Trump wins cautious praise after speaking out on anti-Semitism
Jewish groups call for translating Congress speech into concrete actions; some doubt his sincerity

The Times of Israel 

Melanie Steinhardt comforts Becca Richman at the Jewish Mount Carmel Cemetery, February 26, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AFP/DOMINICK REUTER)

US President Donald Trump received tentative plaudits from Jewish groups after he condemned anti-Semitism in his first speech to Congress Tuesday, accompanied by a clear call for translating his words into concrete action.

“B’nai B’rith International welcomes President Donald J. Trump calling attention to recent anti-Semitism during his address,” the group said in a statement.

“We now look forward to forceful measures taken by the administration to respond to these anti-Semitic acts. Anti-Semitism is a human rights issue, a distinct phenomenon that must be addressed as such,” B’nai B’rith said.

“Thanks @POTUS for condemning #hate against Jews & immigrants,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League CEO, said on Twitter. “Now let’s fight it. See our plan. Let’s do it together.”

Former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk tweeted, “Good on Trump for his clear condemnation of anti-Semitism and racism at the top of his SOTU speech.”

In his long-awaited speech to both Houses of Congress, the president said the recurrent bomb threats to Jewish institutions and desecration of Jewish cemeteries were a reminder “of our nation’s path toward civil rights and the work that remains.”

“Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” said Trump, who was noticeably more subdued and conciliatory than during his previous speeches and press conferences.

Close to a hundred Jewish institutions have been targeted with bomb threats since the beginning of the year.

In just the last week, hundreds of Jewish tombstones in Pennsylvania and Missouri have been vandalized and numerous Jewish institutions have received bomb threats, including 29 on Monday alone — the fifth wave of such scares since January.

In all of those cases, Trump has come under fire for delayed responses. In the case of the threats on Jewish establishments, Trump at first deflected questions – and in one instance shouted abuse at a reporter – before calling the threats “horrible” last week.

His condemnation also came just hours after he reportedly said that the wave of threats against Jewish communal institutions may be a false flag.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish and a Democrat, described a meeting of state attorneys general and Trump on Tuesday to a BuzzFeed reporter.

Trump called the wave of bomb threats “reprehensible,” Shapiro said. But the US president also added: “Sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people – or to make others – look bad,” according to Shapiro’s account. Shapiro said Trump said it was “the reverse” two or three times but did not clarify what he meant.

However, some groups were less impressed with Trump’s change of tone, doubting his sincerity.

Venting on Twitter, Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, said, “After weeks of our organization’s having to plead, cajole and criticize this President to speak out against #Antisemitism, we give him credit for doing the right thing tonight… But his suddenly dulcet tones weren’t matched by substantive kindness.

Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. (Screenshot: YouTube)

“Where’s the beef, Mr President? It was as if you wrapped the poison of prejudice in the veneer of cotton candy,” Goldstein said.

“The President didn’t say exactly what he would do to fight anti-Semitism – how could he have stayed so vague?

“We’ve endured weeks of anti-Semitic attacks across America and we didn’t hear a single proposal from the President tonight to stop them.”

 AnneFrankCenter(US)‏Verified account @AnneFrankCenter

REACTION TO #TrumpAddress #JointSession from @AnneFrankCenter NO SPECIFICS ON #ANTISEMITISM; COTTON-CANDY TONE COVERING POISON OF PREJUDICE

Democrats sat silently through much of Trump’s speech, which opened with his comments on anti-Semitism.

They refrained from applauding and made thumbs down movements when they disagreed.

All the women in the House of Representatives’ Democratic caucus wore white, an initiative of Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat of Florida, who is Jewish.

Frankel posted on her Twitter account that the white harked back to the suffragettes and was meant to protest Trump rollbacks of reproductive rights and other protections for women.

“White symbolically brings a reference back to the days of suffragettes,” Frankel told Fortune magazine.”But it also shows we don’t want to go back, we want to go forward [with women’s rights].”