Ann Coulter, shown attending a New York gala in 2011, has drawn outrage for her tweets on Jews and Israel in commenting on the Republican debate. (Peter Kramer/AP Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In a series of tweets during the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, conservative political pundit Ann Coulter slammed the candidates for pandering to “f—ing Jews.”
Her most profane tweet read:
How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 17, 2015
Coulter posted the tweets during the final minutes of the three-hour debate Wednesday evening in Simi Valley, California, when four of the 11 candidates mentioned their support for Israel in their closing remarks. The four candidates were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said he would move the United States Embassy to Jerusalem as one of his first acts as president; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In a follow-up tweet, Coulter said:
Maybe it’s to suck up to the Evangelicals. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 17, 2015
Later, when Christie made his pledge, Coulter tweeted:
Christie also talks @ Israel in response to the question: What will AMERICA look like after you are president?
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 17, 2015
She then tweeted:
How to get applause from GOP donors: 1) Pledge to start a war 2) Talk about job creators 3) Denounce abortion 4) Cite Reagan 5) Cite Israel. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 17, 2015
The sequence of tweets drew outraged and satirical responses:
If that lady at the end of my bar likes my twitter feed, there might be six million and ONE. https://t.co/xLojB501x0
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) September 17, 2015
Christians United for Israel excoriated Coulter in a news release.
“Ann Coulter’s tweets this evening concerning Israel were completely inappropriate,” spokesman Ari Morgenstern said in the statement. “The U.S.-Israel relationship is both a moral and strategic imperative. There are tens of millions of Christians in this country who stand with the Jewish state.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, described Coulter’s remarks as “hyperbolic and hateful.”
“Ms. Coulter is pandering to the basest of her base. Her messages challenging the candidates’ support for Israel were offensive, ugly, spiteful and borderline anti-Semitic,” Greenblatt wrote in a statement. “Her tweets give fodder to those who buy into the anti-Semitic notions that Jews ‘control’ the U.S. government, wield disproportionate power in politics, and are more loyal to Israel than to their own country.”
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