It turns out that multiple top people surrounding former Israel Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, who has emerged over the past politically tumultuous year as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top domestic rival, apparently believe historically pro-Israel U.S. President Donald Trump is a Nazi.
“Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s campaign strategist Joel Benenson, who also served as chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign in 2016, has made a number of inflammatory comments against U.S. President Donald Trump on social media, claims that the president is using Israel to cover for his ‘blatant racism,’ and drew comparisons between him and Adolf Hitler,” Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported earlier today. The outlet also noted that Benenson also served as a campaign strategist for Barack Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
JNS then highlighted a number of Benenson’s problematic tweets.
“Maybe someone should have told [Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)] that the Anti-Defamation League CEO [Jonathan Greenblatt] condemned [President Trump’s] racist attacks as well as his use of Israel as a cover for his ‘blatant racism,'” the leftist tweeted last summer.
Maybe someone should have told @SteveDaines that the Anti-defamation League CEO @JGreenblattADL condemned @realDonaldTrump’s racist attacks as well as his use of Israel as a cover for his “blatant racism.” https://t.co/ZptcTZYQOw
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) July 16, 2019
Going back further to October 2018, Benenson drew a direct parallel between Trump and Hitler. “It was Hitler’s speeches,” Benenson began. “Given to him by Marvin Davis. It’s also where he would have learned Hitler’s demonizing term for the press: ‘lugenpresse.’ Trump’s translation is ‘Fake News.'”
It was Hitler’s speeches. Given to him by Marvin Davis. It’s also where he would have learned Hitler’s demonizing term for the press: “lugenpresse.” Trump’s translation is “Fake News.” https://t.co/woKD471fri
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) October 28, 2018
In September 2018, Benenson seemed to call Trump “deranged, narcissistic, lying, ignorant,” and a “bigot.” He tweeted a link to a Washington Post article with the following caption: “What’s the big deal here? Hasn’t there been a secret resistance inside the White House every time in history when we’ve had a deranged, narcissistic, lying, ignorant, bigot as President?”
What’s the big deal here? Hasn’t there been a secret resistance inside the White House every time in history when we’ve had a deranged, narcissistic, lying, ignorant, bigot as President? https://t.co/hZdWiCH8FP
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) September 6, 2018
The prior month, Benenson overtly called Trump a “bigot”: “The [president] is a bigot. And any Republican who continues to remain silent about what Trump is, is either a political coward or a co-conspirator promoting his bigotry. Show some character for a change [GOP].”
The @POTUS is a bigot. And any Republican who continues to remain silent about what Trump is, is either a political coward or a co-conspirator promoting his bigotry. Show some character for a change @GOP https://t.co/03ejknEOEs
— Joel Benenson (@benensonj) August 3, 2018
As JNS also noted, Benenson is not the first prominent figure very close to Gantz to compare Trump to the Nazis.
“The discovery of Benenson’s tweets follows a report on Monday that Ronen Tzur, another senior Gantz adviser, who accompanied the Blue and White leader to Washington, D.C., for talks with Trump ahead of the reveal of the U.S. Mideast peace plan, had called the U.S. president ‘Donald Adolf Trump’ and insinuated that he colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” JNS wrote.
As The Daily Wire has reported, President Trump this week unveiled a peace plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is, without any doubt, the most pro-Israel peace plan ever offered by an American president. On Monday, the day before formally unveiling the plan in the White House’s East Room with Netanyahu standing alongside him, Trump separately hosted both Netanyahu and Gantz at the White House.
“The president was fulsome in his praise of Israel, pleased that Israel had agreed — for the first time — to produce a map of what two states would look like,” wrote Shoshana Bryen, who was in the East Room for the unveiling, in a Daily Wire op-ed published yesterday.
Alas, Gantz’s senior staff members are hardly “fulsome” in their return “praise” of the president.