Israeli minister finds unfair to tie Trump to synagogue firing

The proximity of the Israeli Conservative government to the Trump government has exacerbated the gap between Israel and many American Jews, most of whom belong to the liberal currents of Judaism, known as the conservative and reformist movements.

Many American Jews have criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for its policy and official exclusion by the Israeli rabbinate, which controls issues such as the government of holy places and religious conversion.

"Any attempt to blame President Trump for this horrible attack is simply false and unfair," NAFTALI Minister Bennett told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "President Trump has revealed himself to be a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people."

Bennett traveled to the United States to offer his support and assistance to the American Jewish community after the mass shooting at the synagogue of the tree of life on Saturday, during which 11 people were killed.

Mr. Trump was blamed for emboldening the extremists with his rhetoric, and Pittsburgh officials and American Jews urged him to cancel a trip to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, where he would have visited the temple and a hospital. .

Protesters who were demonstrating publicly during the visit carried placards stating "No hate" and "We build bridges, not walls".

Some critics say Trump's remarks during his tenure, including accusing both parties last year of violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, helped create an atmosphere conducive to the proliferation of antisemitic attacks in the United States.

Trump administration officials rebuffed the idea that Mr. Trump was behind extremism. His aides noted that his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish.

Mr. Netanyahu encouraged unity within the Jewish community as a result of the shooting.

"The Jews were killed in a synagogue. They were killed because they are Jewish. The location was chosen because it is a synagogue. We must never forget it. We are one, "he said.

Mr. Trump is extremely popular in Israel, because of political decisions including the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem and his proclamation of Israel's capital.

But such actions have not attracted the same favor from American Jews: 74% of American Jews plan to vote for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections and 75% disapprove of Trump's policies. according to a recent poll conducted by the American firm The Mellman Group on behalf of the non-partisan Jewish Electoral Institute.

To illustrate the tensions between the generally more liberal American Jews and the Israelis, the great Ashkenazi Israeli rabbi David Lau on Sunday described the site of the Pittsburgh shooting as "a place with an important Jewish character", rather than a synagogue. Mashor Rikon, an Israeli right-wing weekly.

Before Trump's visit, more than 35,000 people signed an open letter to Trump from the leaders of a progressive Jewish group based in Pittsburgh that the president would not be welcome if he denounced white nationalism and stopped attacking minorities.

Other members of the Jewish community in Pittsburgh welcomed Mr. Trump, telling him in a letter that "your support for Israel and American Jews is appreciated, especially in the face of virulent anti-Semitism that our community has only a few days ago. "

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv that Jews should not be divided by the Pittsburgh Massacre. "We can never afford to be divided on the unnecessary exercise of blaming anyone, if it's not the murderer himself," he said.

Trump said Wednesday on Twitter that he and his wife were treated very kindly during their visit on Tuesday and that they had not seen any protesters.

-Dov Lieber contributed to this article.

Write to Felicia Schwartz to [email protected]