by Jacob Henry, Times of Israel
New York Jewish Week via JTA — Two leading Jewish conservatives ignited a firestorm Thursday when they announced, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, that the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City had told them they could not hold an event there if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was invited.
The op-ed was titled “Persona Non Grata at a Holocaust Memorial” and was authored by Elliot Abrams and Eric Cohen, the chairman and CEO of the Tikvah Fund, a think tank that is an engine of Jewish conservatism.
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Tikvah had hosted many events at the Holocaust memorial museum, they wrote, but the leadership conference set for June 12 hit a wrinkle — one that Abrams and Cohen said pointed to growing intolerance of conservative ideas.
“Out of the blue, we were told by the museum staff that Mr. DeSantis didn’t ‘align with the museum’s values and its message of inclusivity,’” the op-ed said. “Either we disinvite the governor, they said, or our event was unwelcome.”
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The latest episode offers further evidence of that polarization — and that even Holocaust museums are not immune from America’s mounting culture wars.
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The museum called the piece “factually inaccurate” and said it had not been contacted for comment. The Wall Street Journal did not return a request for comment.
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The Coalition for Jewish Values, a group of right-wing rabbis that formed in the wake of Trump’s election to advance conservative political ideas, issued a statement “castigating” the museum.
“It is hard to see this decision as anything but politically motivated, and directly contrary to Jewish interests as well,” Rabbi Moshe Parnes said in the statement. “As a Floridian and a rabbi, I can say that one would be hard-pressed to find an elected official more attentive to the Jewish community than Ron DeSantis.”
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Read the full article here.