Abe Foxman on Trump’s Helsinki comments

Abe Foxman, former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and Director of Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, on Trump’s performance at the closely-watched summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland:

“It’s a sad day for America, for the free world, for democracy, for Israel, and the Jewish people. We all depend on America, its strength and respect. And America, because of its president, is now unpredictable, unstable, disloyal, disrespectful towards friends and allies. It’s a very, very dark day because who can you depend on? Who can you trust to be there for you? It’s very scary.

Foxman on Israel’s reaction to the Trump-Putin summit: “It troubles me because you can’t isolate this one thing from the whole picture. First of all, we don’t know what [this deal] means. We have no idea what was discussed, we may never know the truth, and we don’t know whether we are being sold out. Hearing that section did not give me any comfort, it just gave me more anxiety because, in this type of relationship, this type of unpredictability, I don’t want to be part of it at this moment. And we are being thrown around by both sides as ‘look at this accomplishment.'”

“Israel has to first and foremost work to protect its national security interests, and therefore Putin is a very significant player. I understand the need for Netanyahu and Putin to work as closely as possible. I am just not comfortable if that becomes part of a deal between the U.S. and Russia. But I am certainly understanding and in support of Israel trying to strengthen its relationship with Russia. Its national security is now closely impacted by Russia’s role in Syria.”