The White House condemned on Monday former President Donald Trump’s criticism of American Jews he believes offered insufficient praise of his policies toward Israel, branding his comments insulting and antisemitic.
Trump’s comments on Sunday were also denounced by the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, among others.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference on Monday that Donald Trump’s recent comments and warning the American Jews to get their act together before it is too late were insulting both to Jews and the Israeli allies of the US.
Reminding that Trump has aligned with extremist and antisemitic figures for years now, Jean-Pierre underscored the need to root out antisemitism everywhere, reiterating that US-Israel ties are ironclad and rooted in shared values and interests, something that Trump clearly doesn’t understand.
Stressing that no US president has done more for Israel than he has, Trump went as far as claiming he would win if he ran for prime minister in Israel considering that, as he claimed, he had the highest approval rate in the world in the Jewish state after his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights and his role in brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and regional states.
Listing the same multiple initiatives Trump mentioned that aligned US policy more with Israel’s, the right-wing Zionist Organization of America announced that it would bestow on Trump a rare honor only a few days before Trump’s posting.
Posted to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump’s statement with the suggestion of disloyalty drew immediate condemnation as it plays into the antisemitic trope that US Jews have dual loyalties to the US and to Israel.
Typically seen as an antisemitic canard, the accusations of dual loyalty toward the Jewish state are consistently rejected by American Jews although many of them are generally supportive of Israel.
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