Donald Trump’s final two-minute campaign advertisement about “the establishment” is being criticized as having with anti-semitic overtones because of its depiction of prominent Jewish Americans.
The ad, which was released on Friday, uses audio from an already heavily criticized speech made by the Republican presidential candidate in West Palm Beach in October.
In the ad, as Trump says, “For those who control the levers of power in Washington...,” a photo of billionaire George Soros appears. Soros is Jewish and is a regular political contributor of the causes that heavily lean towards Democratic party.
The ad continues, “...and for the global special interests,” a photo of Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve is shown. Yellen is also Jewish.
Later, the ad also shows Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, who is also Jewish.
The ad takes aim at the Clintons, implying that they are part of what could be called a conspiracy, a “global power structure that has robbed the working class,” Trump says in the ad.
The ad also shows President Obama, world leaders, the Senate, the United Nations and depictions of Mexican and Chinese workers that the candidate says have taken US jobs.
The ad also blames “the establishment” for “disastrous trade deals, massive illegals immigration and economic and foreign policies that have bled our country cry.”
In a statement on Sunday, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting anti-semitism, said plainly, This needs to stop.”
Our thoughts on the #Trump closing ad.
“Whether intentional or not, the images and rhetoric in this ad touch on subjects that anti-Semites have used for ages,” Greenblatt said in the statement.
“In the final days before the election, tensions are extremely high. It’s a time when all candidates need to be especially responsible and bid for votes by offering sincere ideas and policy proposals, not by conjuring painful stereotypes and baseless conspiracy theories,” the statement concludes.
In an emailed statement, EVP and Chief Legal Officer of the Trump Organization and Co-chairman of Donald J. Trump's Israel Advisory Committee, Jason D. Greenblatt told BuzzFeed News that the ADL should "focus on real anti-semitism and hatred," and "shouldn't find any where none exist."
"The suggestion that the ad is anything else is completely false and uncalled for. Mr. Trump's message and all of the behavior that I have witnessed over the two decades that I have known him have consistently been pro-Jewish and pro-Israel and accusations otherwise are completely off-base," Greenblatt wrote.
Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday said the ad was “was something of German Shepherd whistle, a dog whistle, to a certain group in the United States.”
“I’m Jewish, so maybe I’m sensitive to it, Franken said, adding that the ad alluded to “an international banking conspiracy” and “then a number of Jews.”
The latest allegations of anti-Semitism comes after an official Ku Klux Klan newspaper endorsed the candidate, resulting in a strong condemnation from the Trump camp, including Eric Trump telling a radio show that KKK leader David Duke, “deserves a bullet.”
During the Republican primary, Trump received heavy criticism when it took the Republican candidate days to condemn any support that comes from white supremacists or the KKK leader.
In February, when informed of David Duke’s favorable opinion of the candidate, told CNN’s Jake Tapper, Trump said, “You wouldn’t want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I would have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them. And, certainly, I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong.”