Echoing Gunman’s Rhetoric, Gaffney Says Soros & HIAS Aren’t Victims Of Anti-Semitism

on July 24, 2013 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee July 24, 2013 in Washington, DC. The committee heard tes... WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, testifies during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee July 24, 2013 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony from the panelists on "Closing Guantanamo: The National Security, Fiscal, and Human Rights Implications." (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Islamophobe Frank Gaffney argued Tuesday that the Jewish philanthropist and Democratic donor George Soros and the refugee aide organization HIAS have not been the victims of anti-Semitism, despite the pipe bomb mailed to Soros last week and the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooter’s social media posts citing HIAS as a motive for allegedly killing 11 Jews.

In claiming that the two are not victims of anti-Semitism, Gaffney echoed the shooter’s online rhetoric that HIAS is responsible for bringing purportedly dangerous foreigners into the United States.

Rather than arguing the facts of the anti-Semitic ire focused against Soros and HIAS, Gaffney appeared to argue that their left-wing politics made them ineligible for such attacks. “Political violence is one, unacceptable form of political warfare. Lying for political advantage is another,” he said at the conclusion of his podcast Tuesday.

“Billionaire George Soros’ security detail got one of the so-called pipe-bombs and we’re told now he’s a ‘victim of anti-Semitism,’” Gaffney said on the podcast. “In fact, for years his funding has promoted hostility towards Israel and enabled the world’s most aggressive anti-Semites: rabid leftists and their Sharia-supremacist allies.”

He added: “The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was an object of the Pittsburgh shooter’s enmity. But this organization, another putative ‘victim’ of anti-Semitism, has long brought here inadequately vetted and potentially Jew-hating Muslim refugees – and savaged President Trump for opposing such practices.”

Gaffney currently leads the Center for Security Policy, an anti-Muslim think tank, but National Security Adviser John Bolton’s outgoing chief of staff will soon take over atop the organization.

Soros and has been the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories for decades, most recently through a lie propagated by even some elected Republicans and conservative groups that he is funding migrants and asylum seekers currently making their way through Mexico toward the U.S. border. President Donald Trump has frequently falsely accused Soros of paying protesters.

Robert Bowers, the man charged with killing 11 Jews after opening fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday, obsessed over HIAS’ mission of aiding refugees in numerous anti-Semitic posts on the website Gab.

In fact, Gaffney’s assertion that HIAS “has long brought here inadequately vetted and potentially Jew-hating Muslim refugees” echoes Bowers’ last post online before the murders. Bowers wrote: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people.”

H/t Right Wing Watch.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Why do we care what he thinks?

  2. Avatar for imkmu3 imkmu3 says:

    Who?

    Oh…it’s that little shit weasel.

  3. Avatar for grack grack says:

    People say the darnedest things when they’ve got blood on their hands

  4. Who, exactly, is it that provides the money that keeps his home and residence from both being located in a cardboard box in an ally next to a dumpster?

  5. Don’t tell Frank but those Jew-hating Muslims have raised over $140,000 to aid the victims of his buddy’s attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg.

    BTW Has anyone else noticed that flags are flying at half-mast in honor of the (most recent) victims. Evidently, unlike the victims of the shooting Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, they’re skin tone was found to be “worthy” for the respectful flying of The Colors in their memory.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

17 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for davitydave Avatar for meri Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for globalguy Avatar for epicurus Avatar for doctorbiobrain Avatar for yskov Avatar for arrendis Avatar for ottnott Avatar for tena Avatar for tsp Avatar for lestat Avatar for caltg Avatar for tiowally Avatar for grack Avatar for jhow144 Avatar for leeblzm

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: