Watch: Trump Says Jewish Voters Who Pick Biden Over Him Should Be 'Ashamed of Themselves'
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
Former President Donald Trump criticized American Jews who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 on May 9 — a day after President Joe Biden threatened to withhold military aid to Israel.
Biden told CNN on the night of May 8 that he would withhold any munitions from the Jewish state if he believed they would be used to invade the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Outside of a Manhattan courthouse on the morning of May 9 — during another day of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “hush money” trial accusing him of financial crimes — Trump addressed Biden and Jewish voters who support the Democratic Party, The Washington Post reported.
“What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful,” the former president and 2024 presumptive Republican nominee said.
“If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump continued. “He’s totally abandoned Israel, and nobody can believe it.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful. If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves. He’s totally abandoned Israel.” pic.twitter.com/lw9qw5daPh
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 9, 2024
Trump then implied Biden had taken the stance he had on withholding aid to Israel in order to appease factions of the left that are sympathetic to Hamas.
“I guess [Biden] feels good about it because he did it as a political decision,” Trump said. “You have to do the right decision, not the political decision. But he did a very bad thing.”
“Why Jewish people vote for Democrats is beyond me,” Trump also said, according to Spectrum News. “I think maybe they’ll change their mind, but they’ve been wedded to Democrats for you know, for 50 years, probably more than that. And there’s been no president has ever done anything close to what I’ve done for Israel.”
Trump also laid into some universities for allowing pro-Palestinian takeovers on their campuses, which he described as “like an armed camp.”
“Your problem is from the left, it’s not from the right,” Trump said. “Big problem from the left. It’s from within — from within our country.”
Biden has been slow to condemn threats Jewish students have faced at universities such as Columbia in New York.
He told CNN’s Erin Burnett on May 8 that under his watch, he would ensure Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system is stocked, but he would not assist the Israeli Defense Forces as they attempt to destroy remnants of Hamas in Rafah.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” Biden said.
The IDF has since entered Rafah.
Israel has been at war with Hamas since last October, when militants staged a series of terror attacks from Gaza which resulted in the murders of at least 1,200 of its citizens.
Israel’s war is a political landmine for Democrats — including Biden — as anti-Israel protesters have accused the IDF and the U.S. of committing genocide in Gaza.
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