Florida Republican's Incendiary Campaign Ad Suggests Jews Only Care About Israel.
Laura Loomer, the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress representing FL-21, released a new advertisement on YouTube and her campaign website. The advertisement gives off the impression that it is targeted towards Jewish voters: it uses Hebrew and Yiddish words like “meshugah” (crazy) and “mensch” (a good and honorable person); it talks about “protecting the Jewish community” and the Black Lives Matter movement’s criticism of Israel.
The advertisement states that the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Lois Frankel “loves Black Lives Matter,” which it describes as “part of an Islamic and socialist coalition.” The racist and Islamophobic fear-mongering escalates from there.
While warning that “Black Lives Matter wants to stop all military aid to Israel,” the advertisement flashes images on the screen that are clearly designed to elicit fear and division: burning cars; Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI); Israeli and American flags on fire.
As more images flash on the screen — supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood; ISIS; people in body bags; scenes from the Egyptian Revolution — the voice-over continues: “Maybe she thinks if she makes nice, they’ll be nice to Jews in the end…Sound familiar?” With those last two words, the images flash to black-and-white photos from the Holocaust: smiling Germans waving swastikas; skeletal Jews in concentration camps.
The advertisement closes with a false claim and a call to action: “Laura Loomer will stand against prejudice and stand up for Israel. On November 3rd, vote to defend Israel. Vote for a real mensch. Vote Laura Loomer.”
The Islamophobia and racism of the advertisement are unmissable. The antisemitism woven into the entire advertisement is less obvious. The advertisement relies several false premises: First, its focus on Israel indicates that whomever created this advertisement believed that South Florida Jewish voters care singularly about Israel — so much so that it is the determining factor on Election Day. This is demonstrably untrue: Polling has repeatedly shown that Israel is not a priority issue when it comes to American Jewish voting patterns. Second, the clear effort to tie Frankel to Black Lives Matter is predicated on the idea that Jewish communities oppose Black Lives Matter. Two-thirds of Americans support the movement. While there has certainly been and still is Jewish opposition to Black Lives Matter in the past few years, over 600 Jewish organizations that collectively represent over half of the American Jewish population signed a joint statement voicing support for Black Lives Matter.
The advertisement also states that Frankel is “incapable of protecting the Jewish community, or Israel,” a claim that, in the context of the ad, suggests “protecting” American Jews simply amounts to providing unconditional aid to the State of Israel. This is false, and especially notable given Loomer’s association with neo-Nazis and white nationalists like Richard Spencer, whose movements have put American Jewish communities in very real — and even fatal — danger.
Given the false premises in the advertisement and its incendiary tone, it seems far more likely that, rather than appealing to Jewish voters in South Florida, the ad is designed to tell a story about South Florida Jews. The story it tells — that Jews only care about Israel, that Jewish safety is incompatible with Black liberation, that Muslims and Jews are natural enemies — is patently racist, Islamophobic, and antisemitic.