Amid disturbing threats to scores of Jewish community centers across America, President Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, are speaking out, urging Americans to embrace “religious tolerance” and to work diligently to “root out hate.”
“America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance,” Ivanka Trump — an Orthodox Jewish covert — tweeted on Tuesday. “We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers.”
America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers. #JCC
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 20, 2017
The tweet was shared more than 7,000 times and was liked by over 34,000 people, sparking quite a bit of conversation.
According to the Daily Mail, Ivanka Trump’s social media message came amid a rash of threats aimed at Jewish community centers. In January, 60 threats were waged at 48 different locations, sparking a hate-crime investigation by the FBI — and, on Monday, 11 centers across the country were evacuated due to threats; each thus far appears to be a hoax.
Either way, Monday’s shocking anti-Jewish threats tragically brought the total number of U.S. incidents to 69, representing threats at 54 Jewish community centers across 27 states, CNN reported.
One of the disturbing phone threats, which employed sophisticated voice masking technology, can be heard below:
President Donald Trump also weighed in on Tuesday, decrying the attacks on the Jewish community and saying that more work must be done to stop such antics.
“The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” the president said.
Since securing the presidency, Trump has faced numerous questions about anti-Semitism. He recently had an awkward exchange surrounding this very issue after a Jewish reporter asked at a press conference about the apparent uptick in anti-Jewish sentiment.
During the subsequent back-and-forth Trump proclaimed, “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life,” though some wanted to see the commander-in-chief more plainly address the aforementioned incidents instead of focusing on the personal criticism he has faced. Tuesday’s proclamation was a more pointed acknowledgement on his part.
(H/T: CNN)
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