Maria Estrada, who is running for the California state assembly in the 63rd District, has been under fire from Jewish organizations for her praise of anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and other Anti-Zionist comments. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has unearthed some other anti-Zionist comments from Estrada, including one that says “Zionists are the f*cking worst.”
In a July 13 blog post, the ADL compiled the following statements from Estrada from her Facebook account:
· Saying “Zionists are the f*cking worst” after calling on Jews to condemn Zionist “terrorism” against Palestinians in May.
· “Anyone who believes they [Israelis] are one of ‘God’s chosen people’ automatically feels superior and justified and all they do [sic]. Religious fanaticism is used to justify apartheid and crimes against Palestinians and no one should be ok with it.”
· “Zionists in America should have to immediately give up their land to whatever tribe it originally belonged to.”
“It’s impossible to ignore the undercurrent of anti-Semitism running through a number of Estrada’s comments about Zionism and Israel,” the ADL wrote. “Although criticism of Israel is entirely legitimate and is not inherently anti-Semitic, Estrada consistently ignores the difference between Israelis and Jews, and has argued that Israeli policies and Zionism more generally are inspired by a sense of Jewish supremacism and disregard for others.”
The ADL later added in their post, “Estrada’s repeated insinuations that support for Israel is a form of religious chauvinism is offensive and demeaning to the large number of American Jews for whom some form of Zionism is part of their cultural identity.”
The ADL also chided Estrada for her praise for Farrakhan, as they said that her claim that Farrakhan has plenty of valid points to make outside of his anti-Semitic comments “rings hollow” because of his frequent anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Estrada’s comments have begun to receive national attention, with her comments being highlighted by the likes of CNN’s Jake Tapper and ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
“Maria Estrada’s language about Israel and Jews is deeply disturbing,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “Her lauding of Louis Farrakhan is dangerous. We cannot afford such ugliness to be elevated, let alone ignored – anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny and other forms of intolerance affect all of us. We do not tolerate such prejudice and we call it out in the strongest possible terms.”
Similarly, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper and consultant Dr. Harold Brackman denounced Estrada in a Journal op-ed.
“Like Farrakhan and other anti-Semites before him, Estrada has taken a page from Farrakhan’s anti-Jewish playbook and invoked ‘God’s Chosen People’ to justify her vilification of Jews, not just Zionists,” Cooper and Brackman said. “She apparently took no notice that Farrakhan’s hateful dog whistle also transcends the racial chasm between Black Nationalists and White racist anti-Semites who marched in Charlottesville this past August. Alt-right Charlottesville guru Richard Spencer wants to meet with Farrakhan, to work together toward ‘the sort of self-determination we and the broader Alt-Right support.”
