Former President Donald Trump declared on Saturday night that there has never been a more dangerous time for Jews in the United States since the Holocaust.
The Republican presidential candidate made the comments at a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he claimed Vice President Kamala Harris did not choose Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate because he is Jewish.
“They turned him down because he’s Jewish,” Trump told a packed crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.
“They rejected him for other reasons, but the main reason was that he was Jewish,” the former president continued, “and the Jews who voted for him were [Harris] Or Democrats need to go out and get their heads examined.”
“What’s happening to Israel and the Jewish people? There has never been a more dangerous time to be a Jew living in America since the Holocaust,” he said.
After Harris was selected, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said “anti-Semitism did not influence the decision,” denying claims that she was not selected because of her faith.
So far A surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes Violence has been rampant across the country since Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 that have killed around 1,200 Israelis and brought the fierce war in the Gaza Strip into its 10th month.
New York City in particular has seen a worrying spike in anti-Semitic incidents, with 30 anti-Semitic crimes investigated by the NYPD’s hate crimes unit in July alone, compared with 45 crimes targeting Jews in June.
According to the most recent data available, 229 anti-Semitic hate crimes have been reported to the NYPD so far this year through Aug. 4. By the same time last year, just 126 such incidents were reported.
Last week, a hate-filled Citi Bike rider committed a hate crime attack on a 70-year-old man in Central Park, calling the elderly man walking his daughter’s dog a “fucking Jewish pig” and threatening to kill him before punching him multiple times.
The war in Gaza has sparked widespread protests across the country, notably on numerous university campuses last spring, which led to hundreds of arrests.
In New York City, anti-Israel protesters take to the streets of Manhattan almost every week, often disrupting the city’s main transportation system.
“The most prominent form of hatred we’ve seen in New York City since Oct. 7 has been, overwhelmingly, Jew-hatred,” Michelle Ahdoot, communications director for the group End Jewish Hatred, told The Post last month.
“Almost every day we see groups of radical Hamas supporters marching through the streets waving Hamas flags and calling for the genocide of Jews. We don’t feel safe,” she added.
