The White House and President Biden’s reelection campaign on Monday bashed former President Trump over his comments about Jewish people voting for Democrats.
Trump, speaking with conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka, said Democrats “hate Israel” and that “any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates criticized the comment, noting it coincides with rising antisemitic crime and the Israel-Hamas war.
“President Biden has put his foot down when it comes to vile and unhinged Antisemitic rhetoric. As Antisemitic crimes and acts of hate have increased across the world — among them the deadliest attack committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust — leaders have an obligation to call hate what it is and bring Americans together against it,” he said in a statement.
He also suggested that Trump is spreading a stereotype and brought up the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
“There is no justification for spreading toxic, false stereotypes that threaten fellow citizens. None. Like President Biden said, he was moved to run for President when he saw Neo Nazis chanting ‘the same Antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the 1930s’ in Charlottesville,” Bates said. “He will never give hate any safe harbor, including today.”
Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said Trump “should be ashamed” of his comments to Gorka.
“Donald Trump openly demeans Jewish Americans and reportedly thinks Adolf Hitler ‘did some good things.’ He has said the only people he wants counting his money are ‘short guys wearing yarmulkes,’ and praised neo-Nazis who chanted ‘Jews will not replace us’ as ‘very fine people,’” Singer said.
He shared in his statement a CNN report alleging Trump said Hitler did “some good things” and referred to reporting that the former president wanted people in yarmulkes counting his money.
“Trump is going to lose again this November because Americans are sick of his hateful resentment, personal attacks, and extreme agenda,” Singer added.
Trump’s comments come amid tensions between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke on the phone earlier Monday, and they follow Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) recent call for new elections in Israel.