Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has faced challenges in trying to create separation with the Biden-Harris administration on Israel.
Trump has long positioned himself as a great friend to Israel, and various Republicans including the former President have taken aim at those on the Left (including many American Jews) who oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s conduct of the war in Gaza that has followed the horrific attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7.
But as Biden has remained steadfast in his support for Israel, if not always for Netanyahu, Trump has had difficulty making stick his extremist accusations that the Democratic Party is full of Hamas supporters whose Israel support is fickle.
Official U.S. policy states the opposite, and Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by every elected American politician — even those who desperately want innocent Gaza civilians spared from the violence and destruction Israel has inflicted on the region in its quest to eradicate the terrorist group.
Trump, however, continues to portray Democrats as unwitting (and sometimes witting) supporters of Iran and Hamas, saying that Israel will only be truly and unwaveringly supported in the U.S. by a Trump administration, not a Harris administration.
Trump: If I don’t win this election.. the Jewish people would have a lot to do with that if that happens pic.twitter.com/N9skHU0hnu
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 20, 2024
In asserting this dubious point — that any true supporter of Israel could only vote for him and not for, as he calls Harris, “the enemy” — during a speech at the Israeli American Council, Trump used this false premise to cast pre-emptive blame for his potential November election loss on American Jews.
“If I don’t win this election,” Trump said, “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because at 40 percent, that means that 60 percent would be voting for the enemy.”
Trump here claims 40 percent support among American Jewish voters, which he concludes means the remainder of the American Jewish population should bear responsibility for his electoral failure — a statement widely perceived as a signal to those in MAGA to target that group in the event of a Trump loss.
Trump, in essence, said 60 percent of American Jews could be responsible for the failure to “make America great again” if he loses.
How can Donald Trump be so hateful to Jewish-Americans? https://t.co/4q9jjN2cZl
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 20, 2024
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was among those appalled by Trump’s offering up American Jews as a target for those who want him to win, and asked in a post: “How can Donald Trump be so hateful to Jewish-Americans?”
One area Trump has been effective in creating a perception of separation on the issue of Israel and Palestine centered on the student protests that roiled college campuses throughout the country last spring.
Republicans largely simply condemned the protests, while simultaneously — and some said hypocritically — supporting free speech, while Democrats struggled more with their collective public response, acknowledging both the right of Israel to defend itself and also the tragic consequences of the war.
One result was that certain American Jews, aligning with Trump, saw his alleged support for Jews on campuses as representative of a larger fealty. One commenter, in response to Swalwell’s post, included the video below.
SHAMEFUL: President Trump is speaking to us Jewish American college students now on his plan to tackle campus antisemitism. Since October 7th, Kamala Harris has not met with a single Jewish student fighting for their civil rights. Why won’t she speak to us?! pic.twitter.com/KCCJsc3mdS
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) September 20, 2024