(JTA) — Bend the Arc, a partnership of progressive Jewish groups, has called on the Republican Jewish Coalition to withdraw the organization’s support for presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The online petition was addressed to Matthew Brooks, executive director of the RJC.
“Withdraw the RJC’s support of Donald Trump until he actively rejects the white supremacists — including anti-Semites — who are eagerly supporting his campaign,” the petition launched Thursday says.
In a statement accompanying the petition, Bend the Arc said: “For a national Jewish group to continue to support him is unconscionable. As a Republican group, the RJC has the ability to pressure his campaign to cease being a megaphone for hate. As a Jewish group, they are morally obligated to do so.”
The petition came a day after Trump doubled down on defending a campaign tweet that featured a Star of David shape and dollar bills superimposed over an image of Hillary Clinton, and the same week his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, defended Trump against charges that the candidate is anti-Semitic.
Bend the Arc has been working to stop a Trump nomination for president since the early fall.
The RJC endorsed Trump in May following his victory in the Indiana primary. The statement did not praise Trump, but dwelled on the need to defeat Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and hold on to majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
