Trump Claims Jewish Democrats ‘Hate Their Religion,’ Says ‘They Should Be Ashamed of Themselves’

Asked about Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s (D., N.Y.) recent call for a new Israeli government that would entertain peace talks with Hamas, former president Donald Trump said in a Monday interview that Jewish Americans who support the Democratic party hate themselves and the Jewish state.

Trump appeared on former campaign aide Sebastian Gorka’s radio show and responded to the criticism from Democrats towards Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., is leading the charge against Netanyahu and last week called for new elections in Israel.

“I really believe they hate Israel,” Trump said. “I think it’s votes more than anything else because [Schumer] was very pro-Israel. He’s anti-Israel now.”

“Any Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel, they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed,” Trump added.

His remarks were quickly condemned by President Joe Biden’s campaign and Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who called Trump’s remarks “defamatory” and “false.”

“The only person who should be ashamed here is Donald Trump,” the Biden campaign said in a statement. “Donald Trump openly demeans Jewish Americans and reportedly thinks Adolph 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.'”

Nearly two-thirds, 62 percent, of Jewish Americans view President Biden favorably, a much higher figure than the 37 percent of Americans who hold a favorable opinion of Biden, according to Pew Research data released last week. Only 21 percent of Jewish Americans have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to the 39 percent of Americans who view Trump favorably.

Trump has mostly refrained from commenting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. On Sunday, he called for the war to end quickly and urged Israel to finish the job.

“You have to finish it up and do it quickly and get back to the world of peace. We need peace in the world…we need peace in the Middle East,” Trump said on Fox News’s MediaBuzz. Earlier this month, Trump said Israel should “finish the problem” and asserted that Hamas’s invasion would not have happened under his leadership. When war broke out between Israel and Hamas in October following Hamas’s mass slaughter of Israeli civilians, Trump touted his record on Israel after initially criticizing the Israeli government.

The Trump administration negotiated the historic Abraham Accords peace agreement between Israel and some of its adversaries in the Middle East by circumventing the Palestinian question and not allowing it to hinder negotiations. Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, brokered the deal and helped spearhead he administration’s broader pro-Israel approach.