Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Jewish Leaders Join Letter Condemning GOP Candidates’ Remarks on Muslims

A number of leaders of Jewish groups signed a public letter condemning “highly offensive” remarks targeting Muslims by two Republican presidential candidates.

The letter, published Dec. 21 in the Washington Post and posted on social media, cites George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., which said that the U.S. Constitution “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

“Suggestions that a Muslim cannot serve as president, or that Muslims should be registered and their mosques closed, are un-American and un-Constitutional,” said the letter.

It referred broadly to “politicians, candidates and commentators” as making the suggestions, but those specific proposals were made by GOP candidates. Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon, said he did not believe a Muslim could serve as president, and Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire and frontrunner in Republican polls, has said he would consider registering Muslims and shutting down mosques.

Among the 45 signatories, 12 are Jewish, including leaders of the Reform and Reconstructionist movements, a senior official at the Jewish Theological Seminary of the Conservative movement, a senior official of the Anti-Defamation League, and leaders of the New York Board of Rabbis and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.

Also signing were leaders of major Christian and Muslim groups and civil society leaders.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.