Donald Trump is being denounced for his antisemitic message attacking “liberal Jews who voted to destroy America” by not voting for him, at the start of Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year. Republicans have remained largely silent as “liberal Jews” trends on social media. The ex-president’s remarks came just days after President Joe Biden warned that antisemitism has “risen to record levels.”
Haaretz, the century-old Israeli newspaper with an international readership, called Trump’s remarks “an ominous warning to American Jews in honor of Rosh Hashanah, retreading well-worn territory of dual loyalty tropes and conflating support for Israel and American Jews.”
“Trump has frequently targeted Jewish Americans for not voting for him, including imploring them to ‘get their act together before it’s too late,’ earning widespread condemnations for ‘Jewsplaining,'” the paper observed, adding: “Trump’s opinions of American Jews, however, have deteriorated into stereotypes for decades – touching on tropes of wealth, power and status.”
Trump’s post on Truth Social begins: “Just a quick reminder for liberal Jews who voted to destroy America & Israel because you believed false narratives! Let’s hope you learned from your mistake & make better choices moving forward! Happy New Year!”
It continues, “Wake Up Sheep. What Natzi /Anti Semite ever did this for the Jewish people or Israel?”
Trump’s post then lists a series of items, among them, moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over settlements in Judea, all of which have not been uniformly embraced by “the Jewish people.”
The Jerusalem Post adds that the ex-president’s “post also rejected accusations that Trump is antisemitic, writing sarcastically that Trump is ‘clearly one of the greatest antisemites of our time’ in light of his achievements.”
The paper notes that, separately, Trump has “denied connection with antisemites after meeting hosting Kanye West and white nationalist Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago resort in November.”
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Republicans have ignored Trump’s remarks, which also received little notice in the mainstream media, but criticism on social media has been swift.
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan observed, “Even by Trumpian antisemitic standards, this is pretty disgusting. And on Rosh Hashanah. We have normalized a very old school, very familiar type of antisemitic fascism in this country. It’s scary stuff.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, the former President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) wrote: “That tens of millions would even consider this man to lead the U.S. is grave and alarming. That so many of our vital institutions appear agnostic about it is so disappointing.”
Jim Stewartson, an Emmy-winning producer wrote a lengthy post on the social media site X, saying “this is nothing short of a Nazi movement—all the way to the top,” and concluding: “We must start treating Nazis like Nazis again.”
Brett Meiselas, the co-founder of the anti-Trump SuperPAC MeidasTouch wrote: “There’s never been a scarier time to be a Jew in America. This is truly horrifying, Nazi shit.”
Attorney Daniel Uhlfelder observed, “In celebration of Rosh Hashanah Trump calls Jews sheep who need to wake up if they think he is a Nazi or Antisemitic. Yes, this is real.”
Steve Vladeck the attorney and New York Times best-selling author wrote: “Just a little casual anti-Semitism from the leading Republican candidate for the presidential nomination—ON ROSH HASHANAH. It’ll get totally ignored by the press, his Republican opponents, and everyone except the ‘liberal Jews’—who’ll all get a little more nervous.”
Professor of political philosophy, social justice, and the Director of the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies, Dr. Ari Kohen wrote: “Yes, it’s insulting. Sure, it’s nonsensical. But, also, a lot of the people who pay attention to Trump on ‘Truth Social’ are one or two ‘truths’ away from trying to harm people like me who spent the past two days in synagogue.”
Former Obama campaign and administration official Tim Fullerton asked, “Why is this not being called out for the anti-Semitic garbage that it is? Why is this not being discussed by every media outlet?”