Former President Donald Trump on Monday said that Jews who vote for Democrats "hate Israel" and hate "their religion. In an interview, Trump was asked about the growing criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war and the civilian death toll in Gaza, among Democrats.
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"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 "evile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric" without mentioning Trump by name.
"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." Biden's campaign said, "The only person who should be ashamed here is Donald Trump."
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," he said. "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.
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U.S. President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address last week
(Photo: Getty Images)
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," adding "To make Israel a partisan issue only hurts Israel and the US-Israeli relationship," he wrote on X.
In a recently published book by CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto, former Trump chief of staff General John Kelly said Trump had said Hitler "did some good things some good things."
Kelly told Sciutto Trump said, "‘Well, but Hitler did some good things.’ I said, ‘Well, what?’ And he said, ‘Well, [Hitler] rebuilt the economy.’ But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world. And I said, ‘Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing,’” Kelly said. “I mean, Mussolini was a great guy in comparison.”
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.