Donald Trump again says American Jews ‘don’t love Israel enough’ and more should have voted for him
(JTA) — Donald Trump is still trying to figure out why more American Jews didn’t vote for him, arguing in a haredi Orthodox magazine interview this week that they “don’t love Israel enough” and the Israel-related moves he made as president should have earned him a larger share of the Jewish vote.
“You know what really surprised me?” Trump told Ami Magazine. “I did the Heights, I did Jerusalem, and I did Iran — the Iran Deal was a disaster, right? And I also did many other things. Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you? I’m not talking about Orthodox Jews. I believe we got 25% of the Jewish vote, and it doesn’t make sense. It just seems strange to me.”
Trump referred to his decisions to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel’s government loathes.
Exit polls election night found Trump scored between 21% and 30.5% of the Jewish vote. He is also correct that an overwhelming majority of Orthodox Jews voted for him.
Jewish groups slammed Trump in 2019 after he said that Jews were disloyal for voting for Democrats and doubling down on the claim.
The post Donald Trump again says American Jews ‘don’t love Israel enough’ and more should have voted for him appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
