WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s prediction in September about the likelihood that Jews could determine the 2024 election ignited strong reactions from Jews across religious denominations.
“If I don’t win this election…in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” the President said at an American-Israeli Council event to combat antisemitism.
When Trump made the comment at the summit, some Jewish voters’ ears perked up. Others didn’t.
Jews disagree about whether some in the Trump administration, including the President himself, embrace and encourage antisemitism. The division within Jewish opinion stems from Trump’s record of delivering on the priorities of certain Jews.
Jonathan Ungar said that Trump had made a similar comment at a private event Ungar attended in Deal, New Jersey. For Ungar and like-minded Jewish voters, Trump’s declaration was a hyperbolic statement with a tinge of truth. To Ungar, Trump was not accusing Jews, who often largely vote for Democrats, of potentially costing him the election.
“His point is that with all he has done and would do in the future, we should be united behind him,” Ungar said.
Trump returned to office with greater support from Jews than he enjoyed in 2020. Although polls varied, a Harvard survey found that Trump enjoyed a 12-point increase in Jewish votes compared to his defeat by President Joe Biden.
Discord within the Jewish community was amplified post October 7. Adela Cojab, a legal fellow at the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said that some people on both sides of the political spectrum engage in antisemitism.
In the past, many Jews readily identified right-wing antisemitism, but Jews disputed whether anti-Zionism from liberals constituted antisemitism, according to religious leaders and historians.
“The difference between right-wing and left-wing antisemitism is that when we see right-wing antisemitism, we call it out,” said Cojab.
She challenged anyone to cite specific antisemitic actions by Trump officials. “People who say that there’s antisemitism in the Trump’s administration, point it to me.”
However, many Jews assert that Trump’s administration has engaged in antisemitic rhetoric but has faced very little reproach from the Jewish community at large because of the President’s staunch alignment with Israel.
After Elon Musk, the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, stuck out his arm with a flat hand on Inauguration Day, some people said the gesture resembled a Nazi salute. One month later, far-right extremist Steve Bannon displayed a similar gesture during one of his speeches.
“The Nazi salutes are the most ubiquitous signal to antisemitic neo-Nazis. Those salutes are welcomed and embraced by extremists, and that’s enough to concern me,” said Stacy Burdett, who was raised in an Orthodox community and now practices Judaism across various denominations. “I’m a supporter of Israel. I am glad that there are American leaders who are supporters of Israel, but that doesn’t negate your obligation to stand up against antisemitism.”
Burdett said she is also concerned about Musk and Vice President JD Vance’s support for a right-wing extremist political party in Germany.
“Our Vice President meeting with today’s German version of the Nazi Party is one of the biggest endorsements I can think of for Nazi ideas and xenophobia,” she said.
From the outset of his second term, Trump has put diplomacy with Israel and support for Zionism at the forefront of his agenda. On the campaign trail, Trump promised he would be “the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.” In January, Trump enacted an executive order to bolster efforts to combat antisemitism, which led to Columbia University losing $400 million in federal grants. Trump also threatened that “all hell will break out” unless Hamas released all hostages still held in Gaza.
“When we have big support, a big hug with the State of Israel, all over the world everyone understands that they cannot attack the Jews,” Israeli politician Israel Ganz said. “When you support Israel, you support the Jews all over the world. You cannot disconnect this connection.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D – NY), who identifies as a Zionist, emphasized that someone can support Israel but still advance anti-Jewish sentiments.
Torres said he, too, worried about the Jewish community’s ties with Trump given Trump’s connections with far-right extremists, such as conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. Torres expressed concern about Carlson’s sit-down with podcaster Darryl Cooper, who said that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was the “chief villain of the Second World War,” rather than Adolf Hitler.
“We have to be consistent. The fight against antisemitism has to transcend tribalism and partisan politics,” Torres said. “If you refuse to speak out against antisemitism in your own ideological backyard, then you’re not part of the solution; you’re part of the problem.”
Kevin Rachlin, a director at the Nexus Leadership Project who testified at a March 5 Senate hearing on combating antisemitism, shared similar concerns about how Trump’s rhetoric emboldens antisemites. He said the extremist ideologies circulated by Trump and his allies during his first year in office was a factor that caused the 2018 Pittsburgh shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.
“The relative silence of too many of our politicians normalizes hate and emboldens those animated by antisemitic ideas,” Rachlin said.
Other Jews, however, cite Trump’s first term in office as proof of his support of the Jewish community. During his first four years, Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal, moved the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognized Israel as having sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Trump also facilitated the Abraham Accords, the first Arab-Israeli peace agreement in about 26 years.
At the Judiciary Committee’s hearing, ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D – Ill.) condemned Trump’s pardons of specific January 6 rioters who “openly embrace violent antisemitism.” Some of them wore clothing exhibiting Nazi slogans and made statements revering Hitler. Durbin emphasized that Interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who was appointed by Trump, called one Nazi sympathizer “an extraordinary man, an extraordinary leader.”
Across the political spectrum, many Jews expressed dismay that Jews disagree about antisemitism in the Trump administration. However, Alyza Lewin, who is the president of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said that debate is part of Jewish tradition.
“We believe in discussing and challenging thoughts and ideas, and I think that that strengthens us,” Lewin said. “Yes, we will always have Jews who think differently about the issues. At bottom, though, what is absolutely essential for Jewish unity is for us to all recognize we’re all part of the Jewish people.”
