The headline reads “Jewish leaders tell Trump he’s not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism.” Or some variation of that headline. The problem is… who are these “Jewish leaders”? Because they aren’t from Tree of Life Synagogue.

Here is the headline, on Twitter:

Jewish leaders tell Trump he's not welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism https://t.co/OpUuxLapv0 pic.twitter.com/RxeKg2Rxul

— The Hill (@thehill) October 29, 2018

And here is the text. See if you can spot the difference.

A group of Jewish leaders told President Trump that he is no longer welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounces white nationalism following the shooting at a synagogue there over the weekend.

Eleven members of the Pittsburgh affiliate of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice penned a letter to Trump following the Saturday shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

The letter from this one group reads, in part:

For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.

Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.

The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.

The “about” page for Bend the Arc states:

Bend the Arc is a movement of tens of thousands of progressive Jews all across the country. For years, we’ve worked to build a more just society. Now we’re rising up in solidarity with everyone threatened by the Trump agenda to fight for the soul of our nation.

So, this is a left-wing, progressive group, which happens to be Jewish and has a branch located in Pittsburgh, of whom eleven members decided to write an open letter to President Trump, and the media is writing headlines as if the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh is standing at the city limits to block the president’s motorcade, except… the group’s letter acknowledges that they don’t speak for everyone.

While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.

But they have DEMANDS, and want everyone to sign on.

Read our demands to @POTUS after a gunman killed 11 of our brothers and sisters at #TreeOfLife #DorHadash and #NewLight in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. If you are so inclined, please sign your name in support. https://t.co/pVytT2a9Sz

— Bend The Arc: Pittsburgh (@bendthearcpgh) October 28, 2018

Lucky for them, the media is the first to sign up. This is incredibly irresponsible to give a single unknown group, unaffiliated with the synagogue where the murders actually happened, this kind of coverage. Why do it? Because the left has a narrative. Blame Trump. Blame the Jews who voted for Trump. Kick them out the synagogue.

Watching secular liberal Brooklynite Jews scold traditional Orthodox Jews about their political opinions is peak Twitter.

— Joshua Yasmeh (@JoshYaz) October 28, 2018

Meanwhile, those who are grieving and burying loved ones from Tree of Life Synagogue are probably not thinking of politics right now, even as one of their rabbis spoke last night at an interfaith vigil and asked people, political leaders included, to watch what they say.

These families want to bury their dead in accordance with Jewish tradition (something the medical examiner mentioned today, recognizing that the victims’ faith traditions would be respected even in the middle of an active investigation), mourn according to tradition, and want their privacy to do all of those things. For a left-wing progressive group to grandstand on top of their grief is ugly. For the media to be doctoring up the spin because they want to preserve the narrative is dishonest and sick.

UPDATE 1:40 PM ET:
Narrative busted. Not that the media cares.

.@CNN asks Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers if @realDonaldTrump is welcome at his synagogue after Saturday's shooting.

Myers: "The President of the United States is always welcome. I am a citizen, he is my president. He is always welcome.”https://t.co/pfSMeNrRdI pic.twitter.com/SiI0xdpGhh

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) October 29, 2018

Well said, Rabbi. May you and your congregation know that you are lifted in prayer.

Featured image: Skyline of Downtown Pittsburgh (image via Pixabay)