Ellie Hyman writes...
The entire world was shaken last week as Donald Trump, millionaire business mogul with approximately zero political experience and the temperament of a five year old child, was declared President of the United States and Leader of the Free World. A man who has been accused of sexual violence and defrauding of the people he is now supposed to be leading; a man who is a racist, misogynist and a bully, by objective definition.
It appears that a large proportion of the Jewish population, not only in America and Israel, but around the world, deems it acceptable to overlook these problems because of Trump’s apparent support of Israel and Jews.
His son-in-law, his eldest daughter and his grandson are all observant Jews; surely Trump will support their beliefs and be on our side? He has stated on numerous occasions that he ‘loves Israel’, boasting his pro-Israel credentials. Netanyahu was amongst the first ten people to whom Trump made phone calls to upon his victory. Trump is a friend of Israel, a friend of the Jews. Right?
Unsurprisingly, when it comes to ‘The Donald’, there is more to the reality than first meets the eye.
Much of the Trump campaign was obnoxiously anti-Semitic. In his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition in December, Trump said ‘you’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money. Isn’t that crazy?’
His perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes barely scratches the surface. The motif running throughout his campaign that a global elite is controlling and conspiring against the average American – a classic anti-Semitic trope – was almost, if not entirely, exclusively overrun with Jewish examples, such as the President of the Federal Reserve.
Besides what Trump can or will do for us as Jews, we must also consider the repetition of history for other minorities. Perhaps if the Jews had someone to stand up for them seventy years ago, a few million may have survived.
We owe it to the memory of our history and to the world to stand up for Muslims in America, black people in America, women in America; to not let Trump marginalise them and dehumanise them because we know better than anyone how dangerous that can be. We must remember that history can, and will, repeat itself if we begin to forget.
Ellie Hyman is a second year student at Durham University studying English literature. She grew up in Manchester and is half Israeli.
