International Courant
Vice President Kamala Harris’ marketing campaign and Jewish advocacy teams on Friday sharply criticized what they referred to as “harmful” and “anti-Semitic” feedback made by former President Donald Trump, who stated Jewish voters can be blamed if he misplaced the presidential election.
“I will put it very merely and as kindly as I can: I’ve not been handled nicely by voters who occur to be Jewish,” Trump stated Thursday evening at an occasion in Washington meant to spotlight anti-Semitism. “I do not know. Do they know what the hell occurs if I do not win this election? And the Jewish individuals would have rather a lot to do with it if that occurs, as a result of 40 p.c of the individuals vote for the enemy.”
The backlash was fierce.
“Donald Trump is resorting to the oldest anti-Semitic tropes within the e book as a result of he’s weak and can’t bear the thought that almost all of America will reject him in November. However we all know that phrases like these can have harmful penalties,” Morgan Finkelstein, nationwide safety spokesman for Harris’ marketing campaign, stated in a press release. “As Trump has confirmed, together with in latest weeks together with his lies about Springfield, Ohio, he’ll resort to fear-mongering and intimidation, irrespective of the price.”
Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks to distinguished Jewish donors throughout an occasion titled “Preventing Anti-Semitism in America” on the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on September 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Picture by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures)
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures
Trump and his working mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, have in latest days made the unsubstantiated declare that Haitian migrants in Springfield, most of whom are within the nation legally, are stealing and consuming their neighbors’ pets. The allegation has been flatly denied by native officers.
“If Donald Trump loses this election, it is going to be as a result of Individuals of all faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds got here collectively to finish the divisions he shows on daily basis,” Finkelstein added.
Harris’ husband, Second Lord Doug Emhoff, who’s Jewish himself, wrote on X Friday that Jewish Individuals wouldn’t be “intimidated” by Trump’s assaults. “Final evening, Donald Trump as soon as once more fanned the flames of anti-Semitism by buying and selling on tropes that blame and scapegoat Jews. He even did it at an occasion that claimed to fight anti-Semitism,” Emhoff wrote. “That is harmful and should be condemned. We won’t be intimidated and can proceed to dwell overtly, proudly, and fearlessly as Jews.”
Impartial Jewish advocacy teams additionally voiced robust opposition to Trump’s feedback.
“Irrespective of who nearly all of the Jewish neighborhood votes for, Jews — about 2 p.c of the U.S. inhabitants — can’t and shouldn’t be blamed for the end result of the election,” the American Jewish Committee wrote in a press release. “To saddle anybody with the phrases ‘we misplaced due to the Jews’ is outrageous and harmful. Hundreds of years of historical past have proven that scapegoating Jews can result in anti-Semitic hatred and violence.”
Some Jewish voters will vote for Harris, and others for Trump, the AJC stated. “None of us are voting for the enemy by supporting the candidate we select.”
Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to talk on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) management convention on September 18, 2024 in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Jonathan Greenblat, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote on social media that Trump’s feedback contradict the message of the anti-Semitic occasion the place he spoke and will solely make the scenario worse for Jewish Individuals.
“Preemptively blaming American Jews in your potential election loss does nothing to assist American Jews. It will increase their sense of alienation at a time of vulnerability when far-right and left-wing anti-Zionists are continually demonizing and vilifying Jews,” Greenblat wrote. “Let’s be clear, this speech is more likely to stoke extra hostility and additional inflame an already unhealthy scenario.”
Amy Spitalnick, who heads the progressive-leaning Jewish Council for Public Affairs, inspired extra individuals to affix the rising refrain criticizing Trump’s remark.
“Final evening, Trump preemptively blamed Jews for his potential election loss, after months of calling Jews who do not assist him ‘loopy’ and ‘disloyal.’ Talking out towards this is not about partisan politics — it is about basic Jewish safety,” Spitalnick wrote. “We want everybody to do it.”
Trump did obtain assist from some on the political proper. The Republican Jewish Coalition, a serious Jewish political group that has supported Trump, praised Trump for his feedback on combating anti-Semitism.
Matt Brooks, the group’s CEO, advised ABC Information in a phone interview that he believes the feedback about Jewish voters and the election are meant to encourage Jewish voters, and that Democrats’ claims in any other case are a purple herring.
“I believe the president was attempting to encourage the Jewish neighborhood,” Brooks stated, including that Trump “realized what was at stake” for American Jews, who felt unsafe in America due to the rise in anti-Semitism. (Brooks pointed to the harassment Jewish college students confronted on school campuses for example.)
“That is an absolute distraction, to disclaim that (Trump) has made many vital and important contributions to the Jewish neighborhood,” Brooks stated.
He added that Trump additionally indicated how shut the election might be within the swing states, the place the margin is more likely to be small and “if the Jewish vote does not go his approach, it might price him the election.”
Harris marketing campaign and Jewish teams are fiercely criticizing Trump for blaming Jewish voters prematurely if he loses
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