Former President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Vice President Kamala Harris of doing “absolutely nothing” to combat an alarming surge in anti-Semitism and called on the Democratic candidate to “disavow the support of all Hamas supporters” who back his campaign.
“Kamala Harris has led this explosion of anti-Semitism and yet has done absolutely nothing,” the 78-year-old Republican candidate said in a speech at the “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America” event in Washington DC.
“She hasn't lifted a finger to protect you or your children or even to protect you with her words,” Trump continued.
The former president criticized Harris for expressing sympathy for anti-Israel protesters who set up encampments on college campuses across the country earlier this year and allegedly terrorized Jewish students.
“Kamala Harris said that the radical protesters on college campuses are 'this is how human emotions should be,' and that's her message,” Trump said.
The Republican candidate was referring to an interview the vice president conducted in July. “The Nation” In it, she said those disrupting the campus were “exhibiting exactly what human emotion should be in response to Gaza.”
Harris added that while “some of the protesters have views that I absolutely reject,” she added:[s] It’s the emotion behind it.”
Trump called the vice president's message “dangerous” and “unbecoming of a presidential candidate.”
“I call on Kamala Harris to publicly disavow her support for Hamas sympathizers, anti-Semites and Israel-haters on college campuses and everywhere else,” he said.
“She wouldn't do that. You all know that. She wouldn't do that,” Trump told the crowd.
The event was hosted by Miriam Adelson, co-owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, Republican megadonor and widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson praised Trump during his introduction, calling him a “president who keeps his promises.”
She praised Trump for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, abandoning the Iran nuclear deal and negotiating the landmark Abraham Accords during his first term.
“Trump is doing the right thing, plain and simple,” Adelson said.
Throughout his speech, the former president lamented that despite Adelson's list of accomplishments, Jewish Americans “still vote Democrat.”
“As much as it pains me to say this, you're still going to vote Democrat,” Trump said, “and that doesn't make sense.”
“She and any Jew who votes for a Democrat should have their heads examined,” he argued, suggesting that American Jews vote Democrat out of “habit.”
“For all that I have done for Israel, I have received only 24% of what the Jewish people get. [vote]” Trump said, referring to the 2016 election.
Trump noted that his approval rating among Jewish voters grew to 29% in 2020 and now stands at about 40%, and argued that his approval rating with Jewish voters “should be 100%.”
Trump vowed that if elected, “the ugly anti-Semitism, pro-Hamas bigotry and hatred will be stopped and defeated.”
“This will be a bright new day for the American Jewish community,” he said.
The former president also promised that during his “first week back in the Oval Office,” he would withhold accreditation and federal funding from universities that promote “anti-Semitic propaganda,” “enforce civil rights laws when Jewish students are harassed or intimidated on college campuses,” and ban the resettlement of refugees from “terror-ridden areas like the Gaza Strip.”
