The rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump’s conversion to Judaism has taken aim at the president’s comments concerning Saturday’s far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein sent a letter to members of the first daughter’s former New York City congregation Wednesday evening criticizing President Trump for putting far-right extremists and white supremacists on the same page as counterprotesters in the wake of Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally descending into chaos.
“We are appalled by this resurgence of bigotry and antisemitism, and the renewed vigor of the neo-Nazis, KKK and alt-right,” he wrote in an open letter also published on the congregation’s Facebook page.
“While we always avoid politics, we are deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation President Trump has offered in his response to this act of violence,” he added. “We pray that our country heeds the voices of tolerance, and stays true to its vision of human rights and civil rights.”
Thousands of “Unite the Right” participants assembled in Charlottesville over the weekend to protest the slated removal of a statue honoring Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee, but the event was effectively canceled after Gov. Terry McAullife declared a state of emergency late Saturday morning when demonstrators including Klansmen and other white supremacists violently clashed with counterprotesters.
An Ohio man identified as an “Unite the Right” participant later plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring 19 others.
Mr. Trump has since endured an avalanche of criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike after he blamed “both sides” for Saturday’s violence, then waited days to specifically condemn the far-right participants.
“I think there is blame on both sides,” Mr. Trump reiterated Tuesday. “You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now.”
The president’s daughter converted to orthodox Judaism prior to marrying senior White House advisor Jared Kushner in 2009, and a CNN article published in June called her “America’s most powerful Jewish woman.”
She condemned Saturday’s violence on Twitter afterwards, but her husband has not weighed in publicly on the matter.
The couple were vacationing in Vermont during this weekend’s protests, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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