Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Saturday that Jews in the United States face the greatest threat since World War II.
“What is happening with Israel and the Jewish people is that there has never been a more dangerous time for Jews in America since the Holocaust,” the former president told his supporters at a rally in Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania.
He made similar remarks on Thursday at an event on “Fighting Anti-Semitism” with Miriam Adelson at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“What is happening now is exactly what happened before the Holocaust,” he said.
The New Jersey event, which featured prominent Jewish supporters, came on the day the Trump team launched an initiative to target Jewish voters.
The former president announced the creation of Jewish Voices for Trump, which the Republican campaign describes as “a coalition of thought leaders, business leaders, former government officials, authors, opinion leaders and members of the Jewish community.”
According to the group’s mission statement, it aims to combat “radical anti-Semitism.”
“While the world has descended into chaos with (presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala) Harris, President Trump and his Abraham Accords have broken new ground in regional stability, not just for Israel but for the entire world,” it said.
At the rally in Wilkes-Barre, Trump also accused his opponent of not nominating the governor of the Keystone State, Josh Shapiro, as her running mate because he is Jewish. Shapiro denied this accusation.
“They rejected him because he’s Jewish,” Trump said. “They rejected him for other reasons, but the main reason is that he’s Jewish.”
During his nearly two-hour campaign rally at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza, Trump also said: “Any Jew who votes for (Harris) or any Democrat needs to go out and have their head examined.”
At the event in New Jersey, Trump claimed: “Instead of aggressively confronting these vicious anti-Semites in her party, Kamala Harris has stolen their support.”
Pennsylvania is a key swing state where there is fierce competition for the 19 Electoral College votes. The latest New York Times/Siena and Quinnipiac polls show a slight lead for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, announced in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Trump nominated Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate last month at the Republican convention in Milwaukee. The Democratic convention will be held Monday through Thursday in Chicago.
The swing states also include Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.
Trump’s comments come at a time when anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the United States and around the world since October 7. According to the “Antisemitism Worldwide 2023” report released on May 1 by Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League, last year saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents ever recorded by the ADL in the United States.
Anti-Semitism is widespread on university campuses, and pro-Hamas rallies have included calls for the genocide of the Jews.
In the United States, the ADL recorded 7,523 incidents in 2023, compared to 3,697 in 2022. The number of assaults increased from 111 in 2022 to 161 in 2023, according to the ADL, and the number of vandalism incidents increased from 1,288 to 2,106.
In New York, the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, the New York Police Department recorded 325 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023, compared to 261 in 2022.
In Los Angeles, the city’s police recorded 165 anti-Semitic incidents (compared to 86 the previous year), and in Chicago, 50 (compared to 39 the previous year).
