Former President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Vice President Kamala Harris has done “absolutely nothing” to combat the astonishing rise in anti-Semitism, and challenged the Democratic candidate to “reject the support of all Hamas supporters” who support his campaign.
“Despite presiding over this explosion of anti-Semitism, Kamala Harris has done nothing,” the 78-year-old Republican candidate said in his remarks at a “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America” event in Washington DC.
“He hasn't lifted a finger to protect you, protect your children, or even protect you with words,” Trump added.
The former president accused Harris of expressing sympathy for anti-Israel protesters. Camps set up on college campuses across the country, reportedly Jewish students were terrorized earlier this year.
“Kamala Harris said radical protestors on college campuses were saying 'This is what human emotions are supposed to be like.' That's their message,” Trump said.
The GOP candidate was referring to an interview the vice president gave in July. “Nation,” In which he said that the people disrupting the campus were “demonstrating exactly what should be a humane response to Gaza.”
Harris added that “some of the protesters are saying things that I totally disapprove of” but that she “understands the sentiment behind it.”
Trump called the vice president's message “dangerous” and “inappropriate” for a presidential candidate.
“I urge Kamala Harris to officially renounce support for Hamas sympathizers, anti-Semites, and Israel haters on college campuses and everywhere else,” he said.
“She's not going to do that. You know that. She's not going to do that,” Trump told the crowd.
The event was hosted by Miriam Adelson, co-owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and widow of GOP megadonor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson praised Trump during his introduction, calling him “a president who keeps his promises.”
He praised Trump for moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognising the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, cancelling the Iran nuclear deal and negotiating the Abraham Accords during his first term.
“Trump does what’s right — plain and simple,” Adelson said.
During his speech, the former president lamented that despite the accomplishments Adelson pointed out, Jewish Americans “still vote for Democrats.”
“I'm sorry to say, you're still going to vote for Democrats. And that doesn't mean anything,” Trump said.
He argued that, “Any Jewish person who votes for him or the Democratic Party should have his brain examined”, suggesting that American Jews vote for Democrats out of “habit”.
“Despite everything I've done for Israel, I only got 24% of the Jewish (vote),” Trump said, referring to the 2016 election.
He said his support among Jewish voters rose to 29% in 2020 and is currently at around 40%. Trump argued that he should be “100%” with Jewish voters.
Trump vowed that if he were elected, “vile anti-Semitism, pro-Hamas bigotry and hatred will be pushed back and crushed.”
“This will be a bright new day for the Jewish community in America,” he said.
The former president further promised that “in his first week back in the Oval Office” he would take steps to strip universities that promote “anti-Semitic propaganda”; enforce civil rights laws when Jewish students are harassed or threatened on college campuses; and ban the resettlement of refugees from “terror-affected areas such as the Gaza Strip.”
