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Donald Trump (on March 2nd)
Photo: Erik S. Lesser / EPA
It is not the first time that Donald Trump has targeted Jewish fellow citizens in the USA.
But the sharpness of his most recent statements still makes people sit up and take notice - and causes equally unmistakable reactions.
Trump's statements, reported by the Washington Post among others, were made in an interview with his hard-right ex-advisor Sebastian Gorka.
He asked Trump for a reaction to Chuck Schumer.
Schumer, Democratic majority leader in the US Senate, had sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called on the country to hold new elections.
Trump now said about the Democratic Party: "I think that they hate Israel." He also suggested that the Democrats would probably speculate on votes among the opponents of the Israel-Gaza war in the USA.
Trump then said the following sentences: “Every Jewish person who votes for the Democrats hates their religion.
They hate everything about Israel and should be ashamed because Israel will be destroyed.”
The reactions from the democratic camp are clear.
"The only person who should be ashamed is Donald Trump," said a spokesman for the campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice Kamala Harris.
A White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, spoke of “disgusting and disturbing anti-Semitism” – without mentioning Trump by name.
Trump hopes for another term in office in the fall
The chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, which campaigns against the defamation of Jews in the USA, also spoke out.
“To suggest that Jews hate their religion just because they vote for a particular party is denigrating and fundamentally false,” said Jonathan Greenblatt.
Trump wants to run for the Republican presidential election at the beginning of November and move into the White House for a second term.
He can't hope for too many Jewish voters, as they clearly lean towards the Democrats.
President Biden's US government has actually been supporting Netanyahu's Israeli leadership since the beginning of the war.
However, Biden appears to be becoming more impatient.
After he recently - presumably - unintentionally vented his frustration with Netanyahu, he made it clear in an interview with the US broadcaster MSNBC last week.
“I want to see a ceasefire, starting with a major prisoner exchange.
For a period of six weeks,” Biden said.
He has spoken to the majority of Arab heads of state and government, "from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Jordan, everyone is ready to fully recognize Israel and begin rebuilding the region."
yikes