Trump attacks Harris and her Jewish husband as race becomes 2024 issue

NEW YORK - Republican nominee Donald Trump attacked US Vice-President Kamala Harris and her Jewish husband, Mr Doug Emhoff, invoking an anti-Semitic trope that Jewish Americans share a dual loyalty with Israel.

Trump said in a July 30 interview with WABC radio in New York that Ms Harris appeared annoyed during a meeting last week with

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

. The comments were Trump’s latest attempt to drive a wedge between Jewish voters and Democrats over the Israel-Hamas war.

“You can see the disdain. No. 1, she doesn’t like Israel. No. 2, she doesn’t like Jewish people. You know it, I know it and everybody knows it and nobody wants to say it,” Trump said.

Some Democrats have urged the Biden administration to cut off military aid to Israel over the civilian death toll in Gaza. Ms Harris has said she will speak out about Palestinian suffering while backing Israel’s right to defend itself. 

The attacks have the potential to energise Jewish Democrats and bring attention to Trump’s past incendiary language – and actions – on race. Roughly seven in 10 US Jews identify with or lean towards the Democratic Party, according to a 2021 Pew Research Centre study. 

Later in the interview, host Sid Rosenberg criticised Mr Emhoff, saying, “he’s Jewish like Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Are you kidding me?” Mr Sanders, a progressive US senator, has called for curbs on military aid for Israel’s war effort. 

“Yeah,” Trump responded.

“He’s a crappy Jew,” Mr Rosenberg, who is Jewish, continued.  

“Yeah,” Trump said. 

Mr Rosenberg then called Mr Emhoff “a horrible Jew”.

Mr Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a US president or vice-president, has been an outspoken voice against anti-Semitism. He has spoken out at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and death camp and at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the site of the deadliest attack against US Jews. Ms Harris and Mr Emhoff affixed a mezuzah to the doorway of the vice-presidential residence when they moved there in 2021.

Democratic criticism

Trump repeated his broadsides against Jewish people who vote for Democrats, saying they “should have their head examined” and adding “if you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool. They have let Jewish people down since Obama at a level that nobody could believe possible”.

Trump added that Ms Harris “dislikes Jewish people and Israel more than Biden did” and called Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, a “Palestinian”. Mr Schumer has said there should be new elections in Israel to replace Mr Netanyahu, whom he has called an obstacle to peace.

“America is better than the fear, hate and despicable insults of Donald Trump,” Harris campaign spokesman James Singer said in a statement. “Vice-President Harris believes Americans want a president who unites our country instead of divides it, uses the power of the presidency to help families instead of hurt them, and has a vision for our future, instead of taking us backwards.”

Trump has ramped up attacks on Ms Harris since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee after

President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid

, with Israel being an area of focus. But as he has appealed to Jewish voters by hitting Ms Harris’ position on the Middle East conflict, Trump’s critics have raised his dalliances with anti-Semites, including dining with White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago club in 2022. Bloomberg