On Sunday morning, former President Donald Trump criticized “US Jews” for not being more “appreciative” of his support for Israel.
In the post on his platform Truth Social, he warned: “US Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!”
While Trump did not elaborate on his threat, world famous pianist Igor Levit, himself the target of anti-Semitic death threats, retweeted an image of Trump’s post with the caption, “Before it is too late.”
“No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump declared. “Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the US.”
Trump has consistently polled poorly with American Jews, especially among the working class and younger sections who do not share his affinity for Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people or his fascistic politics.
Trump boasted, “Those living in Israel, though, are a different story--Highest approval rating in the World.” He claimed he could “easily be P.M.!”
Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, responded to Trump’s attack on Twitter, writing, “Nothing to see here. Just a former US president using threatening language about American Jews at a time when antisemitism is on a global rise.”
Last week in Bondi, Australia, neo-Nazi fliers were distributed throughout the Jewish neighborhood, with a QR code and instructions for only “white” people to scan it. If scanned, the code takes users to the National Socialist Network, an Australian fascist group.
The Australian Jewish News reported that in the nearby suburb of Rose Bay during the same week the fliers were distributed, “parents were confronted with a Nazi swastika found drawn on a wall outside a Jewish-run daycare.”
Responding to Trump’s threat on Sunday, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in statement, “We don’t need the former president, who curries favor with extremists and anti-Semites, to lecture us about the US-Israel relationship.”
In September, the ADL released a report titled “Hate in the Sunshine State: Extremism & Antisemitism in Florida, 2020-2022.” The report noted that from January 2020 to August 2022, the ADL Center on Extremism “recorded over 400 instances of white supremacist propaganda distribution in Florida.” It added that “Ninety-five of these incidents” featured “antisemitic language or symbols, targeted Jewish institutions, or both.”
The study also reported that in Florida, “antisemitic hate crimes have risen 300 percent since 2012.”
This shocking rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes has taken place in part under fascistic Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who took office in January of 2019 and has sought to position himself as a more polished 2024 presidential alternative to Trump. DeSantis has refused to denounce neo-Nazi elements operating in his state.
Trump’s threat against “US Jews” is the latest in a series of openly anti-Semitic statements by Republican politicians and operatives in recent weeks.
In September, Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano attacked his Jewish Democratic opponent, Josh Shapiro, for sending his children to Jewish parochial schools, which he called “elite” and “privileged.”
Less than three weeks later, prior to bringing Mastriano onstage at an October 1 rally, Jack Posobiec, a Republican operative, January 6 conspirator and acolyte of Roger Stone, told the audience, “Just like Josh Shapiro, its all about power. Power for them. At the end of the day, it’s money and power... these scumbags.”
Invoking fascist conspiracy theories that Jewish people control the world, Posobiec spoke of a “dark alliance” between “Josh Shapiro and politicians like him.” He claimed that Shapiro and others want to “take minors... from the foster system” and put them in a “program for gender transition therapy.”
A week later at a “Save America” rally in Mesa, Arizona, self-identified Christian nationalist and QAnon adherent Marjorie Taylor Greene incited political violence and invoked the neo-Nazi “Replacement Theory.” This fascist doctrine, repeated frequently on right-wing talk radio and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson show, argues that politicians or activists who defend immigrants are part of a Jewish-communist plot to “replace” White Christians with “inferior stock” from Africa, South America and Asia.
In her speech, Greene said that “Joe Biden’s five million illegals are on the verge of replacing you... your jobs, and replacing your kids in school… they are also replacing your culture.”
Another Trump acolyte, Ye (formerly Kanye West) has taken to spewing anti-Semitic filth on a regular basis. The pro-Trump rapper sat down with Tucker Carlson for a multi-hour interview earlier this month, during which he said, “I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering.”
That Trump and the “Make America Great Again” movement are increasingly promoting overt anti Semitism is a significant expression of the transformation of the Republican Party into a fascist organization.