The Exodus Movement (formerly known as Jexodus), is an American
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
political campaign aimed at encouraging
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
to leave the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. Spokesperson
Elizabeth Pipko
Elizabeth Pipko (born June 26, 1995) is an American author, model, media personality, and political operative. She is a first generation American, whose family came from the former Soviet Union.
Career
Pipko was signed to Wihemina Models at ...
states that "overwhelmingly, the Jewish people have supported Democrats over the years," she believes that the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
can make inroads.
In the 2018 midterm election 79% of Jewish voters supported Democratic candidates.
History
Jexodus was launched in early March 2019 at the
2019 Conservative Political Action Conference
The 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference was the annual event of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), hosted by the American Conservative Union. It was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, ...
(CPAC).
In 2019, the Jexodus website stated their mission as "Jexodus is a non-partisan nonprofit that unites people of good will – regardless of faith, ethnicity, identity, and political affiliation – around the simple, formerly non-controversial idea that Anti-Semitism must never be mainstreamed by the media or by any political party."
The organization was started by
Jeff Ballabon
Jeff (Jeffrey) Ballabon is an American Mass media, media executive, lobbying, lobbyist, political advisor, and consultant.
Early life
Ballabon was born and raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in New York City. He received undergraduate degrees ...
, an advisor to
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and a
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
lobbyist.
Elizabeth Pipko
Elizabeth Pipko (born June 26, 1995) is an American author, model, media personality, and political operative. She is a first generation American, whose family came from the former Soviet Union.
Career
Pipko was signed to Wihemina Models at ...
, a Trump supporter,
is the group's spokesperson.
Jexodus has been criticized as "likely a clumsy
astroturf
AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...
effort rather than an actual grassroots movement", in part because the Jexodus website was registered November 5, 2018 – before the congressional election and before those representatives it accused of anti-Semitism had even been elected.
On March 12, 2019, Trump tweeted his support of the movement.
Jexodus has been described as "far right" by ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
''
and as "fringe" by
Yahoo! News
Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
.
Jexodus became The Exodus Movement on March 21, 2019.
The name change came after widespread ridicule of the name "Jexodus" for the redundancy of calling for a "Jewish Exodus" when
The Exodus
The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the ...
was Jewish to begin with.
See also
*
WalkAway campaign
The #WalkAway campaign is a social-media campaign that was launched ahead of the United States 2018 mid-term elections with the stated purpose of encouraging liberals to leave the Democratic Party. The campaign, which also organized events to ...
*
Michael the Black Man
Michael the Black Man (born Maurice Woodside), also known as Michael Symonette and Mikael Israel, (born April 24, 1959) is an American political figure from Miami, Florida. An outspoken supporter of former US president Donald Trump, he is known f ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exodus Movement, The
American political neologisms
Political campaigns
Jewish-American political organizations