‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ is an Anti-Israel Group

Democrats have tried to reassure Jewish voters that they have nothing to worry about despite Kamala’s harsh criticism of Israel’s war on Hamas.

The two most prominent non-elected officials taking part in the rally are Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers union, and her girlfriend, Sharon Kleinbaum.

While Weingarten is best known for her work in keeping school closed leading to as much as a grade point of loss in education, she is militantly anti-Israel and has used antisemitic rhetoric.

I have tried to reach out to ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ to inquire if they agree with Randi Weingarten that Jews are “the ownership class” who “want to take that ladder of opportunity away from those who do not have it”, but have not received an answer.

Weingarten had befriended and defended antisemites including former Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, calling them “friends” and “warriors for justice.” Mallory was an enthusiastic fan of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who had praised Hitler. She had described the creation of Israel as a “human rights crime” and attacked Jewish groups.

Sarsour had a long track record of antisemitism and support for Islamic terrorism. After the Oct 7 Hamas attacks, the Islamic activist claimed that Jewish hostage posters were entrapment and that Jews everywhere were watching them. “So when you go home, they have their little people all over the place, trust me I know them, I got a radar for them… you think they’re ordinary people, trust me when I tell you they are everywhere. They’re on your college campus, they’re outside the supermarket, they’re outside Grand Central Station.”

Weingarten’s AFT union has demanded that Israel stop attacking Hamas in a resolution presented  with personal support from Randi at a convention where Kamala spoke. The AFT defended the pro-terrorist mobs harassing Jewish students and faculty on campuses.

Randi Weingarten has repeatedly attacked Israel and tweeted a quote claiming that  “the Hamas attack was heinous; the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza have been reprehensible.”

Weingarten’s girlfriend, Sharon Kleinbaum, and fellow participant in Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris is even worse. After Kleinbaum read the names of Hamas terrorists alongside fallen Israeli soldiers at the LGBTQ temple she formerly officiated at, congregants left feeling that it had become pro-terrorist. One departing congregant complained that it “was essentially delivering Hamas propaganda. … My partner and I are starting a family and frankly I don’t want to raise my kids in a synagogue that’s praying for people firing rockets.”

Weingarten and Kleinbaum are not outliers at Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris.

Sharon Brous of IKAR, profiled by Variety as a “trendy, progressive congregation”whose wealthy congregants include Steven Spielberg and appears to have some link to Kamala’s husband, is also on the list. Brous had attacked the Jewish State before the Oct 7 attacks, including in a hateful Yom Kippur address, claiming that “there can be no democracy with occupation.”

Brous is a member of the councils of anti-Israel groups like J Street, and the New Israel Fund. Worse still, IKAR has participated in events with IfNotNow, an anti-Israel hate group linked to many of the ugly protests against the Jewish State.

Like Weingarten, Brous attacked Jewish critics of the antisemitism in the Women’s March leadership, falsely claiming that the criticisms were, “a deliberate smear campaign from the far right to delegitimize the march itself.” She complained that, “a much greater problem would be if the Jewish community stepped out of activism because we’re afraid that someone on the stage has a position on BDS different than our own.”

Lauren Holtzblatt, the final clergymember on the Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris call, is a member of J Street cabinet (while also tragically and inappropriately) serving as Hillel International’s director of campus initiatives and has also been associated with the anti-Israel group T’ruah and signed on to its letters.

Every single ‘rabbi’ presented by ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ is also affiliated with anti-Israel groups. This raises troubling questions about not only the anti-Israel extremism that had already infiltrated the Jewish Democratic Council of America, but Kamala’s campaign.

‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ shows that the Kamala campaign, like the Obama campaign, calculatedly platforms and normalizes anti-Israel activists while shutting out normative figures in the Jewish community. It is not a coincidence that all of the clergy at the virtual rally were anti-Israel activists. It also not a coincidence that no pro-Israel clergy or members of more traditionally religious denominations were on the call.

The ‘Jewish Americans for Kamala Harris’ rally anticipates a Kamala administration that will pursue anti-Israel policies while surrounding itself with anti-Israel activists of Jewish descent.

Jewish Democratic Council of America has sent a clear signal that the only Jews welcome by the Kamala campaign are those that will join it in opposing the Jewish State. Read More