Former President Donald Trump has come under fire for saying that Jewish people who vote for Democrats “hate their religion.”
In an interview on Monday with Sebastian Gorka, a former White House aide of his, Trump was asked about several prominent Democrats’ criticisms of Israel’s government, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Joe Biden. Trump responded by accusing Democrats of hating Israel and questioning the faith of the Jewish people who support them.
“I actually think they hate Israel,” Trump said. “I think they hate Israel. And the Democrat party hates Israel.”
“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” he added later in the interview. “They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”
He reiterated comments he made on Sunday about Schumer’s motivations, saying Democrats only criticized Israel due to cynical self-interest, seeing potential votes from pro-Palestinians.
“Don’t forget, when you see those Palestinian marches — even I am amazed at how many people are in those marches,” Trump said. “And guys like Schumer see that, and to him, it’s votes. I think it’s votes more than anything else because he was always pro-Israel. He’s very anti-Israel now.”
A spokesman for President Joe Biden denounced Trump’s remarks as antisemitic, connecting his comments with Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack against Israel and the Holocaust.
“President Biden has put his foot down when it comes to vile and unhinged Antisemitic rhetoric,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. “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.”
“There is no justification for spreading toxic, false stereotypes that threaten fellow citizens. None,” he continued. “Like President Biden said, he was moved to run for President when he saw Neo Nazis chanting ‘the same Antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the 1930s’ in Charlottesville. He will never give hate any safe harbor, including today.”
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Trump has made similar comments before, previously aiming to win the support of Jews by touting his treatment of Israel. Democrats and other activists responded by accusing him of antisemitism.
Schumer and Biden have largely backed Israel in its war against Hamas since last fall but have soured on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently over the death toll of Palestinians. Schumer said Netanyahu “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” a statement that Republicans and Netanyahu himself harshly denounced.
