Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion | AP News
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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a Buckeye Values PAC rally on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats "hate Israel" and hate "their religion," igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Trump, in an interview, had been asked about Democrats' growing criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war in Gaza as the civilian death toll continues to mount.
"I actually think they hate Israel," Trump responded to his former aide, Sebastian Gorka. "I think they hate Israel. And the Democrat party hates Israel."
Trump, who last week became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, went on to charge: "Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed."
The comments sparked immediate backlash from the White House, President Joe Biden's campaign and Jewish leaders. The vast majority of Jewish Americans identify as Democrats, but Trump has often accused them of disloyalty, perpetuating what critics say is an antisemitic trope.
At the White House, spokesperson Andrew Bates cast the comments as "vile and unhinged Antisemitic rhetoric" without mentioning Trump by name.
READ MORE Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signs proclamation condemning antisemitism while vetoing bill defining it
"As Antisemitic crimes and acts of hate have increased across the world — among them the deadliest attack committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust — leaders have an obligation to call hate what it is and bring Americans together against it," he said. "There is no justification for spreading toxic, false stereotypes that threaten fellow citizens. None."
Biden's campaign said, "The only person who should be ashamed here is Donald Trump."
"Trump is going to lose again this November because Americans are sick of his hateful resentment, personal attacks, and extreme agenda," said spokesman James Singer.
Jonathan Greenblatt, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, said, "Accusing Jews of hating their religion because they might vote for a particular party is defamatory & patently false."
"Serious leaders who care about the historic US-Israel alliance should focus on strengthening, rather than unraveling, bipartisan support for the State of Israel," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Trump's comments come as Biden has been facing mounting pressure from the progressive wing of his party over his administration's support for Israel in its retaliatory offensive in Gaza. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
While Biden continues to back Israel's right to defend itself, he has increasingly criticized Netanyahu. After his State of the Union speech, he said he needed to have a "come to Jesus" conversation with the Israeli leader. He has also accused Netanyahu of "hurting Israel more than helping Israel," saying, "he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken."
Trump took particular issue with recent comments from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country's highest-ranking Jewish official. In a speech last week, Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza, warning that the civilian toll was damaging Israel's standing around the world. He also called for Israel to hold new elections.
While the White House formally distanced itself from Schumer's comments, the Democratic leader and key ally was voicing an opinion increasingly held across Biden's administration.
Schumer — whom Trump accused of being "very anti-Israel now" — responded by accusing Trump of "making highly partisan and hateful rants."
"To make Israel a partisan issue only hurts Israel and the US-Israeli relationship," he wrote on X.
The Pew Research Center reported in 2021 that Jews are "among the most consistently liberal and Democratic groups in the U.S.," with 7 in 10 Jewish adults identifying with or leaning toward the Democratic Party. In 2020, it found that nearly three-quarters of American Jews disapproved of Trump's performance as president, with just 27% rating him positively.
Americans have also increasingly soured on Israel's military operation in Gaza, according to surveys from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In January, 50% of U.S. adults said the military response from Israel in the Gaza Strip had gone too far, up from 40% in November.
That number was higher among Democrats, 6 in 10 of whom said the same thing in both surveys.
___ AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this reported from Washington.
JILL COLVIN Colvin is an Associated Press national political reporter covering the 2024 presidential campaign. She is based in New York.
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Perfect for Trump, tropes and BS his stock in trade.
I wonder how much the right wing anti-sematic hate on Truth Social and X rose right after Trump's comments?
I would imagine that a fair amount.
antisemitism is what binds the neo-nazis, white supremacists, and thumper wackos of the ultra-right together...
... if chuck had threatened to withhold senate approval of military aid, it would have been like a "perfect phone call".
LOL
Didn't Joe say "You ain't black if you vote for Trump" is that trope and BS?
Except about 80% of both blacks and Jews vote Democratic!
So that makes it, OK?
No, but it is accurate for most Jews and blacks.
Put another way,
Biden dissed 10% of black voters who vote gop...
Trump dissed 80% of Jews who vote Democrat!
One makes sense in reality. The other is batshit.
The same people who call black people Uncle Toms are mad about what Trump said.
Just a total lack of self awareness.
You may have misspelled hypocrisy.
So, what other stereotypes do you have for Jews and blacks?
You're not a Buddhist if you misspell hypocrisy.
Which obviously makes no sense at all.
And the right calls trump the "great uniter". wow.
he unites the right.
With blood and soil.
