Evangelical Christians love Israel more than American Jews do, says Trump

Trump criticized Jewish voters for not lending him their support in the 2020 presidential election.

By Israel Hayom via JNS

Evangelical Christians love Israel more than U.S. Jews, who “either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel,” former U.S. President Donald Trump said recently in an interview with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.

Trump said that when he grew up in New York City, his father, a real estate developer, “Was very close to many Jewish people, because it was Brooklyn real estate, Brooklyn and Queens.”

“[He had] many Jewish friends, a great love of Israel, which has dissipated over the years for people in the United States,” Trump said. “I must be honest, it’s a very dangerous thing that’s happening. People in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel. I’ll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country. It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress. And today I think it’s the exact opposite,” Trump told Ravid.

“The New York Times hates Israel, hates them. And they’re Jewish people that run The New York Times,” he said, referring to A.G. Sulzberger, publisher and chairman of the newspaper.

Trump also criticized Jewish voters, the majority of which are traditionally Democrats, for not lending him their support in the 2020 presidential election.

He attributed the shift in U.S. Jewish attitudes on Israel to President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.

“And yet in the election, they [Democratic Party candidates] still get a lot of votes from the Jewish people. Which tells you that the Jewish people, and I’ve said this for a long time, the Jewish people in the United States either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel,” he said.

Commenting on the interview in a podcast, Ravid said, “It’s not only about whether you’re Jewish or not. It’s a lot about whether you’re liberal or conservative,” according to Business Insider.

“I think that for Trump, being liberal is a much bigger sin than being Jewish, but what can you do? It’s the same folks,” added Ravid.

The interview was slammed by Jewish groups in the United States, who have accused Trump of antisemitism.

According to NBC News, the American Jewish Congress condemned the former president for trafficking in “radioactive antisemitic tropes.”

“Why is Mr. Trump once again fueling dangerous stereotypes about Jews?” the AJC asked in a tweet.

“His past support for Israel doesn’t give him license to traffic in radioactive antisemitic tropes — or peddle unfounded conclusions about the unbreakable ties that bind American Jews to Israel,” the group tweeted. “Enough!”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, also condemned Trump’s remarks, tweeting, “Once again, former President Trump has linked his lack of strong support among most US Jews to their feelings about Israel and used classic antisemitic stereotypes about Israeli and Jewish control of Congress and the press to bolster his argument.

“It’s sad that once again we have to restate this point, but the vast majority of American Jews support and have some type of connection to Israel, regardless of which political candidate they vote for,” he continued.

“Let me be clear: insinuating that Israel or the Jews control Congress or the media is antisemitic, plain and simple. Unfortunately, this is not the first time he has made these offensive remarks,” said Greenblatt.