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Seattle Jewish Federation on Trump and anti-Semitism

Flowers outside Jewish Federation Building commemorate the 2006 hate-crime shooting .
Flickr Photo/Belltown Messenger (CC BY 2.0)/https://flic.kr/p/4ysFZA
Flowers outside Jewish Federation Building commemorate the 2006 hate-crime shooting .

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke out against anti-Semitic threats and incidents, calling them "horrible" and "painful." That's after passing up a couple of chances to do so since he became president.

Nancy Greer, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, told KUOW's David Hyde at least it's a start.

  

"Even in curing cancer there's that first treatment," Greer said. "Whether or not this is the surgery and it's going to be followed up by chemotherapy, I don't know."

Other organizations haven't been as charitable. The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect called the president's words a "Band-Aid on the cancer of antisemitism that has infected his own administration.”

Greer said there's been a spike in anti-Semitic incidents in Washington state as well as nationally.

Last week, a neo-Nazi group posted an ad on the University of Washington campus, she said.

"We urge all of our local organizations to be mindful of security," Greer said.

The Jewish Federation has special cause for concern. In 2006, a gunman entered the group's offices and shot six people, killing one.

Year started with KUOW: 2004