It would be great if he could unite his tongue with his brain.
he united the nazis, the klan, and thumpers into the maga movement...
[deleted]
...
Just when you think that former Pres Trump could not possibly saying anything more stupid, HE DOES IT!
Never underestimate Trump's ability to look the fool.
gee, I wonder which group of voters trump will alienate next...
Trump is running out of ethnic/religious/racial/etc groups to denigrate
mathematics really doesn't seem to be maga's forte...
kind of like this maga dumbass ...
Strangely, apparently a growing number of Hispanics are switching from Democratic to Republican:
Texas Latinos prefer Trump over Biden in presidential election, UH poll finds
I don't think caucasians have a monopoly on ethnic groups that vote against themselves, yet...
It is no wonder eight out of ten American Jews voted for Joe Biden in 2020, and will again on November 5th...
If the low-life keeps it up, in this election it will be 9 out of 10, or more.
There are now TEN Democratic Jewish US Senators plus Bernie Sanders. There are no Jewish US Senators in the gop, not one. We have seen the respect (really the total lack thereof) Trump and the gop really have for them, and for Jewish American Voters...
None, Zero, Zip!
Nice rant. How many Jews are of the Republican persuasion in the general population? You do know that historically they have overwhelmingly voted Democrat right?
Because none of trumps children are Jewish or his [grandkids,deleted]
Ivanka is Jewish
Yes, and so are his grandkids.
PSSSST. Missing sarc tag is all that statement needed
I feel like a dumbass
It happens to all of us from time to time.
It appears that some folks can do nothing but make ignorant racial slurs.
Yes, however, it took some sauce to cook that goose ...
her religious conversion is as real as her surgical enhancements...
Ah, so you are agreeing with Trump.
You point out that American Jews vote democrat and the last two democrat presidents have treated Israel like something less than an ally.
the days of "our ally right or wrong" are over when it comes to genocide. bibi has interfered in his last US election.
I'll wait for an explanation from JBB
total nonsense
Now that is pure invented BS.
American Jews vote Democratic because they are repulsed by Trump, the MAGA, homophobia, racism, sexism and Fascism...
American Jews overwhelmingly oppose Netanyahu's regime!
That doesn't equal opposing Israel. They just don't like Bebe!
So now you are saying American Jews only supported democrats recently, because of "Trump."
I think it might be a good idea for you and a few others to stop discussing Jewish Americans and why they vote the way they do.
uh oh, they may be coming to replace you...
Let's start with you since you have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about. Your comments are just unsupported reactionary propaganda with no basis in fact whatsoever.
[✘]
let me know if you run out of slurs...
No, I think I'll start with those you think are your friends. Can you understand how they really feel about the Palestinians and the Israeli Jews?
trumpsters should be more concerned with our waning tolerance towards unamerican autocrats and theocrats.
rwnj cannon fodder...
Do you not consider Biden to be a Democrat?
Or that Biden is not president?
Or is it that you think he treated Israel "like something less than an ally"?
In addition, believe it or not, the fact is that most American Jews tended to vote Democratic before Trump ran for office.
(I am not judging that negatively or positively-- just stating a fact).
Yet, Trump only got about 20% of Jewish votes in 2020...
I should have said the last two democrat presidents.
Trump obviously treated Israel like our closest ally.
He knows that.
OK, Biden and Obama. Biden has supported Israel with weapons lots of weapons in the current conflict and financial aid. How is that treating Israel badly?
Obama signed an agreement with Netanyahu for an aid package of $38 billion over ten years the most ever given by the US up to that time.
Obama ended decades of U.S. policy and allowed the UN to condemn Israel over settlements. He actively tried to get Netanyahu defeated in elections and as everyone knows he created that evil Iran deal which will give Iran nuclear weapons and enabled Iran to support all those terror groups surrounding Israel.
Biden is picking up where Obama left off. Biden is now pressuring Israel to slow down and enter into negotiations with Hamas, who now cling to the border city of Rafah. He is also repeating Hamas propaganda, remember when the media would always add the qualifier that the Gaza Health Ministry was controlled by Hamas? They have stopped doing that of late. Now we have Biden repeating Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers. In his "Ramadan" speech Biden repeated the Gaza Health Ministry numbers that “30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, including thousands of children.”
By doing so he rejected the figures given by our ally Israel and accepted those given by a terror organization. In Tablet, Abraham Wyner, a professor of statistics and data science at the Wharton School, pointed out that the stats are obviously fake.
Not to mention Biden's attempts to restart the Iran Deal and his 10 million sanctions waiver that has Iran in business again.
