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8 March 30 • 2017 jn A significant focus of President Trump's stoking of anti-Semi- tism has resulted because of the president's appointment of Stephen K. Bannon as his chief strategist. Bannon is former chairman at Breitbart News, a far-right news and opinion website that caters to the alt-right, white supremacists and anti-Semites. However, recently growing concern has been expressed about the appoint- ment of Sebastian Lukacs Gorka as deputy assistant to the president. Gorka, who worked for Bannon at Breitbart and reports to Bannon in the White House, has a disturbing history with anti-Semitism. In an investigative story in The Forward, Lili Bayer writes that Gorka, 46, was active in Hungarian politics between 2002-07 and "had close ties … in Hungarian far-right circles, and has … chosen to work with openly racist and anti-Semitic groups and public figures." The following summary on Gorka's history was compiled primarily from Bayer's story and other media reports that are examining Gorka's background. Gorka was born in London after his parents fled from Hungary after World War II. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Corvinus University and has written a book titled Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. After the fall of communism in Hungary, he was hired by Hungary's Ministry of Defense. "It was during his time in Hungary," writes Bayer, "that Gorka developed ties to the country's anti-Semitic and ultra- nationalist far-right." Among his activities, Bayer reports, Gorka, while in Hungary, helped estab- lish Jobbik, a political party which had a history of anti-Semitism. Jobbik has published articles such as "The Roots of Jewish Terrorism" and "Where Were the Jews in 1956?" a refer- ence to the country's revolution against Soviet rule. In 2010, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona said that "under communism we licked Moscow's boots, now we lick Brussels' and Washington's and Tel Aviv's." The Forward reported that Gorka was a frequent contributor to Magyar Jelen, a newspaper that published racist and anti-Semitic stories, and he wrote a series of articles for Magyar Demokrata, which ran pieces by prominent anti- Semitic, pro-Nazi and racist public figures. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), stating it was "deeply disturbed" by the findings, asked Gorka to disavow the "openly racist and anti-Semitic hate groups" to which he has been linked. "With anti-Semitism and hate on the rise in the United States … it is essential that Mr. Gorka makes it clear that he disavows the message and outlook of far- right parties such a Jobbik," said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO. Gorka moved to the U.S. in 2007 and has worked for the Department of Justice, the Marine Corps University, the National Defense University and the Joint Special Operation University. In the U.S., Gorka established a repu- tation as an expert on counterterror- ism and Islam, but critics say his views place him outside of the "reasonable mainstream." The flap on The Winnable War con- tains the following statement, "Our enemy is not 'terror' or 'violent extrem- ism.' Our enemy is the global jihadi movement, a modern totalitarian ideol- ogy rooted in the doctrines and martial history of Islam." He has said that accepting Muslim refugees would be committing "nation- al suicide" and that profiling Muslims is a "synonym for common sense." That is a total turnaround from his doctoral dissertation in which he wrote that using terms like "global jihadism" is "inflammatory" and "does a disservice to law-abiding Muslims." Gorka's reported association with the extreme far-right and anti-Semites came to light when Eli Clifton of the news website Lobelog noticed in a photograph that Gorka wore a medal known as the Vitézi Rend. The medal signifies a knightly order of merit founded in 1920 by Admiral Miklos Horthy, Hungary's longtime anti-Semit- ic ruler and Hitler's ally. And, Gorka wore the medal to one of Trump's inau- gural balls. In addition to wearing the medal — a questionable decision at best — in 2006, Gorka defended the use of the Arpad f lag by the Arrow Cross Party, the party that in World War II killed thousands of Jews, shooting many of them along the Danube River, the Forward wrote. The Tablet, another Jewish publica- tion, has come to Gorka's defense, say- ing he wore the medal only in honor of his father, who was decorated by the Vitézi Rend for being "a dedicated member of the anti-Communist under- ground." Gorka told the Tablet he had "never been a member of the Vitézi Rend" or "taken an oath of loyalty to the Vitéz Rend." Still, on March 17, three U.S. sena- tors asked the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate Gorka's relationship with the Nazi- linked Hungarian organization. • Berl Falbaum of West Bloomfield is a veteran journalist and author. Sebastian Gorka Berl Falbaum views commentary Who's Sebastian Gorka? 2152460 CLOSE OUT SALE! MUST MOVE ALL INVENTORY Tradition! Tradition! Celebrating 26 Years!! 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