Pro-Trump ‘bubbies’ ad nudging Jews on Israel, antisemitism fears serves up backlash
Politics2024 Election

Pro-Trump ‘bubbies’ ad nudging Jews on Israel, antisemitism fears serves up backlash

RJC spot in battleground states with large Jewish populations denounced for trafficking in tropes, as some vow to boycott Jewish deli near Philly where it was filmed

A screen capture from ad aired by the Republican Jewish Coalition starting October 20, 2024, showing three actors portraying Jewish women talking about supporting GOP nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. (screen capture: RJC/ YouTube)
A screen capture from ad aired by the Republican Jewish Coalition starting October 20, 2024, showing three actors portraying Jewish women talking about supporting GOP nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. (screen capture: RJC/ YouTube)

A political ad portraying Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as the safer choice for Jews is being criticized for appearing to traffic in stereotypes, while putting pressure on the owner of a Philadelphia-area deli for allowing it to be filmed there.

The 30-second spot, titled “Amen,” is being aired in several swing states with sizeable Jewish populations, according to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which touted the ad as the “closing” pitch of a $15 million campaign to finagle votes for the former president ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

In the commercial, three women, described by the RJC as “bubbies” and speaking with a cadence and accent considered Jewish in the popular American imagination, schmooze about Israel and antisemitism on college campuses while seated at a booth in a deli. All three are paid actors, according to CNN.

“Israel is under attack,” one woman tells her friends. “Antisemitism like I never thought I would see.”

After her friend mentions hearing of someone’s son who got spit on at the University of Pennsylvania, the third woman asks about Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

“Uch, busy defending the Squad,” answers Bubby 2.

“Oy vey,” the first woman adds. “You know, Trump I never cared for, but at least he’ll keep us safe.”

After the second woman concurs, the ad ends with the three women raising their mugs to the Republican nominee and a check coming to the table with the words “Donald Trump will keep us safe” stamped on it.

According to The New York Times, the spot has aired in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada and Pennsylvania, where it was filmed.

The five states are all home to large Jewish communities and, together with Wisconsin and North Carolina, are considered key battlegrounds that Trump or Harris must win to have a shot at the White House.

Citing data from analytics firm AdImpact, the newspaper reported that the RJC had spent $360,000 so far airing the ad, which was released on Oct. 20.

The Times described the ad in a headline as featuring “Jewish stereotypes in service of Trump,” and online some commentators called the pitch cringy, or “a shondeh.”

Some went even further, vowing to boycott Hymie’s Deli, the Jewish-style eatery in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, where the ad was filmed.

“I will never set foot there again,” Sheva Golkow, a longtime patron of the popular restaurant, told the Forward. “This is opening your restaurant to promote someone who promotes hate and division everywhere, but particularly aimed at Jews.”

Louis Barson, the longtime owner of Hymie’s, claimed that the eatery’s name never appears in the ad and denied it constituted any sort of endorsement. He told local Philadelphia media he allowed the deli to be used for filming as a favor to his friend Matt Brooks, who heads the RJC.

“This is not a statement that Hymie’s is endorsing Donald Trump. That is not the case. I would gladly let Kamala Harris film an ad here tomorrow,” he told Philadelphia Magazine.

According to the RJC, the ad is meant to appeal to Jewish voters who may traditionally vote Democrat but have concerns about Harris’s presumed approach to Israel and anti-Israel protests on college campuses.

The spot “reflects the fear and angst that Jewish Americans across our country are feeling, as we see Israel still under attack and antisemitism skyrocketing to unprecedented levels here at home,” Brooks said in a statement.

“We encourage Jewish voters to listen to their Bubbies: it’s OK to vote for Donald Trump,” the statement added.

Since Israel was plunged into a multifront conflict with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the RJC has shifted its messaging to focus on what it described as Trump’s support for the Jewish state while accusing Democrats of selling Jerusalem out.

Democrats and other Trump opponents point to the former president’s associations with antisemites, including within the Republican party, and note that he has repeatedly accused Jews of not being loyal for insufficiently supporting him, threatening that the Jewish community will be blamed if he loses.

They have also noted his mercurial and often transactional relationship with Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his seeming criticism of Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

“Because I’m Jewish, you look at the Republican Party, you have people who are very antisemitic,” a Hymie’s patron named Danny Weiss told CNN. “Then you have people who are back in the liberal party, who are very antisemitic, and we see it on college campuses not too far down the road.” PJC

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