As NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson heads to Israel, GOP rivals allege whitewashing of 'anti-Israel record'
North Carolina Lt. Gov Mark Robinson, who has been accused of antisemitism for past social media remarks about Jews and the Holocaust, traveled to Israel Monday to show support for the Jewish people in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, according to his campaign.
Robinson is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2024. His campaign said the trip was organized by the North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition, a Christian political group.
“Through our mutual devotion to our faiths and our countries, and with the strong and vibrant Jewish community in our state, North Carolinians have much in common with Israel and the Jewish people,” Robinson said in a news release announcing the trip. “Throughout this trip we will learn more about what the Israelis are up against in this struggle and show our support in standing shoulder to shoulder with our ally against terrorism.”
Robinson, who won the lieutenant governor’s office in 2020, has a social media history dotted by conspiracy theories, downplaying the threat of Naziism and making other comments criticized as antisemitic or holocaust denial.
“There is a reason the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the Nazi and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered,” Robinson said in a 2017 Facebook post. “There is also a reason those same liberals do not fill the airwaves with programs about the communist and the 100+ million people they murdered throughout the 20th Century.”
Statements such as those, as well as derogatory comments about LGBTQ+ people and statements viewed by some as misogynistic, have drawn criticism from the left and have caused some members of his own party to worry about his electability.
Robinson is working to put some of these things behind him, and to be pro-Israel. He called a press conference last month to announce a week of solidarity with Israel but spent most of the time fielding questions about his past remarks.
He apologized for the wording of some of those social media posts, but “not necessarily for the content.”
“There was never any antisemitism intended from those words,” Robinson said at the press conference. “And there’s never been any antisemitism within me.”
State Treasurer Dale Folwell, one of three Republicans facing Robinson in the 2024 governor’s race, said on social media Monday that he hopes “the Israeli government understands that they are hosting a ‘leader’ from North Carolina with a history of anti-Jewish comments.”
Folwell tagged the Faith and Freedom Coalition in the post so the group would see it and said the group should know Robinson “has said that ‘Hitler disarming millions of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.’”
The line comes from a 2018 Robinson Facebook post that reads in full: “The center and leftist leaning Weimar Republic put heavy gun ownership restrictions on German citizens long before the Nazis took power. This foolishness about Hitler disarming millions of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash. Repeating that hogwash makes the conservative argument against the current attempts by liberal Marxist to push unconstitutional gun control measures in this Nation look foolish.”
Folwell said Israel needs “light, character and substance, not 72 hours of theater from a lawless elected official who poses as their friend.”
Asked for a response, Coalition Executive Director Jason Williams said in an email Monday that the group had jsut left the Western Wall and he didn't have much time to talk. He sent a statement saying the coalition is "grateful to assist with this unique opportunity that will allow elected and non-elected leaders from three different states to see firsthand what’s happening on the ground in Israel during this critical time in their nation’s history."
"We hope this trip is an encouragement to the people of Israel as we reaffirm our commitment that the United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends," Williams said. "It also is a unique opportunity for our participants to gain a better understanding of the profound challenges facing current Israeli leaders in such a volatile region of the world.”
Williams said tax dollars haven't been used to fund the trip.
Bill Graham, a Salisbury Republican running for governor, said through a spokesman that North Carolina needs a governor who is consistent, not hypocritical.
"Mark Robinson said in 2017 that he was sick of hearing that the Nazis were evil and manipulative towards the Jews,” Graham spokesman Alex Baltzegar said in an emailed statement. “That is just one of many examples of his well-documented history of antisemitism. And now Robinson is taking advantage of terrorists' slaughter of Israeli citizens to try to whitewash his anti-Israel record.”
Former state Sen. Andy Wells, the fourth Republican in the GOP gubernatorial primary race, said he hopes the trip isn't just a political stunt.
"I'd say I'm surprised, but happy Mark Robinson is supporting Israel in this war," Wells said. "Especially given his comments on Facebook."
Spokespeople for Robinson didn’t immediately respond to a request for response.
Robinson mentioned his upcoming trip to Israel during a sermon last week at Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. Church minister Ron Baity is well known in North Carolina politics, in part because he led the push to outlaw gay marriage in the state constitution.
Robinson told the congregation that the trip was scheduled before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks triggered the ongoing war and that he thought it important to “show the people of Israel that we stand arm-in-arm with her,” despite the obvious danger in traveling. Robinson said the trip would last three days, that a small group including his wife would go, and that they would travel with private security.
He spoke of the weight of responsibility he feels to take the trip. “When it's your time to do it, you do it,” he said in the sermon, which was available to the public on Berean Baptist’s YouTube channel before being restricted to the public.
“You do it with excellence,” Robinson said. “And now is my time to carry some of that weight. Show the people of Israel that we stand arm in arm with her, because if the United States of America abandons Israel, the United States of America has abandoned God. And if she abandons God, she will be no more.”
The North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition said on its website that state Sens. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, and David Craven, R-Randolph, would also be on the trip to Israel.
