WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday criticized former President Donald Trump for telling American Jews over the weekend to “get their act together” and “appreciate” Israel “before it is too late.”
Speaking at a press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Trump’s comments on his Truth Social website were “antisemitic” and “insulting” both to “Jews and to our Israeli allies.”
“For years now, Donald Trump has aligned with extremist and antisemitic figures,” she added.
Trump, who has frequently described American Jews in relation to Israel and argued that he deserves more political support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, wrote on his social media platform Sunday: “No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.”
Trump’s comments — which leaned on a trope that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.S. — were swiftly criticized by Jewish organizations.
“These are dangerous comments at a dangerous time,” said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in an interview Monday with MSNBC. “He has been invoking antisemitic tropes for years about Jewish power, about Jewish greed, about dual loyalty.”
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The White House has in the past been reluctant to respond directly to inflammatory comments from the former president. But Jean-Pierre said Monday that antisemitism and hateful speech “should be called out.”
“We need to root out antisemitism everywhere it rears its ugly head,” she said. “We need to call this out.”
Jean-Pierre also called the relationship between the U.S. and Israel “ironclad,” describing it as rooted in “shared values and interests.”
“Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understand that either,” she said.
NBC News has reached out to a Trump spokesperson for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
