New York – Sebastian Gorka Tells Jewish Audience He Is Not Anti-Semitic, Calls Israel ‘closest’ Ally Of US

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    New York – Sebastian Gorka, the White House adviser accused of membership in a far-right Hungarian group, spoke to a largely Jewish audience, defending his pro-Israel bona fides and denying being anti-Semitic.

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    Speaking at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York City on Sunday, Gorka rebuffed attacks against him but did not deny being a member of Historical Vitezi Rend, a far-right Hungarian group to which he has allegedly sworn allegiance. He also did not deny outright that he will soon be leaving his position as a counter-terrorism adviser to President Donald Trump.

    “I have spent my life fighting against totalitarian ideologies,” Gorka said in an interview with Yaakov Katz, the Jerusalem Post’s editor in chief. “Nobody… has found one sentence that I have said in the past 46 years that is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.”

    An investigation by the Forward has reported that Gorka, who is Hungarian, is a member of Historical Vitezi Rend, a namesake of a defunct order of merit that existed under Hungary’s Nazi-allied government. The original group ceased to exist in the 1940s following Nazi Germany’s defeat. Gorka has worn the organization’s medal to public events, which he claims to do in honor of his father’s anti-Nazi and anticommunist activity.

    On Sunday, Gorka did not deny belonging to the movement. But he cast doubt on the idea that Historical Vitezi Rend is a pro-Nazi group, saying that members had been recognized for helping Jews during the Holocaust.

    Gorka also suggested that recent reports that he will be leaving the White House for another government position are “fake news.” But he did not deny the reports outright.

    “As the president says, there is fake news and there is very fake news,” he said, responding to a question about the reports. “The White House works like a well-oiled machine… I will be there for as long as the president has use for me.”

    Gorka said leaders of the White House’s so-called “nationalist” wing, including chief strategist Steve Bannon, are pro-Israel. He called Israel the United States’ closest ally. He said the leaders of attacks on the administration are proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, as well as supporters of the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

    “Because we are pro-Israel, we must be attacked, whether it’s the president, whether it’s Steve Bannon, whether it is Steve Miller or myself, we are friends of Israel,” he said. The U.S. alliance with Israel, he added, “is our closest relationship.”

    Gorka also praised Trump for his missile strike last month on Syria, and said “nobody will use weapons of mass destruction against unarmed women and children.” But he added that Trump “has absolutely zero interest in invading other people’s countries and occupying them. That is un-American.”


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    11 Comments
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    6 years ago

    Dear Mr. Gorka,

    Please accept my apology. I read your defense and accept it as true. My father’s own WW2 story was complex and nuanced, so I can understand how individuals may be very different from the organizations they join and how any organization can take on a very different character in the blink of an election (Just look at the history of US political parties). You have a long public record, and it does speak for you.

    6 years ago

    The left and fake news suffer from naziphobia. To be honest some on the left don’t even believe it . It’s just that the Nazis card is a great card to use against Trump . Some do confuse nationalism with anti semitism .

    hashomer
    hashomer
    6 years ago

    It’s a known fact that this Bannon garbage Gorka is or was a neo-nazi member of a Magyar front group, and a skewer of anti Jewish conspiracy theories. Now he got caught with his soiled pants down and he’s denying it. Take a look at what’s happening in Hun-garia these days and you see lovers of the Arrow Cross rightist faction everywhere. Feh.

    6 years ago

    It’s a known fact that snowflake liberals like you (and your other screen name, yonasonw) are the liars…you’re so sick, you still can’t get past your huge loss in the elections, and rather than act like a normal patriot by supporting our president, you are just wishing and hoping for America to continue to fail miserably as it did for eight years under obama, just so You can continue your immature maligning of Mr. Trump, despite his tremendous accomplishments in only three short months!

    yonasonw
    Member
    yonasonw
    6 years ago

    Why should we give Gorka (or Bannon for that matter) a pass, a benefit of the doubt, we don’t give to Rep, Ellison? In both cases, there exist inconsistent data, some of which is truly troubling.

    I note that this year the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, the National Jewish Democratic Council, and the Interfaith Alliance all have called for Gorka’s resignation over his ties to anti-Semitic Hungarian far-right groups. The Anti-Defamation League has asked Gorka to disavow his association with those groups. Senators Ben Cardin, Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security requesting that the DHS look into whether Gorka “illegally procured his citizenship” by omitting membership in “Historical Vitézi Rend,” which could have been grounds for keeping him out of the country.

    Many of you trashed Obama for far less a connection with Rev Wright than Gorka has with extremist groups in Hungary. Surely, the standard cannot be that anyone associated with this Party or that gets a pass…and the other gets vilified.

    6 years ago

    Gorka was detained at the D.C. Airport, for carrying a loaded weapon. Hence, that is why he could not receive a security clearance to work at the White House.