Remember when this Trump ban on Muslims was a big deal? Now it is just taken for granted. <\/p>\n
December 8, 2015 The Forward<\/a>:<\/p>\n Amid widespread denunciations of Donald Trump\u2019s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, a handful of Jewish groups have failed to condemn the Republican presidential candidate\u2019s controversial plan. Mainstream and left-leaning Jewish groups joined both Republican and Democratic honchos in condemning the statement. But some Jewish leaders were more equivocal in their responses. DECEMBER 10, 2015<\/a>:<\/p>\n WASHINGTON (JTA) \u2014 Two prominent modern Orthodox Jewish groups issued a joint statement rejecting Donald Trump\u2019s call to ban Muslims from entering the United States.<\/p>\n The Conservative movement also issued a statement Thursday condemning Trump\u2019s proposed ban on Muslim entry. Together with the condemnation of the Reform movement earlier this week, Trump\u2019s plan has now been rejected by groups from every major American Jewish religious stream.<\/p>\n Unlike a number of other groups that have condemned the call by the Republican presidential candidate, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America did not name Trump or mention Muslims specifically in their statement.<\/p>\n Instead, the two organizations said they \u201creject calls to limit immigration to the United States based on religion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe call on all Americans to reaffirm that discrimination of any group solely upon religion is wrong and anathema to the great traditions of religious and personal freedoms upon which this country was founded,\u201d O.U. Executive Vice President Allen Fagin said in the statement.<\/p>\n RCA President Rabbi Shalom Baum said threats of terrorism are real and need to be addressed, but \u201cin sober and responsible ways.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement quoted Natan Sharansky, a former prisoner of the Soviet gulag and now the chairman of the Jewish Agency, who said of Trump\u2019s call: \u201cWe should not permit ourselves to turn our legitimate fears and threats and challenges of terror into hatred of the other, into dismissing whole national or religious groups of people.\u201d<\/p>\n The Conservative movement\u2019s Rabbinical Assembly also did not name Trump in its statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is inexcusable to stigmatize or discriminate against a group based solely on religion or race,\u201d its statement said. \u201cOf course, we recognize the need to be vigilant in providing security and protection from those who seek to do our country harm, but discriminating against an entire religion is wrong and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember when this Trump ban on Muslims was a big deal? Now it is just taken for granted. December 8, 2015 The Forward: Amid widespread denunciations of Donald Trump\u2019s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, a handful … Continue reading
\nIn a December 7 statement, Trump\u2019s campaign said that the real estate developer was \u201ccalling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country\u2019s representatives can figure out what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nZionist Organization of America national president Mort Klein said banning all Muslims from entering the country was \u201cgoing too far.\u201d But he went on to rationalize Trump\u2019s position: \u201cFew people would oppose Hindus or Buddhists, or Christians coming to America, but Hindus or Buddhists or Christians are not saying or doing things that threaten people\u2019s lives,\u201d Klein said. \u201cMuslims are.\u201d
\nKlein said that the ZOA\u2019s board recently voted unanimously to oppose \u201cSyrian Muslims coming to America.\u201d
\nCongressman Lee Zeldin, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, did not answer directly when asked what he thought of Trump\u2019s proposed ban on Muslims entering the country.
\nInstead, he too focused on the issue of Syrians.
\n\u201cFocus at the moment should be on improving the visa waiver program, stopping the influx of Syrian refugees due to current vulnerabilities in the vetting process, and defeating ISIS altogether,\u201d Zeldin wrote in a statement.
\nThe Orthodox Union, meanwhile, a large centrist Orthodox umbrella group, said that it had \u201cno position\u201d on Trump\u2019s Muslim ban. The group and its advocacy arm are often vocal on foreign affairs issues, and rallied loudly on Capitol Hill against the Iran deal.
\nThe Rabbinical Council of America, a Modern Orthodox group, did not respond to a request for comment about Trump\u2019s plan. The group has made statements in recent months on terror attacks in Israel and Paris, and on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
\nGroups that did condemn Trump include the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, J Street, and the Israel Policy Forum, according to a JTA report.
\nBlogger and activist Pamela Geller, who the Southern Poverty Law Center calls \u201cthe anti-Muslim movement\u2019s most visible and flamboyant figurehead,\u201d told the Forward that Trump\u2019s proposal doesn\u2019t go far enough.
\n\u201cTrump didn\u2019t call for a complete ban, but only a temporary one,\u201d Geller wrote in an email.<\/p>\n