Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Former President Donald Trump veered into several antisemitic tropes in a recent interview, claiming that Israel used to have “absolute power over Congress” and saying that American Jews \u2014 the majority of whom vote Democratic \u2014 “either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel.”<\/p>\n
Trump’s comments to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid are not the first time he’s used language that skews toward biased stereotypes about Jews: In 2019, the then-president said Jews who vote Democratic are “being very disloyal to Israel.” His most recent remarks come, however, as Republicans on Capitol Hill remain highly critical of progressive Democrats’ increasing support for Palestinian rights and burgeoning criticism of Israeli government policies toward Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Trump also claimed to Ravid, who recently published a book about his administration’s Abraham Accords treaties between Israel and Arab nations, that evangelical Christians in the United States \u201clove Israel more than the Jews\u201d \u2014 touting a group he heavily courted in his 2016 presidential campaign and a pillar of his political base. <\/p>\n
As for his assessment of Israel’s waning influence in Congress, Trump cast blame on former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. He went on to lament the voting preferences of the Jewish electorate. <\/p>\n
\u201cObama and Biden did that, and yet in the election they still get a lot of votes from Jewish people, which tells you the Jewish people \u2014 and I\u2019ve said this for a long time \u2014 the Jewish people in the United States either don\u2019t like Israel or don\u2019t care about Israel,\u201d Trump said in an interview with Ravid that aired on the “Unholy” podcast.<\/p>\n
The former president also cited the heritage of the Sulzberger family that publishes The New York Times, which he said \u201chates Israel.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re Jewish people that run The New York Times,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Times did not immediately return a request for comment on Trump’s remarks.<\/p>\n
Trump, who closely allied with conservative former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter leader’s time in office, also told Ravid that he has a long-standing background with Jewish people because his father “was very close to many” of them from the family’s work in New York City real estate.<\/p>\n