(Jewish Group) Anti-Semitism controversy exposes D.C.'s fault lines -- and a leadership vacuum

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

The fallout from a D.C. lawmaker’s claim that Jewish financiers control the weather has laid bare divisions that many in the nation’s capital would just as soon ignore. It has also exposed what critics say is a leadership vacuum among the city’s elected officials.

It has been seven weeks since D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) gained international notoriety for endorsing a conspiracy theory that the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking family, are manipulating the climate for financial gain.

What began as an embarrassment for White, a first-term lawmaker from the District’s most impoverished ward, turned into a test of the ability of city officials to handle the explosive race and class resentments that can arise in a city whose prosperity masks a troubling gap between its haves and have-nots.

Critics say it is a test that elected leaders have failed or at best barely passed.

It was only last week that the D.C. Council — comprising Democrats and two left-leaning independents — unanimously condemned hate speech against Jews. Their statement, made at a news conference, came after a rabbi barged into a meeting of lawmakers to denounce their inaction.

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