President Donald Trump gave a speech to the Israeli American Council group in Florida on Saturday that later received criticism from leaders and members of the Jewish community, according to The Washington Post.
During his speech, Trump claimed that American Jews “don’t love Israel enough,” before invoking the stereotype that all Jews are only focused on money by telling the crowd that they needed to vote for him in order to protect their money.
“You’re not going to vote for the wealth tax … you’re going to be my biggest supporters because you’ll be out of business in about 15 minutes,” he said.
Trump also said: “A lot of you are in the real estate business, because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all.”
Shortly after President Trump gave his speech, he received backlash from countless Twitter users, including Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and journalist Emily Tamkin.
“It’s not even coded anti-Semitism. It’s not a dog whistle. He’s saying this. Out loud. To a room full of Jews,” Rabbi Ruttenberg said.
Former head of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Aaron Keyak, said Trump’s words are “dangerous.”
“Trump’s insistence on using anti-Semitic tropes when addressing Jewish audiences is dangerous and should concern every member of the Jewish community — even Jewish Republicans,” he said.
American Jewish Committee also called for Trump to change his approach, according to CNN.
“Dear @POTUS — Much as we appreciate your unwavering support for Israel, surely there must be a better way to appeal to American Jewish voters, as you just did in Florida, than by money references that feed age-old and ugly stereotypes. Let’s stay off that mine-infested road.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said Trump used “anti-Semitic tropes” in his speech, too.
“While important @POTUS called out BDS and #antiSemitism, it’s essentially undone by his own trafficking of #antiSemitic tropes: questioning American Jews’ loyalty to Israel and asserting that Jewish voters only care about their wealth,” Greenblatt tweeted. “Instead of speaking singularly about hate, he attacked Ds. While some trends on the left are incredibly problematic, that’s no excuse to discount/ignore hateful trends on the extreme right that led to the murder of Jews in Pittsburgh & Poway; Latinos in #ElPaso; and others.”
Republicans stayed mostly silent on Trump words.
Earlier this year, Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar used similar tropes, “saying American politicians support for Israel was fueled by money from the pro-Israel lobby,” according to CNN.
Omar “was met with a chorus of criticism by Republicans, along with many Democrats,” CNN reports. She did later apologize over the comments.