Donald Trump, Not Ilhan Omar, Accused American Jews of Dual Loyalty
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
ADDRESSING AMERICAN JEWS on Saturday in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump casually invoked the anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty by referring to Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, as “your prime minister.”
Given that Trump was speaking to Jewish Republicans — including Sheldon Adelson, the American casino magnate who is one of Netanyahu’s biggest donors — the president was not wrong to assume that the crowd was strongly pro-Israel, but the accusation that the loyalty of non-Israeli Jews to their home countries is somehow suspect has a long, ugly history .
Later in his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering, Trump referred a second time to American Jews as if they were Israelis by saying that a victory for Democrats in the 2020 election “would cripple our country and very well could leave Israel out there all by yourselves.”
Several journalists expressed discomfort as Trump went on to suggest that his Jewish supporters should explain “to some of your people” in business and finance that they should stop opposing his imposition of tariffs on imported goods.
Nathan Guttman
✔ @nathanguttman
Trump at RJC keeps talking about "some of your people" and "many of your people" when discussing business and tariffs which, apparently, Jews somehow have a special interest in
For a bunch of reasons I found Trump’s use of “your prime minister” less alarming then his use of the 2nd person here: “Maybe you could explain that to some of your people who say ‘Oh we don’t like tariffs’.”
Trump’s remarks earned him a rebuke from the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, who urged the president, “to avoid language that leads people to believe Jews aren’t loyal Americans.”
Of course, Trump’s confusion is exacerbated by the fact that Israel’s government actively works to blur the line between Jewish and Israeli identity, and that so many of Israel’s leaders — including Netanyahu himself and Israel’s ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, who was born in Miami — were raised in the United States.
The president’s comments were particularly striking because they came just minutes after he mocked Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, for her criticism of Israel. Last month, the ADL accused Omar of using “ a vile anti-Semitic slur ” after she said , in defense of her right to criticize Israeli policies, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”
Omar denied that she had questioned American Jews’ allegiance to the United States, saying that she objected to something different: political pressure on her, from Democrats as well as Republicans, to express loyalty to Israel. “I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress,” Omar wrote in a Twitter thread . “I have not said anything about the loyalty of others, but spoke about the loyalty expected of me.”
I'm sure all the Republicans who took Rep Omar to task will be right on criticizing this use of the dual loyalties trope...
Either Trump implied dual Jewish American loyalty, which has been criticized for anti-semitism, or he is too stupid to understand what he says. Your 2020 Republican candidate.
Can we agree that neither any faith nor the lack thereof should ever be a qualifier for public office and that it us unfair to assume that our representatives and government officials will not give their official loyalty to all the citizens they represent and serve?
When did Israel become our 51st State?
While I support Israel I also support Ireland, neither Country should be given preference in my opinion.
Do not forget Ilan Omar was made to eat dirt for merely implying the same thing.
Yum
I thought this would get some more comments. I guess the conservatives don't want to confront the fact that Trump did roughly the same thing right wingers have crucified others for.