Before joining Trump's presidential campaign as its CEO, Bannon was the executive chair of Breitbart News, an online hotbed of racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and misogyny described by Bannon as "the platform for the alt-right," the favored term for the movement of white nationalists who have heavily supported Trump over the past year and were recently recorded offering him a Nazi-style salute.

"President-elect Trump's elevation of Stephen Bannon, the chief champion of this anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim white nationalist movement, to the role of chief White House adviser is appalling and completely unacceptable," said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action. "We are calling on Trump to listen to the voices of those he attacked and scapegoated during his presidential campaign and to reject hatred and white supremacy. If the president-elect truly wants to ‘bind the wounds of division' and be a ‘leader for every American,' as he claims, he must begin by distancing himself permanently from the bigotry championed by Bannon."

Bend the Arc Jewish Action has been a leader in the Jewish community's work to combat the extremism and bigotry seen in this year's presidential race. Following the election, Bend the Arc Jewish Action published an open letter from American Jews expressing solidarity with the targets of Donald Trump's hateful rhetoric, including immigrants, Muslims, people of color, LGBT people, women and people with disabilities. From mobilizing tens of thousands of Jews against Donald Trump's campaign of hate, to putting together a massive ‘Let My People GOTV' initiative that mobilized Jewish activists nationwide to personally knock on the doors of over 20,000 voters for Hillary Clinton, to its anti-Trump ‘Book of Life' Day of Action in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), and their release of a viral video message from the older generation to today's young voters, Bend the Arc Jewish Action was actively engaged in rejecting Trump's campaign of fear and hate. Bend the Arc Jewish Action also strongly denounced Trump's plan to start a government registry of Muslims last fall and repeatedly called on the Trump campaign's chief Jewish supporter – the Republican Jewish Coalition – to rescind its endorsement. Bend the Arc Jewish Action's sister organization, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, also launched a televised campaign, "Heard it Before," comparing anti-immigrant rhetoric in the presidential campaign to what Jewish immigrants faced a century ago. To date, more than 30,000 American Jews have signed petitions denouncing Trump and joined Bend the Arc Jewish Action's effort to defeat his campaign.

For more information about Bend the Arc Jewish Action's work to oppose Trump, visit www.weveseenthisbefore.org, or contact Elliot Levy at [email protected] or 202-800-7409.

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