A leader of the local GOP in Tarrant County who occupies a precinct chair in Colleyville is being accused of antisemitism by a group of Republicans from the community who are calling on voters to back her challenger.
A letter dated February 17, 2024, and signed by local elected and party officials alleges that the current Republican Party Precinct 3331 Chair, who is not explicitly named in the letter but is Natalie Genco, “Openly displays antisemitism and frequently posts her hatred of Israel on social media, which is in direct violation of the Texas Republican Party Platform.”
It also alleges that Genco has missed 85% of Tarrant County precinct chair meetings and that she “runs social media pages that actively attack conservatives.”
The letter urges primary voters to support Teresa Rutherford, who was a precinct chair for over 10 years, over Genco. Signatories to the letter include Grapevine Republican Club President & Republican Party Precinct Chair Laura Oakley, the treasurer for Tarrant County and state Republicans Fred Tate, and former Colleyville mayor Richard Newton, among others.
A compilation of memes allegedly posted on Natalie Genco’s Facebook account was attached to the letter and did explicitly name her. All of the memes were posted after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. The top of the page reads: “The following is a small sample of Natalie Genco’s antisemitic posts, and hatred of Israel, as well as repeatedly comparing Israel to Nazi’s [sic].”
One meme depicts a soldier standing by a body of water with his back against a flag pole with an Israeli flag. The reflection in the water replaces the Israeli flag with a Nazi one, with the caption, “History repeats itself … Different uniforms but same ethnic cleansing approach.”
Another meme lists Nazi traits in one column and allegedly corresponding Israeli ones in another. For instance, under Nazis, one line reads, “Founded on arian [sic] supremacy,” while the associated line on the Israel side says, “founded on Jewish supremacy.”
Another meme is of a cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding Uncle Sam in a chokehold with the caption, “There will never be a free Palestine until the United States is free of Israel.”
There is also a picture of text that Genco allegedly posted stating, “Maybe the U.S. is the biggest terror organization. We repeatedly invent terror groups to allow us to go in and take over.”
Other posts by Genco in the last week are links to TikTok videos of people, some of them purportedly in Gaza, making anti-Israeli arguments.
Benji Gershon, the president and founder of Dallas Jewish Conservatives, addressed the revelation of Genco’s purported anti-Israel sentiments in a post on Facebook.
“Natalie Genco is a current Tarrant County Precinct Chair and has openly displayed antisemitism and hatred of Israel on her social media, which is in direct violation of the Republican Party of Texas platform,” he wrote.
“This behavior cannot be allowed to take place in the Republican Party or anywhere in our country for that matter. I don’t generally weigh in on primary elections but when antisemitism is involved it is my obligation to speak up. If you’re in Tarrant Co. vote for Teresa Rutherford to replace this woman.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Genco for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Colleyville was the scene of a hostage crisis in 2022 when a gunman held members of a synagogue at gunpoint for 11 hours before he was shot and killed by FBI agents.