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(JTA) — When Donald Trump posted, without context or warning, that “American Jews will have to bounce back” on Israel before “it’s too late,” he alarmed many of his critics, who saw his comment as a veiled threat.
But few members of the Republican Party have expressed concern. Just as they did when Trump made remarks as president in 2019, Republican leaders, in addition to Jewish leaders, reacted with indifference or, in some notable cases, nothing to say.
A spokesman for Rep. Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, also commented on Trump’s comments. Instead, Zeldin’s spokesman said the congressman, who is running for governor of New York, “sticks to his long culture of unequivocally denouncing anti-Semitism in all its forms,” while condemning the anti-Semitic comments of rapper (and Trump ally) Kanye West.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told JTA on Friday that he had no comment. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded to a query.
Meanwhile, AIPAC’s pro-Israel lobby, which has become a major monetary player in political campaigns this year, declined to comment to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. about these quotes through prominent American politicians. But the organization reacted with similar silence to Trump’s comments in 2019, in which he called on American Jews who vote for Democrats disloyal to Israel.
Many of Trump’s critics have condemned his comments as anti-Semitic, perpetuating the dual loyalty stereotype that American Jews feel stronger loyalty to Israel and, in recent decades, to other countries, than to the United States. But Matt Brooks, head of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said the comments acted as a “Rorschach test” of how everyone feels about the former president in general. The RJC defended Trump’s comments in 2019.
“If you hate Trump, you’re horrified, outraged and you think he’s incredibly anti-Semitic,” Brooks told JTA. “If you like Trump and what he has done on all the issues, like moving the embassy [to Jerusalem] and the Iran deal, etc. , read this for what it is, which is a transparent appeal to the Jewish network: that there are existential threats there, not only because of anti-Semitism, but also because of Israel’s lifestyle with Iran.
Brooks added, “Trump has some smart problems to solve and, you know, he can articulate them better. “
Some Republicans have defended Trump and added the Jewish Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit. Ellie Cohanim, deputy supervisor of anti-Semitism at Trump’s State Department, said she supported Trump’s comments. You said here. And Donald Trump will go down in history as America’s greatest philo-Semitic president,” he said on Twitter.
Ben Shapiro, the right-wing Orthodox who has millions of followers on social media, dismissed the concept of a double-loyalty trope involving Jewish investment in Israel.
“Trump says I don’t understand why more American Jews don’t care about Israel isn’t anti-Semitism, it’s just a question about American Jewry that seems to be somewhat accurate actually,” said Shapiro, a common guest at Israel that is an emerging country. political celebrity there.
Fred Zeidman, a top Jewish Republican donor who in the afterlife contributed to Trump’s campaigns but also criticized the former president, said that in this case, Trump repeats a common argument between Jewish Republicans and the conservative pro-Israel community.
“I think the mainstream media and the Democratic Party have continued to demonize [Trump] completely,” Zeidman said. the Republicans, when they are the ones who have been so supportive of Israel?”
Trump, Zeidman said, used to speak in a way that caused him trouble, and not only when it came to Jews, but the media has a habit of exaggerating each and every one of his statements.
“I wish I hadn’t said it,” he said. But I don’t think he deserves the press he got. “
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