Bruce Fenton, the “honorary” New Hampshire campaign chair for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, blasted Israel as an “apartheid state” in a July 27 social media post that resurfaced Tuesday.
The New York Post’s Jon Levine posted a screenshot of the tweet, in which Fenton accused Israel of abusing and discriminating against Palestinians. “Israel is an apartheid state,” Fenton wrote.
“For years Palestinians have faced abuse, been removed from their own family homes and have had movement restricted as Israel has expanded its authoritarian hold,” he continued.
He added that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is only possible because of “big brother America” and that Americans are “not just uninformed but misinformed” about the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
YIKES
.@VivekGRamaswamy ‘s NH Campaign Chairman just doubled down after calling Israel an apartheid state pic.twitter.com/DBCal95Rq2
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) September 12, 2023
Ramaswamy defended Fenton on Tuesday while repudiating Fenton’s views on Israel.
“I have volunteers on my campaign whom I don’t agree with on everything,” Ramaswamy tweeted. “Bruce Fenton is right on Fed policy, Bitcoin, individual liberty, and dismantling the administrative state. Turns out he’s dead wrong on calling Israel an ‘apartheid state.’ It’s a wildly wrong thing to say about the only pluralistic, thriving democracy in the Middle East. But you know what? He’s entitled to that view.”
“One thing I really like about Vivek is that he takes a stand on so many issues. When someone does this, not everyone will agree,” Fenton wrote Tuesday evening. “I try to do the same. On Israel, Vivek disagrees with me and my opinions – I know this because he told me he strongly disagreed. I’m sure there are a variety of other issues we disagree on.”
Tricia McLaughlin, senior advisor and communications director for the Ramaswamy campaign, told the Daily Caller that Ramaswamy spoke with Fenton and has no plans to remove his “honorary title” as campaign chair for New Hampshire. McLaughlin explained Fenton does not officially organize for the Ramaswamy campaign in New Hampshire, and that he received the honorary title after endorsing Ramaswamy.
The Washington Free Beacon published an article on Tuesday accusing Fenton of being a “9/11 truther.” In August, Fenton tweeted doubts about the “official story” regarding the 9/11 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, appearing to scoff at the idea that “the hijackers’ passports fell out of their pockets, avoiding the fireball & debris as the towers fell & then floated to the ground to be immediately found…twice.” (RELATED: CLANCY: As We Remember The Fallen Of 9/11, Let Us Recall The Immortal Words Of President Reagan)
Ramaswamy previously sparred with Fox News anchor John Roberts over his views on Taiwan, having said the United States should only protect Taiwan until the former reaches semiconductor independence. He also said he doesn’t trust “that the government told us the full truth in the 9/11 Commission Report,” a 2004 account of the events leading up to the terror attacks. The presidential candidate called the 9/11 attacks a “catastrophe” in a statement Monday, according to the Free Beacon, and honored first responders’ efforts at Ground Zero.