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Donald Trump's grandchild's Synagogue preschool condemns President's 'Muslim ban'

'Throughout our history, we often were the stranger in a strange land and were persecuted and attacked simply for being the other,' says statement

Maya Oppenheim
Monday 30 January 2017 16:02 GMT
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Across America, just 24 per cent of Jews voted for Trump and many leading Jews and Jewish organizations have frequently voiced their worries about Mr Trump’s policies and the problem of anti-Semitism among some of his supporters
Across America, just 24 per cent of Jews voted for Trump and many leading Jews and Jewish organizations have frequently voiced their worries about Mr Trump’s policies and the problem of anti-Semitism among some of his supporters (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The global outrage unleashed by Donald Trump’s immigration ban has hit closer to home than the President might have bargained for.

The preschool attended by his grandchild has come out and publicly condemned his “Muslim ban”. Last week, Mr Trump signed an executive order suspending the entire US refugee admissions system for 120 days, halting the Syrian refugee programme indefinitely, and banning entry for people from seven majority-Muslim countries.

Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Northwest Washington where Mr Trump’s grandchild Joseph Kushner attends preschool, released a statement on Sunday night rebuking the President’s controversial immigration ban.

Donald Trump announces a ban on refugees and all visitors from Muslim-majority countries

Joseph is the three-year-old son of the President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner, a property developer who is a senior advisor to Mr Trump. According to CNN, the child attends preschool at Adas Israel.

“The leadership and clergy of Adas Israel Congregation stands with the entire Conservative movement and other local organisations such as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in advocating for the rights of immigrants," the synagogue said in a statement on Facebook and in an email sent to synagogue members.

"And rejecting the targeting of individuals based on religion, and calling on the US government to reject policy proposals that would halt, limit, or curtail refugee resettlement in the US or prioritise certain refugees over others."

Adas Israel, which is the largest Conservative synagogue in Washington, threw its backing behind a longer statement from the Conservative Jewish community against the immigration ban.

“Throughout our history, we often were the stranger in a strange land and were persecuted and attacked simply for being the other,” the longer statement reads. “Our religious tradition repeatedly forbids us from oppressing the stranger".

The ban sparked chaos across the world, with people blocked from boarding US-bound flights and detained in American airports.

Ivanka and Kushner recently moved to the affluent neighbourhood of Kalorama in Washington DC. The couple started dating in 2005 but reportedly broke up briefly in 2008 because Kushner's parents hoped he would marry a Jewish woman. However, the pair got back together and married in 2009, with Ivanka converting to Orthodox Judaism before the wedding.

Permission was given for the couple's safety, according to lawyer and Israeli Republican Marc Zell (Getty)

Kushner was brought up in the Modern Orthodox tradition, a type of Judaism that integrates strict observance of religious law with the secular, modern world. They have brought up all three of their children as practising Jews.

Much of the Jewish community are antagonistic to Mr Trump’s presidency. Across America, just 24 per cent of Jews voted for Trump and many leading Jews and Jewish organisations have frequently voiced their worries about Mr Trump’s policies and the problem of anti-Semitism among some of his supporters.

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