# Gun Control Junta Scandal (Christian LeDuc; Samantha Valentino; Jane Kaufman; Andrew Lapin) [Multiple Articles]



## Creamu (Jul 20, 2022)

'Bracken County Republican Party Facebook page posts anti-Semitic message

The Bracken County Republican Party is facing backlash after an anti-Semitic message was posted on its official Facebook page.

The post, which went up Friday, targeted the new ATF Director Steve Dettlebach.

"A Jewish anti-gun activist, Steve Dettlebach, has just been made director of the ATF," the post reads. *"The Jewish junta is getting stronger and more aggressive."*

The word "junta" is defined as a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force.

[...]'

-Christian LeDuc







https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2671...arty-facebook-page-posts-anti-semitic-message

'“It’s an attempt to silence our community and *we will not be silenced*,” said chair of the Kentucky Jewish Council, Rabbi Shlomo Litvin.

[...]

“Regardless of where it came from, it was posted on their page. They now have a responsibility to stand with anyone who can read and say the idea that Jews are running the government is a fake antisemitic trope that has no basis in reality,” said Rabbi Litvin.'

-Samantha Valentino






https://www.wkyt.com/2022/07/17/we-will-not-be-silenced-ky-jewish-council-responds-antisemitism/

'Dettelbach: 'Jewish junta' post 'bigotry'

Bracken County Republicans in Kentucky *shut down its Facebook page* and launched an investigation after someone reposted a white supremacist’s statement that called newly confirmed federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Steven Dettelbach a member of the “Jewish junta.”

The post caused a stir throughout the Kentucky Jewish community and beyond.

Dettelbach, 57 and a Solon resident, was U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2006 to 2016 and a partner at BakerHostetler in Cleveland. He was confirmed July 12 by a 48-46 vote in the U.S. Senate.

He issued a statement about the post through a spokeswoman by email to the Cleveland Jewish News on July 19.

“Freedom of religion is central to our national identity,” Dettelbach wrote. “This kind of hateful rhetoric is, sadly, part of a broader increase in antisemitism and other forms of extremism. It targets not just me, but also seeks to hurt ordinary and often vulnerable American families and children. We need to call it out for what it is – bigotry that goes against the basic ideals of the United States of America.”

[...]

*“The term ‘junta’ refers to an illegitimate regime that has seized power by force,” Scheinbach told the CJN July 18. “It plays off several classic antisemitic tropes: one, that Jews are power hungry; two, that Jews have seized control by force, violence, or unjust plots or schemes; and three, that Jews have a secret, ‘Jewish interest,’ and that they place Jewish interest over non-Jewish interests.* It’s an antisemitic myth that’s dangerous. It promotes untrue stereotypes about Jews that further threaten Jewish safety and lives. … ADL has been tracking antisemitic incidents since 1979, and last year, was the highest year on record. [...]'

-Jane Kaufman






https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com...cle_3e714c22-0782-11ed-9b02-cfcb66ebac2c.html

'[...]

In calling Dettelbach “a Jewish anti-gun activist,” the county GOP group attacked the two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, who voted for his appointment. It also attacked two Republican Senators, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and James Risich of Idaho, who were not present for the vote, saying, *“It’s obvious they want to move on from having to defend rural gun owners.”*

[...]

The next day Kirkendol told the newspaper that the *Facebook page had been “hacked” and said the party “would not and did not publish anything antisemitic — as some of our very own members have Jewish heritage.”*

That explanation didn’t cut it for the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky. “We find the excuse that their account was ‘hacked’ to be wholly insufficient,” the federation wrote in a statement calling the post “ignorant” and “hateful.”

“If the Bracken County and Kentucky GOP are truly serious about their commitment to fighting antisemitism among their members, they will engage in genuine efforts to educate themselves, and offer more than a generic dismissal of the statements,” the federation continued, adding that it was “additionally shameful” that the comments were made in response to a new director for “a crucial government role in combating the epidemic of gun violence that plagues our country.”

[...]

The Justice Department bureau, which is charged with enforcing federal gun control laws including new ones recently signed by President Joe Biden, has for years faced a leadership vacuum, as well as a limited budget and resources for dealing with an expansive mandate. Gun control groups celebrated Dettelbach’s appointment, which Senate Democrats pushed through despite Republican resistance by using procedural rules to force to a vote.

Following the deadly 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Dettelbach authored an op-ed describing himself as “a proud American Jew.”

[...]'

-Andrew Lapin






https://www.jta.org/2022/07/18/poli...-us-firearms-regulator-part-of-a-jewish-junta


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