Donald Trump once again pushed an antisemitic trope during a radio interview Monday, claiming that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and “their religion.”
Appearing on former Trump White House aide Sebastian Gorka’s show on the Salem Radio Network, Trump was asked about some Democrats’ comments that have been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last week, for instance, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Netanyahu one of several “major obstacles” to peace between Israel and Palestine, and said he supported an election to replace him.
“Why is it, seemingly, that this administration, including Chuck Schumer in the Senate, so hate the man that Israel chose as their prime minister?” Gorka asked. “Why do the Democrats hate Benjamin Netanyahu?”
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“I actually think they hate Israel,” Trump replied. “I think they hate Israel, and the Democrat[ic] Party hates Israel.”
Trump later went further: “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.”
Trump also claimed that Democrats “hate Israel” because they are seeking votes from those who tend to align more with Palestinians in Gaza than Jews in Israel.
“Don’t forget, when you see those Palestinian marches—even I am amazed at how many people are in those marches—and guys like Schumer see that, and to him it’s votes,” Trump argued. “I think it’s votes more than anything else, because he was always pro-Israel. He’s very anti-Israel now.”
The Biden administration reacted sternly to Trump’s comments.
“President Biden has put his foot down when it comes to vile and unhinged Antisemitic rhetoric,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
“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. 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.”
Trump’s comments Monday weren’t the first time he has invoked the antisemitic “dual loyalty” notion. At the White House in 2019, the then-president told reporters, “If you want to vote Democrat, you are being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
