House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is taking his first foreign trip as House leader to Israel amid allegations of antisemitism.
Jeffries will be departing for Israel Thursday night, a week ahead of his Republican counterpart, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The trip will not be the New York Democrat’s first to the country, as he has previously traveled to the country in 2013, 2018, 2019, and 2022.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ON HIS SUPPORT FOR A NOTORIOUS ANTISEMITE
Jeffries has a long-running relationship with Israel, even being celebrated by pro-Israeli groups upon his selection for the position, the Guardian reported.
“The pro-Israel camp needs someone just like Hakeem to lead us into the future,” former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) said in November. “In fact, I would say, if the pro-Israel community wanted to create a Democratic leader for the future, we would create Hakeem Jeffries.”
“Hakeem is not just interested in these issues. He’s devoted to them. He’s respectful of the American Jewish community. He identifies with it. And he’s just a really nice guy on top of it,” he added.
Despite his ties with Israel and Jewish groups, Jeffries has come under criticism for his past defense of his avowedly antisemitic uncle, professor Leonard Jeffries.
At various points, the professor claimed that there was a “conspiracy, planned and plotted and programmed out of Hollywood, where people called Greenberg and Weisberg … put together a system of destruction for black people.” He reportedly said in his classroom that “Jews are dogs,” and was quoted by the Associated Press on another occasion saying, “Jews were like ‘skunks’ and ‘stunk up everything.’”
Hakeem Jeffries has attempted to distance himself from the controversy, saying he only has a “vague recollection” of it and that his mother “made a very deliberate, concerted effort to shield us from a lot of the controversy that took place.”
However, records from the time appear to show he was more aware than he let on.
The Black Student Union’s board, including Hakeem Jeffries, invited the professor to speak, then held a press conference on campus to defend its invitation and “rebut charges Jeffries is antisemitic.” Hakeem Jeffries stated, “We have no intention of canceling a presentation that contains factual information, proven through scholarly documents and texts.” The BSU then praised the professor as a “renowned historian” and “well-versed intellectual.”
In a 1992 op-ed from Jeffries, he defended his uncle and the antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
“Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire,” Jeffries wrote. “Where do you think their interests lie? Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremacist educational system and long standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Leader Jeffries has consistently been clear that he does not share the controversial views espoused by his uncle over thirty years ago,” spokeswoman Christiana Stephenson told CNN in a statement last week following the revelation of the op-ed.
Following his trip to Israel, the House minority leader will travel to Ghana.
