Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Dennis Prager called accusations of antisemitism against Stephen K. Bannon “libel” on Wednesday.
Prager, who is Jewish and wrote a highly respected book about antisemitism, was sharply critical of the campaign against Bannon, who is on leave as Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, and who was named Sunday by President-elect Donald J. Trump to be Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor in the White House.
“Calling Steve Bannon an antisemite is a witch-hunt … It’s just a libel, it’s fabricated, the whole thing is fabricated,” Prager said.
He reminded listeners that voters had been warned in 1980 that if Ronald Reagan were elected president, the KKK would be in the White House.
Prager’s guest Wednesday was conservative — and also Jewish — writer David Horowitz, author of The Black Book of the American Left.
“It’s the worst witch-hunt in American history, what’s going on now, and it’s going to continue,” Horowitz said.
“To take a pro-Jewish defender of Israel like Steve Bannon, and — with no evidence — call him an antisemite is hard even to comprehend.”
Horowitz said there were only two pieces of evidence used against Bannon — one a court filing by a “disgruntled ex-wife,” and the other “a headline that I wrote — I sent an article to Breitbart unsolicited … and they just printed what I sent … and the headline was, ‘Bill Kristol, Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew’.”
He explained that the article was written after the primary election was over and Trump was the effective nominee, and that he was attacking Kristol for effectively supporting Hillary Clinton, whom he saw as enabling the “Jew-hating Hitlerites” of the Iranian regime.
“Hillary and Obama not only empowered Iran — they supported the Muslim Brotherhood takeover in Egypt,” he told Prager.
“[Kristol] betrayed the Jews,” Horowitz argued.
In contrast, he said: “What did Steve Bannon, who is Trump’s chief strategist, do? They reached out Trump to call [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and call Israel a ‘beacon of hope.’”
“This is the best president the Jews could wish for!” Horowitz concluded.
Prager agreed with Horowitz that the charges against Bannon were baseless — and worse.
“That’s not antisemitic,” he said, referring to Horowitz’s headline. “It has nothing to do with antisemitism, and that’s what they use, plus divorce papers — which should never be used, it’s despicable,” Prager said.
Horowitz added that the media and the left were guilty of hypocrisy by obsessing over Steve Bannon while ignoring the rise of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) to the fore of the race to lead the Democratic National Committee.
“The same people who are attacking Steve Bannon are about to name, as the head of their party, a Farrakhanite, Jew-hating, racist, Muslim Brotherhood protégé, Keith Ellison,” he said.
Horowitz added that Bannon’s work for Trump gave him confidence in the new administration, “because Steve will not cave.”
He also praised Bannon for helping Trump take his presidential campaign to the inner cities of America, which he described as the “Achilles heel” of the Democratic Party.
“You are living through a left-wing lie as it is hatched. It is an amazing moment to see,” Prager said.
“There is not a shred of evidence that the man is an antisemite.”
He added that the episode had damaged the Anti-Defamation League, which led accusations against Bannon and Breitbart News on Sunday.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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