LAS VEGAS – Former President Trump suggested that he could win up to half of the Jewish vote in the 2024 election as he criticized Jewish Americans who don’t support him in his showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re probably around the 50 percent mark,” Trump said on Thursday in live-streamed comments as he addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And the former president and GOP nominee claimed, without evidence, that Israel “will no longer exist” if Harris wins the White House in November’s election.
Trump addressed the group of Republican Jewish leaders, donors, and activists, days after the bodies of six Israeli hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recovered in Gaza. The hostages were taken by Hamas last October during an attack on Israel that ignited the eleven-month-long war in Gaza.
TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH
Former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, gives live-streamed comments to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 5, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The Harris campaign, responding to Trump’s address, pointed to the former president’s past criticism of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating Biden on his 2020 election victory over Trump.
“Donald Trump has made it obvious he would turn on Israel in a moment if it suited his personal interests, and in fact he has done so in the past,” Harris national security spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein wrote in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Vice President has been incredibly clear: She has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people.”
ELECTION SEASON STARTS A LOT EARLIER THAN YOU THINK
While supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself, President Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained during the current war. On Monday, the president said he didn’t think the Israeli leader was doing enough to help foster a hostage deal with Hamas.
The vice president has aimed to balance her support for Israel – which she spotlighted last month during her address at the Democratic National Convention – with her acknowledgment of the high civilian death toll caused by Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. While Republicans are unified in support of Israel, many progressives in the Democratic Party have been vocal in their…
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