Employee Knocks Trump's Jewish Son-in-Law: 'How Do You Allow This?'

Donald Trump isn't the only one taking heat for tweeting an anti-Hillary Clinton image with a Star of David. Now his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who owns the New York Observer, is dealing with fallout from one of his own employees. Entertainment writer Dana Schwartz penned a scathing open letter to Kushner, which appeared in the Observer Tuesday, after she said she was bombarded by anti-Semitic comments for criticizing Trump's tweet. After sharing some offensive responses, she took Kushner to task for turning a blind eye to Trump, noting, "[Don't] pretend you don't understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty. I'm asking you, not as a 'gotcha' journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: How do you allow this?" She ended with Edmund Burke's famous quote ("The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing") and her final statement: "Well, here I am, and here we are. Both Jewish, both members of the media. And you might choose silence, but I've said my piece."

The New York Times explains her open letter was greenlighted beforehand by Ken Kurson, the Observer's editor, though it appears he didn't fully know what its content would entail. Kushner—who's raising his three children Jewish with Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism—released a brief statement, per Politico: "My father-in-law is an incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife. I know that Donald does not at all subscribe to any racist or anti-semitic thinking." But although Schwartz actually believes Trump probably isn't anti-Semitic, she says he appeals to those who are, and she tweeted her boss is missing the point. As for Kushner's statement, "it seems crafted by PR and doesn't address the point of my article in the slightest," she tells Politico. "I'd love a real response from Mr. Kushner." Is she still on the Observer payroll? "I hope so," she tells the Times. (Read Kurson's full reaction to Schwartz's letter.)