CAA complains to BBC over claim that orthodox Jews are “dominating” Donald Trump’s inner circle
Campaign Against Antisemitism has complained to the BBC over an article published yesterday regarding the decision to relocate the embassy of the United States to Jerusalem, Israel’s capital.
The article stated that Donald Trump’s “base also lobbied hard for the move. That included right-wing American Jews whose message was amplified by the conservative orthodox Jews dominating Mr Trump’s inner circle.”
It is factually inaccurate to assert that conservative orthodox Jews dominate President Trump’s inner circle. Most of his inner circle and key foreign policy advisers are non-Jews, including Mike Pence, John Kelly, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Nikki Haley and Rudy Giuliani. President Trump’s daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and adviser Jason Greenblatt, are affiliated with modern orthodoxy, which is different to orthodoxy, while other Jewish senior advisers, namely Stephen Miller and Steven Mnuchin are connected to more liberal strands of Judaism.
Inaccurately reporting that conservative orthodox Jews dominate President Trump’s inner circle, which is a stereotype of Jewish control, could fuel antisemitism in the UK. This was evidenced in our Antisemitism Barometer research, which found that 81% of British Jews believe that media bias against Israel fuels persecution of Jews in Britain.
The International Definition of Antisemitism states that “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic.
If you wish to add your voice to our complaint to the BBC, you can do so using the form on the BBC website.
