Trump draws ire for saying Jews who vote for Democrats hate their religion, Israel
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Trump's campaign stood by his remarks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - Republican United States presidential candidate Donald Trump has drawn outrage from the White House, Democrats and leaders of Jewish groups for saying Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats hate their religion and Israel.
“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves,” said Trump, who hopes to unseat President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov 5 US election.
“The Democrat Party hates Israel,” he said in the interview with his former adviser Sebastian Gorka posted on his website on March 18.
Groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Democratic Council of America, condemned Trump’s remarks for tying religion to how people might vote.
Asked to comment on Trump’s remarks, the White House said in a statement through its spokesman Andrew Bates on March 19: “There is no justification for spreading toxic, false stereotypes that threaten fellow citizens.”
After Trump’s remarks were posted, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish and a Democrat, wrote on social media platform X on March 18: “Trump is making highly partisan and hateful rants. I am working in a bipartisan way to ensure the US-Israeli relationship sustains for generations to come, buoyed by peace in the Middle East.”
On March 14, Mr Schumer, the highest-ranking US Jewish elected official and a long-time supporter of Israel, criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace five months into a war in Gaza that began with attacks on Israel by Hamas militants on Oct 7.
Mr Biden said many Americans shared Mr Schumer’s concerns. Mr Netanyahu called Mr Schumer’s speech inappropriate.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Alex Floyd said in a statement on March 18: “Jewish Americans deserve better than the appalling, offensive attacks Trump continues to launch against the Jewish community.”
Trump’s campaign stood by his remarks.
“The Democrat Party has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist cabal,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) on March 19 defended Trump’s remarks, which it reposted on X.
RJC spokesman Sam Markstein said that he did not know what Trump meant by his comment that Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats hate their religion but that Democrats’ stances were problematic: “It’s befuddling to a lot of Republicans that in light of all this, how can there not be more outrage in the Jewish community?”
While president, Trump came under fire from critics in 2017 for drawing an equivalence between white nationalists who chanted “Jews will not replace us” and protesters against racism who clashed in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump said there were “fine people on both sides”.
Trump also took the unprecedented steps of recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv and recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights captured from Syria in a 1967 war.
Since Trump left office, critics have cited his 2022 meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Florida club that Trump said happened inadvertently. Mr Biden also assailed Trump for echoing Nazis by using the word “vermin” to describe political enemies.
Mr Biden has strongly supported Israel’s offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where Palestinian health officials say 32,000 people have been killed since Oct 7, the day Hamas crossed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Under pressure from some Democrats over his staunch support of Israel, Mr Biden has shifted his position to push for a ceasefire
A Pew Research Centre poll conducted in 2020, when Trump and Mr Biden faced off the first time, found 71 per cent of American Jews surveyed identified with the Democratic Party while 26 per cent leaned Republican. REUTERS
