Evangelical Christians love Israel more than US Jews, who "either don't like Israel or don't care about Israel," former US President Donald Trump said recently in an interview with the Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.
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The latter, a veteran diplomatic and political correspondent now with Walla news, recently published a book titled Trump's peace: The Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East.
According to US media, the former president did not mince words when sharing his thoughts about the influence American Jews wield, sometimes even using controversial tropes that could be construed as antisemitic.
Excerpts of Trump's interview were aired on the podcast, Unholy: Two Jews on the News, hosted by Channel 12 News chief anchor Yonit Levi and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian.
Trump said that when he grew up in New York City, his father Fred, 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.
New quotes from Trump to @BarakRavid: Most US Jews don't love Israel. Exclusive for Unholy podcast
@Freedland pic.twitter.com/Hv4joYkbCN— Yonit Levi (@LeviYonit) December 17, 2021
"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.
He also argued, "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, who is publisher and chairman of the newspaper.
He also said that Israel used to have "absolute power over Congress" and that US Jews seem to have a greater allegiance to Israel than to the US.
In the podcast, Trump also criticized Jewish voters, the majority of which are traditionally Democrats, for not lending him their support in the 2020 presidential election.
"It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress and today I think it's the exact opposite," Trump told Ravid.
"And I think [former President Barack] Obama and Biden did that," he added. "And yet in the election, they 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."
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.https://t.co/5hVfvvn6rm
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) December 17, 2021
Commenting on the interview in the podcast, Ravid – according to the Business Insider – said, "It's not only about whether you're Jewish or not. It's a lot about whether you're liberal or conservative," Ravid said, adding later: "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."
The interview was slammed by Jewish groups in the US, who accused Trump of antisemitism.
According to NBC News, the American Jewish Congress condemned Trump for trafficking "radioactive antisemitic tropes" with his remarks.
"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."
i24NEWS contributed to this report
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