Writer Dana Schwartz took it upon herself to make sure that Jared Kushner realizes the effect his father-in-law Donald Trump's comments are having on the Jewish community. In a powerful open letter published Tuesday in the Observer, Schwartz, a Jewish employee at the paper — which is one of several owned by Kushner's publishing company — detailed the "hateful" responses she received after she called a tweet of Trump's anti-Semitic because it depicted Hillary Clinton's face alongside what appeared to be a Star of David.
Though Kushner, as well as his daughter and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are Jewish, he has yet to comment on Trump's controversial tweet:
Mr. Kushner, I invite you to look through all of those images in the slideshow above, the vast majority sent in your father-in-law's name. Right now, this hate is directed to one of your employees, but the message applies equally to your wife and daughter.
You went to Harvard, and hold two graduate degrees. Please do not condescend to me and pretend you don't understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty. I'm asking you, not as a "gotcha" journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: How do you allow this? Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this. Your father-in-law's repeated accidental winks to the white supremacist community [are] perhaps a savvy political strategy if the neo-Nazis are considered a sizable voting block — I confess, I haven't done my research on that front. But when you stand silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law, you're giving his most hateful supporters tacit approval. [Observer]
Read Schwartz's full letter to Kushner here.
Update: Hours after Schwartz's letter was published, Kushner released a statement, saying, "My father-in-law is an incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife. I know that Donald does not at all subscribe to any racist or anti-Semitic thinking. I have personally seen him embrace people of all racial and religious backgrounds. The suggestion that he may be intolerant is not reflective of the Donald Trump I know." Schwartz told Politico the statement seems "crafted by PR, and doesn't address the point of my article in the slightest. I'd love a real response from Mr. Kushner."