Former Rep. New York Democrat Mondaire Jones deleted the social media post on Wednesday after it was deemed “antisemitic” and “disgusting” by a lawmaker from his own party.
Jones, who is running to retake his seat representing New York’s 17th Congressional District, tweeted on Tuesday a photo of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) met with Jewish leaders in the Empire State with the caption, “Well, this is a waste of everyone’s time.”
The photo shows McCarthy and Lawler wearing yarmulkes and eating with religious leaders.
Jones’ tweet was posted shortly after McCarthy was stripped of his speakership on Tuesday by Democrats and eight House Republicans.
Liz Gereghty, sister of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is challenging Jones in her congressional primary race, questioned the former congressman’s “judgment” after seeing the tweet.
“If Mondaire Jones didn’t realize that his tweets could be seen as antisemitic and elicited vile comments in response, I would question his judgment,” Gereghty told Jewish Insider.
Democrats slammed Jones over the tweet. X / Mondaire Jones
“If he did, that would be much, much worse,” he added. “As someone with a large social media platform who is running for Congress, he has a responsibility to maintain the highest possible standards and I hope he will be more considerate in the future, because the rise of hatred in this country right now is one of the biggest threats to our safety and stability. I will never take any community for granted or exploit them for personal gain.”
Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who are both Jewish, also slammed Jones for the tweet.
“This is not a waste of time. It’s never a waste of time to meet with religious leaders,” Moskowitz tweeted, according to the Hill. “Besides, I doubt your choice of religion to be featured here is a coincidence.”
Jones is running again to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District in Congress. Getty Images
“This disgusting post insults Jews and every person of faith. Meeting with religious leaders is important to understand the needs of our society. This antisemitic rhetoric is deeply troubling,” Gottheimer said.
Both lawmakers stepped down after Jones deleted them.
“Yesterday, I posted a tweet that was too open to misinterpretation,” Jones tweeted on Wednesday. “My point is to convey that Kevin McCarthy, and by extension Mike Lawler, cannot possibly deliver to the community in Rockland [County] because he is no longer Speaker.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t make this clear enough, so I’ve deleted the tweet,” Jones added. “I am proud of my record of fighting antisemitism in Congress and after Congress. In a time of rising anti-Semitism, we must be clear where we stand: I continue to be a strong ally of our diverse Jewish community.”
Lawler, who will run against Jones in 2024 if the former lawmaker can defeat Gereghty in the primary, told Jewish Insider that the former New York representative’s comments were “shocking but not surprising for a man who is friends with anti-Semites like Pramila Jayapal, Jamaal Bowman, and the entire Squad.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
