Montana Rabbis Call On Sheehy to “Reject Hatred, Antisemitism, and Bigotry”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 9, 2024

CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org

The Montana Association of Rabbis urged Sheehy “to immediately discontinue” an antisemitic campaign ad and “remove Mr. Oriet from the Sheehy campaign staff”

Helena, MT – The Montana Association of Rabbis penned a new op-ed urging Tim Sheehy to “reject hatred, antisemitism, and bigotry” after Sheehy ran an antisemitic ad that “invokes very old, false conspiracy theories about Jewish people” and his deputy political director engaged with antisemitic social media posts, including about Holocaust denial. 

The Montana Association of Rabbis called on Sheehy “to immediately discontinue the political ad; apologize to Montana’s Jewish citizens and remove Mr. Oriet from the Sheehy campaign staff.”

So far, Sheehy has refused to condemn his deputy political director’s antisemitic views or apologize for his campaign ad. Read the op-ed below:

Daily Inter Lake: Calling on Sheehy to reject hatred, antisemitism and bigotry
May 5, 2024
By Montana Association Of Rabbis and The Montana Jewish Project

• As representatives of Montana’s diverse and pluralistic Jewish communities, we are disappointed and offended to see hateful messaging in a recent Tim Sheehy for Senate political ad and in public comments by one of Sheehy’s staffers. 

• Hate has no home in Montana, and we call on candidate Sheehy and all politicians to reject hatred, antisemitism and bigotry. It’s time to make that a reality every day, and we need all of our leaders to do their part to maintain this great state’s values.  

• Sheehy’s campaign ad presents Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer’s face above a pair of hands manipulating puppet strings over the words “radio, TV, and money.” The imagery in this ad is blatantly antisemitic. It invokes very old, false conspiracy theories about Jewish people controlling the media and international banking.

• This image and its messages are dangerous and only threaten Montana’s Jewish citizens in a time of rising antisemitism. We are horrified that anyone seeking public office would promote such material, and the ad should be stopped and renounced immediately. 

• Moreover, we recently learned that one of Tim Sheehy’s paid staffers circulated hate speech and supported (by reposting) white supremacist, racist, and anti-LGBTQ views on social media. 

• Caleb Oriet, the paid staffer, has said on social media that Black people are “the most criminal, dependent and socially destructive part of the population.” 

• He also leads the Montana chapter of the American Populist Union, which promotes a white supremacist  and neo-nazi platform, including antisemitic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ messaging. 

• Montana is bigger and better than these messages. We believe that all Montanans want to live in a state that values the safety and well-being of all its citizens, whatever their faith tradition, race, gender identity or sexual orientation. 

• Our leaders have united to denounce antisemitism and hatred in the past and we hope they will do so again. 

• Sheehy can learn from this example and we call on him to immediately discontinue the political ad; apologize to Montana’s Jewish citizens and remove Mr. Oriet from the Sheehy campaign staff. 

• All politicians in Montana should join in rejecting hatred, antisemitism and bigotry. 

• We need our leaders, and all of Montana’s citizens, to join with us as we all work to uphold this great state’s values and keep Montana free from bigotry. 

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