Advertisement
Donald Trump accuses Jews who don’t vote for his party of ‘disloyalty’ and being uninformed
- The US president has closely aligned himself with Israel, including its conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
- His comments may have been an attempt to reflect this, but they were swiftly denounced as dangerous, shameful and anti-Semitic
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
US President Donald Trump has showed a fresh willingness to play politics along religious and racial lines by accusing Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats as showing “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty”.
Advertisement
The remark came amid Trump’s ongoing feud with Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both Muslim. Critics said he was trading in anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Trump has closely aligned himself with Israel, including its conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while the Muslim lawmakers have been outspoken critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Tlaib is a US-born Palestinian American, while Omar was born in Somalia.
“Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel?” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
Advertisement
At Trump’s urging, Israel last week blocked Omar and Tlaib from entering the country. Israel later agreed to a humanitarian visit for Tlaib to visit her grandmother, who lives in the West Bank. Tlaib declined, saying her grandmother had ultimately urged her not to come under what they considered to be humiliating circumstances.
Advertisement