Former President Donald Trump suggested that American Jews are ingrates on his Truth Social platform Sunday, writing that they need to “get their act together” and “appreciate” Israel “before it is too late.”
“No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.,” said Trump. “Those living in Israel, though, are a different story — Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be P.M.!”
It is unclear what prompted the complaint but Trump has previously suggested that American Jews, who traditionally have more often aligned with the Democratic Party on domestic policies, should be more supportive of him because of how he dealt with Israel.
Jonathan Greenblatt, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, responded to Trump’s comments, stating on Twitter, “We don’t need the former president, who curries favor with extremists and antisemites, to lecture us about the US-Israel relationship.”
“This ‘Jewsplaining’ is insulting and disgusting,” he added.
Trump’s comments fall on the last day of Sukkot, one of three Jewish pilgrimage festivals, and the eve of Simchat Torah, a holiday that marks the ending of the annual cycle of Torah readings, and the beginning of the new cycle.
“The Jewish people in the United States either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel,” said Trump in an interview last year. “There’s people in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel.
“I’ll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country,” said Trump, who was strongly supported by white evangelical voters.
At a Hanukkah event at the White House in 2018, Trump drew criticism for referring to Israel as “your country” while speaking to American Jews.
He was also rebuked when Trump said during an Oval Office meeting in 2019 that “any Jewish people who would vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
The episode comes days after the right-wing Zionist Organization of America announced that it would honor Trump for his initiatives that aligned U.S. policy closer to those of Israel’s hawks, such as moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, cutting aid to Palestinians, exiting the Iran anti-nuclear deal and recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
Trump’s latest diatribe about Jews came as Republican candidates have made overt appeals to racial animus and resentments in the closing weeks of the midterm election campaign.
It also comes as leading Republican figures have failed to disavow antisemitic Trump supporter Kanye West, a rapper and fashion designer who recently tweeted that he wanted to go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to Defcon, the U.S. military defense readiness system.
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