Trump criticizes Jewish Democrats as he attacks Biden over threat to withhold U.S. weapons to Israel

Former President Donald Trump said in an interview Thursday that he “wouldn’t do what Biden did” with regard to Israel policy, as he responded to President Joe Biden’s Wednesday comments about pausing weapons shipments to Israel if its military invaded Rafah.

Trump also invoked a dual loyalty trope and redoubled recent comments criticizing Jewish Democrats in an interview with North Carolina’s Spectrum News 1, saying “if you’re a Jewish person, just don’t vote for Biden” because “you’re really hurting your country. He is totally gone on the other side now. He’s gone — he’s dropped Israel.”

“If you’re Jewish, and you vote for him, I say shame on you,” Trump continued.

Trump has made similar comments in recent months, drawing backlash, including saying in April that Jewish Democrats “should be spoken to.” In 2019, he said that Jewish Democrats were “very disloyal to Israel.”

Trump’s latest remarks came in response to Biden’s statement in an interview with CNN that the U.S. would stop sending offensive weapons to Israel if its forces invade Rafah.

“Well, I wouldn’t do what Biden did. He just abandoned Israel. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said in the Thursday interview when asked if he would tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there is a limit to Israel’s war efforts. 

When asked directly if he was okay with Israel invading Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where over 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, Trump responded: “They have to get the job done. Look, they were viciously attacked on October 7. They had scenes that nobody’s ever seen.” 

Trump has maintained similar aggressive messaging on Israel’s military efforts, routinely saying at campaign rallies that Israel has to “finish the job.” The former president’s has also claimed when discussing the Israel-Hamas war is to assert it would have never happened if he were still in the White House because of his relationships with foreign leaders.  

“Well, I said they should get the job over with fast, fast, they’ll have to make their own solution, but they have to get this job over with fast and get it done because the world is blowing up around them. So they have to get the job done fast,” Trump said in a Tuesday interview with Pennsylvania’s WGAL.