Anti-Defamation League condemns 'perfected' Coulter's 'anti-Semitic' remarks
The Anti Defamation League entered the fray over Ann Coulter's latest controversial remarks, condemning her comments about Jews' need to be "perfected" as "anti-Semitic."
"Coulter's remarks are outrageous, offensive and a throwback to the centuries old teaching of contempt for Jews and Judaism," the ADL said in a statement released Friday. "The notion that Jews are religiously inferior or imperfect because they do not accept Christian beliefs was the basis for 2,000 years of church-based anti-Semitism."
The ADL's condemnation came after a full day of discussion surrounding Coulter's appearance earlier this week on a low-rated CNBC program.
As Media Matters noted, "Deutsch later told Today co-host Meredith Vieira that someone might ask, 'Aren't we part of the problem?' Vieira responded: 'Of course we are. We're perpetuating it.'"
Christians "just want the Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is," Coulter said Monday on "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch.
Deutsch said during the interview that he was "offended ... personally" by Coulter's remarks. Appearing on the Today Show Friday, Deutsch did not agree that Coulter should be booted from the airwaves, as some have demanded. CNBC isn't heeding such calls, either, Coulter will return to the network Friday at 7 p.m. on Kudlow & Co.
The ADL commended Deutsch for immediately denouncing Coulter's remarks, but it did not explicitly call for news networks to refuse to invite her onto their programs.
"While she is entitled to her beliefs, using mainstream media to espouse the idea that Judaism needs to be replaced with Christianity and that each individual Jew is somehow deficient and needs to be 'perfected,' is rank Christian supersessionism and has been rejected by the Catholic Church and the vast majority of mainstream Christian denominations," the ADL said.
"Clearly, Ann Coulter needs a wake-up call about the power of words to injure others and fuel hatred," the statement continued. "She needs an education, too, about the roots of anti-Semitism and the shared values of Judaism and Christianity."
Coulter was not without her defenders, though, who argued that her message wasn't substantially different from what all Evangelical Christians believe.
"Breaking news: Christians believe all people ideally should be Christians," wrote AllahPundit at Hot Air. "She’s not talking about forcible conversion; she’s saying Christians believe the Judeo-Christian tradition is The Way and those who don’t follow the path all the way to the end aren’t quite where they need to be."
The following video is from NBC's The Today Show, broadcast on October 12, 2007.
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