Former president Donald Trump, in a speech Thursday to Jewish Republicans, repeatedly denigrated Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats and warned, without evidence, that Israel “will no longer exist” if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes president.
Trump has long questioned how Jewish Americans could vote for Democrats, even as polls show they support the party by wide margins, and Trump’s rhetoric toward the voting bloc is criticized as antisemitic.
“I don’t understand how anybody can support them — and I say it constantly — if you had them to support and you were Jewish, you have to have your head examined,” Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition. “They’ve been very bad to you.”
Trump addressed the group live via satellite as it held its annual leadership summit in Las Vegas, days after the bodies of six Israeli hostages — including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin — were recovered in Gaza. The hostages were taken by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Trump said Thursday that Harris and President Joe Biden have “sought to cast blame for these deaths on Israel,” though both condemned Hamas in separate statements on the recovery of Goldberg-Polin’s body. Neither statement criticized Israel. In discussing the matter, Trump initially appeared to misstate Goldberg-Polin’s last name as “Goldman.”
Biden’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown strained during the war. The president said Monday he does not think Netanyahu is doing enough to strike a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
Trump did not mention Netanyahu in his speech Thursday but claimed without evidence — as he has before — that the war would not have started if he were still president. He also again expressed some impatience with how long the war has taken. Discussing the war in April, Trump said he would tell Netanyahu to “get it over with” and “get back to normalcy.”
“I will support Israel’s right to win,” Trump told the RJC. “It’s a war on terror, and we will win fast. You have to win and you have to win fast.”
The Harris campaign responded to Trump’s speech by arguing he has not been as consistent of a supporter of Israel as he claims to be. The campaign noted, among other things, that Trump was reportedly angry at Netanyahu for congratulating Biden on his 2020 election victory over Trump, who continues to deny the result.
“Donald Trump has made it obvious he would turn on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests, and in fact he has done so in the past,” Harris national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Vice President has been incredibly clear: She has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”
Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, denounced Trump’s repeated criticism of Jewish Americans who vote Democratic.
“This is antisemitism, plain and simple, and if any other elected official or candidate said these things even once — let alone on a nearly daily basis — they would be condemned as antisemitic,” Soifer said in a statement.
Despite Trump’s comments to the contrary, Harris has repeatedly expressed support for the existence of Israel and its right to defend itself, including during her Democratic National Convention speech last month. She has also spoken out against the human suffering in Gaza amid the Israel counteroffensive and emphasized the urgent need for a cease-fire deal.
MSN
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