Since the start of his political career, Donald Trump has played on stereotypes about Jews and politics.
He told the Republican Jewish Coalition in 2015 that 鈥測ou want to control your politicians鈥 and suggested the audience used money to exert control. In the White House, he said Jews who vote for Democrats are 鈥渧ery disloyal to Israel.鈥
Two years ago, the former president hosted two dinner guests at his Florida residence who were known to make virulent antisemitic comments.
And this week, Trump charged that Jewish Democrats were being disloyal to their faith and to Israel. That had many American Jews taking up positions behind now-familiar political lines. Trump opponents accused him of promoting antisemitic tropes while his defenders suggested he was making a fair political point in his own way.
Jonathan Sarna, American Jewish history professor at Brandeis University, said Trump is capitalizing on tensions within the Jewish community.
鈥淔or people who hate Donald Trump in the Jewish community, certainly this statement will reinforce their sense that they don鈥檛 want to have anything to do with him,鈥 he said. 鈥淔or people who like Donald Trump in the Jewish community, they probably nod in agreement.鈥
To many Jewish leaders in a demographic that has overwhelmingly identified as Democratic and supported President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump's latest comments promoted harmful antisemitic stereotypes, painting Jews as having divided loyalties and that there's only one right way to be Jewish religiously.
鈥淭hat escalation of rhetoric is so dangerous, so divisive and so wrong,鈥 said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest U.S. Jewish religious denomination. 鈥淭his is a moment when Israel needs there to be more bipartisan support.鈥
But Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said the former president鈥檚 comments must be heard in context of the Israel-Hamas war and Democratic criticisms of the state of Israel.
鈥淲hat the president was saying in his own unique style was giving voice to things I get asked about multiple times a day,鈥 Brooks said. 鈥淗ow can Jews remain Democrats in light of what is going on?鈥 He contended the Democratic Party is 鈥渘o longer the pro-Israel bastion it used to be.鈥
More than 31,800 Palestinians have been killed in the that followed Hamas鈥 Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and took hostages. Much of northern Gaza has been leveled, and officials warned famine is imminent.
Trump's comments followed a speech by Senate Majority Leader , the country鈥檚 highest-ranking Jewish official. Schumer, a Democrat, last week sharply criticized Prime Minister 鈥檚 handling of the war in Gaza. Schumer called for new elections in Israel and warned the civilian toll was damaging Israel鈥檚 global standing.
鈥淎ny Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,鈥 Trump retorted Monday on a talk show. 鈥淭hey hate everything about Israel.鈥
A cascade of Jewish voices, from Schumer to the Anti-Defamation League to religious leaders, denounced Trump's statement.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, the Trump campaign doubled down, criticizing Schumer, congressional Democrats鈥 support of Palestinians and the Biden administration鈥檚 policies on Iran and on aid to Gaza.
鈥淧resident Trump is right,鈥 said Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign.
Jeffrey Herf, an antisemitism expert at the University of Maryland, disagrees with Schumer鈥檚 call for a cease-fire in Gaza, but believes most Democrats support Israel 鈥 and he said a second Biden term would be better for it than a second Trump one.
鈥淚f (Trump) loses the 2024 election, his comments prepare the way for blaming the Jews for his defeat,鈥 Herf said. 鈥淭he clear result would be to fan the flames of antisemitism and assert that, yet again, the Jews are guilty.鈥
Sarna saw Trump as trying to appeal to politically conservative Jews, particularly the small but fast-growing Orthodox segment, who see Trump as a defender of Israel.
Also, about 10% of U.S. Jews are immigrants, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center report. Sarna said significant numbers are conservative.
At the same time, Democrats face the tension between their Jewish constituency, which is predominantly pro-Israel, and its progressive wing, which is more pro-Palestinian.
Sarna said that while it may seem odd to focus so much attention on subsections of a minority population, 鈥渆lections in America are very close, and every vote counts.鈥
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said Tuesday on his podcast that Trump 鈥渨as making a point that, frankly, I have made myself, which is that Jews who are voting Democrat do not understand the Democratic Party.鈥 Shapiro, who practices Orthodox Judaism, contended the party 鈥渙verlooks antisemitism鈥 within its ranks.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T鈥檙uah, a rabbinic human rights organization, said Trump has no business dictating who鈥檚 a good Jew.
鈥淏y insinuating that good Jews will vote for the party that is best for Israel, Trump is evoking the age-old antisemitic trope of dual loyalty 鈥 an accusation that Jews are more loyal to their religion than to their country, and therefore can鈥檛 be trusted,鈥 she said. 鈥淗istorically, this accusation has fueled some of the worst antisemitic violence.鈥
In his own time in office, Trump鈥檚 policy 鈥渙f supporting Prime Minister Netanyahu and only endangered Palestinians and Israelis and made peace more difficult to achieve,鈥 Jacobs said.
Pittsburgh-based journalist Beth Kissileff 鈥 whose husband, a rabbi in the Conservative denomination of Judaism, in 2018 survived the nation鈥檚 鈥 said it was highly offensive for Trump to be a 鈥渟elf-appointed arbiter鈥 of what it means to be Jewish.
鈥淐huck Schumer had every right to say what he said,鈥 Kissileff added. 鈥淛ust because we鈥檙e Jews, it doesn鈥檛 mean we agree with everything the (Israeli) government is doing. We have compassion for innocent Palestinian lives.鈥
Brooks, of the Republican Jewish Coalition, defended the former president against antisemitism charges, pointing to his presidential record as an example of proof.
Trump pursued policies that were popular among American Christian Zionists and Israeli religious-nationalists, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and supporting Jewish settlements in occupied territories. His daughter Ivanka is a convert to Orthodox Judaism, and her husband and their children are Jewish. The couple worked as high-profile surrogates to the Jewish community during Trump's administration.
Trump鈥檚 core supporters include white evangelicals, many of whom believe the modern state of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy. Prominent have also been criticized for inflammatory statements about Jewish people.
Sixty-nine percent of Jewish voters in 2020 supported Biden, while 30% supported Trump, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of the electorate conducted in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago. That made Jewish voters one of the religious groups where support for Biden was strongest. Also, 73% of Jewish voters in 2020 said that Trump was too tolerant of extremist groups.
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson said Trump鈥檚 comments are 鈥渋n a complex middle zone鈥 鈥 not explicitly antisemitic, but reliant on such tropes.
American Jews base their votes on a complex mix of issues and values, 鈥渁mong them inclusion, diversity, climate change, civil rights,鈥 said Artson, a leader within Conservative Judaism. 鈥淲hile they love Israel diversely, many of us also care about the wellbeing and self-determination of Palestinians.鈥
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This story was first published on March 21, 2024. It was updated on March 25, 2024 to correct the spelling of Jeffrey Herf's last name. It also was updated on March 22, 2024, to correct Donald Trump鈥檚 title in one instance. He is the former president, not the president
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Associated Press reporters Mariam Fam and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