Let's face it, Obama & Biden have not been good for Israel and yes, American Jews voted for them anyway.
Nice to know that you believe that our foreign policy regarding Israel should be controlled by Israel.
If both Obama and Biden were and are so bad for Israel you should have been able to point out that their aid was also bad, yet here we are without the US currently supporting Israel where do you think the war and Israel would be right now?
That would seem to anyone without a jaundiced view of both presidents to accept the fact that American Jews, many of whom are dual citizens have a much better handle on Israel/Netanyahu than you do.
based upon israel and ukraine, it looks like republicans support leaders that condone illegal land grabs...
American Jews cast their votes for the candidates who stand for the values sacred to them like tolerance and inclusion. There are damn good reasons American Jewish Voters overwhelmingly vote Democratic and why there are currently ten Democratic Jewish US Senators plus Bernie Sanders and zero Jewish US Senators in the gop. American Jewish Voters are repulsed by the racist sexist homophobic intolerant undertones of the America First Focus on the Family Oath Keeper Proud Boy MAGA Madness of today!
American Jews are not voting for Prime Minister of Israel Nov 5th, but if they were they would not be voting for Netanyahu, or Trump!
MAGA is repulsive to the overwhelming majority of American Jews and so American Jews will vote overwhelmingly for Biden/Harris!
Projection. It is Obama & Biden that are telling Israel to adopt a two-state solution.
If both Obama and Biden were and are so bad for Israel you should have been able to point out that their aid was also bad, yet here we are without the US currently supporting Israel where do you think the war and Israel would be right now?
I pointed it out very well. Btw, we just had a very unique vote in the UN. The council voted Friday to reject A Biden backed resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas. The final vote had 11 in favor, three votes against and one abstention. Russia and China, who are permanent members of the council and therefore have veto power, voted against it. The resolution signaled a big shift in US policy, which had previously blocked any attempts to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. There was no agreement by Hamas to exchange hostages.
That shows how far Biden has drifted from Israel. And oh yes, both Russia and China voted against the resolution as a slap in the face to the US and the weak Biden administration.
That would seem to anyone without a jaundiced view of both presidents to accept the fact that American Jews, many of whom are dual citizens have a much better handle on Israel/Netanyahu than you do.
It would seem to be what it is. American Jews are brought up for the most part to be liberals even when it hurts them. I have high hopes for the current generation of American Jews who are hiding in their college dorms from all the pro-Palestinian students and teachers. I think Alan Dershowitz said it best, when he pointed to the antisemitism, we see that is coming from the children of our friends. He also offered to testify against Harvard University: “I want to volunteer, publicly, on your show, to be a witness against Harvard University. I have been associated with Harvard University for 60 years. I am an insider. I am a whistleblower,” he said.
So you see, Kavika, there are some American Jews who do have a handle on what is going on.
Have a good one.
Liberals above all else? I'd say Joe Biden is really putting them to the test.
And ?
How does that correlate with the US supplying arms and financial aid to Israel currently?
Seems you don't give Jews much credit, I'm quite sure that they can make their own decision and not depend on mom and dad for their direction. Kinda like the comment you see on NT from time to time, ''on the plantation''....
Good for Alan, hope that he gets the opportunity to be a witness.
Again, you insult Jewish voters then wonder why they vote against your gop candidates. Keep it up at least till November 5th!
... anybody else have any questions?
zero self awareness is the common denominator among maga...
No, you are insulting them. You tried to avoid it, but I got you to do it.
Keep it up at least till November 5th!
They are finding out who the antisemites are.
Any other progressive antisemites?
I haven't seen any anti-Semitism in the comments, are you imagining boogy men again?
the republican party surrendered any progressiveness they had over a century ago...
No Vic, I merely note that American Jews abhor Trump, voted overwhelmingly against Trump in 2016 and 2020 and will vote overwhelmingly for President Biden, again, on November 5th!
Didn't the US abstain on the vote?
Here:
Enjoy
You have to do better, Vic. My comment and those of others were about this article and comments on this article not something from a different time and place. BTW your comment re the Jews was very condescending at best today. You should be more aware in the future.
BTW, you didn't respond to my question re the US abstaining from the UN vote. FYI the US abstained with the following reasoning. We did not agree with everything in it and there was nothing in there condemning Hamas per the US.
Happy that I could help you on that stickler.
They support murdering thug scumbags
They already know who the anti-semites are.
when it comes to bloodthirsty religious extremists, I'm equal opportunity on their suppression and/or destruction...