Donald Trump was fiercely rebuked on Tuesday after saying that any Jewish person who votes for the Democrats is guilty either of ignorance or “great disloyalty”.
The US president appeared to draw on an antisemitic trope — that Jewish people retain greater loyalty to countries or movements other than their own — while addressing journalists in the Oval Office.
His remarks were attacked by US Jewish groups across the political spectrum.
Logan Bayroff, communications director for the left-wing lobby group J-Street, said the US president’s words were “dangerous and shameful”, while Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “long overdue to stop using Jews as a political football.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the remarks, which came less than a week after two US congresswomen were controversially barred from entering Israel by Mr Netanyahu at the president’s urging.
Mr Trump was referring to the congresswomen, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, when he made the freewheeling comments on Tuesday: “Five years ago, the concept of even talking about this, even three years ago, of cutting off aid to Israel because of two people that hate Israel and hate Jewish people — I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Where has the Democratic party gone?
“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
....like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God...But American Jews don’t know him or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that’s OK, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s good for.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019
The president appeared subsequently to defend his remarks by posting a series of tweets quoting a claim by the conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root that “Jewish people in Israel love [Donald Trump] like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God.”
In a statement, J-Street’s Logan Bayroff said it was “dangerous and shameful for President Trump to attack the large majority of the American Jewish community as unintelligent and ‘disloyal.’
“But it is no surprise that the president’s racist, disingenuous attacks on progressive women of colour in Congress have now transitioned into smears against Jews.”
Mr Greenblatt tweeted: “It’s unclear who [the president] is claiming Jews would be ‘disloyal’ to, but charges of disloyalty have long been used to attack Jews. As we’ve said before, it's possible to engage in the democratic process [without] these claims. It's long overdue to stop using Jews as a political football.”
Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, accused the President of "continuing to weaponise and politicise antisemitism," adding that "if this is about Jews being 'loyal' to him, then Trump needs a reality check - we live in a democracy and Jewish support for the [Republican Party] has been halved in the past four years."
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl said: “Whatever one thinks of the antics of certain Democrat politicians, to single out Jewish voters and accuse them of the ancient slur of ‘disloyalty’ - when antisemitic violence is on the rise - is reckless and flies in the face of President Trump’s professed strong stance against anti-Jewish hate.
"American Jews - like British Jews - will vote for candidates from any party that best represent them on the full spectrum of issues, from healthcare and education, to fighting antisemitism."
Questioning the loyalty of Jews is antisemitic.
— Jewish Labour Movement (@JewishLabour) August 21, 2019
Donald Trump is no friend of the Jewish community. https://t.co/sWzHPGQlOh
Reacting to the remarks, Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he is "a proud Jewish person. I have no concerns about voting Democratic."
“In fact, I intend to vote for a Jewish man to become the next president of the United States," he said at a campaign event in Iowa.
More than 75 per cent of Jewish voters backed the Democrats in the 2018 mid-term elections.
Allusions to Jews’ divided loyalties is one of the examples of contemporary antisemitism listed in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
