Former President Donald Trump made a pitch to Jewish voters on Thursday, touting his pro-Israel record, and saying that they could be critical to the 2024 election.
Addressing the Israeli-American Council’s annual summit in Washington, D.C., Trump joked about the advantage that Democrats enjoyed among Jews at the polls in 2016 and 2020, despite his support for the Jewish state and his daughter, son-in-law and three of his grandchildren being Jewish.
“I was the best friend Israel ever had,” he said. “In 2020 now, I’ve done all these things. Now Jewish people have no excuse. I got 29%. I went from 25% to 29%—think of that. Honestly, you didn’t treat yourselves well.”
Trump said polling currently showed him with support from “about 40%” of the Jewish populace. A Pew poll earlier this month showed that 34% of American Jews support Trump.
“Those votes may be necessary for us to win,” he said.
“I’ll put it to you very simply and as gently as I can: I wasn’t treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish,” he continued. “Do they know what the hell is happening? If I don’t win this election—and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens—because at 40%, that means 60% of the people voting for the enemy.”
Trump said if he doesn’t win, Israel “will cease to exist within two years.”
The former president mixed lines he has repeatedly used from his stump speeches with elements intended for a Jewish and Israeli audience.
He cited moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and the 2020 Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries as among the pro-Israel accomplishments of his administration.
He also said that he supported Israel’s right to win its war on terrorism, but “it has to win it fast.”
Trump noted the remaining 101 hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after being kidnapped during the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7. He recognized those families attending the summit and asked for them to stand up to a round of applause.
He called Dedi Simchi, whose Israel Defense Forces paratrooper son Guy was killed fighting Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival, and Andrey Kozlov, who was freed from Hamas captivity in an IDF rescue mission in Gaza after eight months in captivity, up to the stage.
“He’s got more courage than I have,” Trump said of Koslov.
Deport ‘foreign jihad sympathizers’
Perhaps the loudest applause of the night came when Trump said that he would deport “foreign jihad sympathizers,” as well as strip universities of their accreditation and federal funding unless their administrators put a stop to “antisemitic propaganda.”
(The federal government does not directly control university accreditation but approves independent accreditation agencies.)
“If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, we will throw you out of our country so fast your head will spin,” he said.
The organizers of Thursday’s event said more than 3,000 people were in attendance—the majority of whom seemed to be enthusiastic Trump supporters—with a strong Israeli presence.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and CEO of the American Jewish Committee Ted Deutch, previously a representative for the state of Florida, were among the elected and Jewish leaders in attendance at Thursday’s summit.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who made a surprise late-evening appearance at the conference, noted in his brief remarks that Israel might be one of the few issues he and attendees would agree on.
“Politically, I’m a Democrat, but I’m very, very, very much all about standing with Israel,” Fetterman said. “I’m known as going into red [i.e., Republican] areas and rooms or whatever, and just to talk and have a conversation.
“I’m not asking ‘who are you voting for in 2024?’” he added. “Perhaps some of you are on a different ‘team’ politically, but I’m absolutely on your team, Israel.”
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