The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized conservative pundit Ann Coulter for offensively anti-Semitic tweets during last night’s Republican presidential candidates debate. In the course of the debate, Coulter grew antagonistic towards GOP candidates speaking of the need to strengthen ties with Israel and assist her in potentially defending herself against a nuclear armed Iran.
She first tweeted criticism of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s support for Israel when answering the question –– ‘What will AMERICA [Coulter’s emphasis] look like after you are president?” asking “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?” She also wrote, “Good Grief, Huckabee is running for prime minister of Israel.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Last night, Ann Coulter made appalling, anti-Jewish remarks which evoked the classic, anti-Semitic trope about Jewish manipulation of America for the purposes of supporting Israel at America’s expense.
“When GOP candidates speak of strengthening the U.S/Israel relationship which has been harmed by President Obama within the context of the need to ensure that Iran doesn’t go nuclear, to strengthen America’s hand in the world when dealing with vicious totalitarian enemies who seek the demise of the U.S. – they are defending America’s interests.
“Instead, and for reasons best known to her, she chose to misrepresent their entirely legitimate statements as pandering to Jews. She was thereby essentially calling them dishonest –– speaking out about the U.S./Israel relationship, not because they truly believed they should, but to pander to American Jews who, supposedly, are the key to the next election.
“The irony is that most American Jews would likely not vote for a GOP candidate, no matter how pro-Israel. The idea that the GOP candidates are insincere in their professions of support for Israel and are instead pandering to Jews, apart from being sinister and offensive is also absurd.
“Ann Coulter is known for making harsh and sweeping statements, but I wonder, would she have ever dared spoken of ‘f—ing blacks’ or ‘f—ing Hispanics’?
“I doubt it. This shows that it seems to be becoming permissible to say anything about Jews.
“Ann Coulter was gratuitously offensive and anti-Jewish in her remarks on twitter yesterday. If such was not her intention, there is a simple remedy: she should immediately retract and apologize for her words.”