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In a speech Thursday billed as former President Donald Trump’s answer to rising antisemitism, he said Jews would bear much of the responsibility if he loses the presidential election. 

And in a second speech later in the evening, to the Israeli American Council, Trump elaborated on his past assertions in recent weeks that Israel would not survive if he doesn’t win in November, by painting a doomsday scenario in which Iran launches nuclear weapons and invoking the Holocaust.

“The Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said during the first speech of the evening, an hour long address at an event called “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” organized with GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill.

“You can’t let this happen,” he told his largely Jewish audience. 

Trump in recent weeks has offended many Jews by questioning their mental health for voting for Democrats — as most Jews do — and predicting Israel’s demise should Harris win. But Thursday night’s comments seem to represent an escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, in that he singled out Jewish Americans — who represent only about 2% of the electorate — as a significant reason he might lose the election, one whose results he has never pledged to accept. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said after the speech that Trump’s remarks endanger Jews.

“Treating Jews and Israel as political footballs makes Jews, Israel, and all of us less safe,” she said in a statement. “Dividing Jews into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ camps and engaging in dual loyalty tropes further normalizes antisemitism.”

“Anyone who cares about Jewish safety should call it out,” she added. “This is not partisan politics — it’s about the fundamental safety of the Jewish community.”

How it started, how it went

The Trump campaign had described his first speech of the evening as an opportunity for the former president to speak to a group of “Jewish leaders from all walks of life” about rising antisemitism. 

Trump outlined his plan to protect Jewish students by cutting funds to universities that fail to protect them. He said he would take tough measures to seal the border, and ban immigration from countries that foment terrorism.

“I’m here today to tell the Jewish American community that this ugly tide of antisemitic, pro-Hamas bigotry and hate will be turned back and crushed starting at noon on Jan. 20, 2025,” he said, referencing inauguration day.

Pro-Israel Jews, he continued, have an important role in assuring that he can carry out his plan. “You have to defeat Kamala Harris more than any other people on Earth,” he said, seemingly conflating American and Israeli Jews. “Israel, I believe, has to defeat her.” 

“And if not,” he added, “Israel will be eradicated.” 

Reached for comment, the Harris campaign provided a statement she gave in response to Trump’s speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition earlier this month. “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.”

The statement also described Harris as a fast friend of Israel: “She has been a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel as a secure, democratic homeland for the Jewish people. She has an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel and will always stand up for its right to defend itself.”

‘40% is not acceptable’

Trump often talks about his support for Israel in transactional terms, suggesting Israelis owe him loyalty in return. Many Israelis appreciate how, in his first term, Trump relocated the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s control over the Golan Heights, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and brokered the Abraham Accords. 

And while his complaints about American Jews voting for Democrats have grown common in recent weeks, the theme is not new. After the 2020 presidential election, in which 77% of Jewish voters chose President Joe Biden, Trump accused them of ingratitude.

On Thursday, he repeated that assertion. “I really haven’t been treated very well,” he said. “After having done all of that, having been the best president, the greatest president, by far.”

And he returned to his refrain that Jews supporting Harris “should have their head examined.”

This time, however, Trump said, without presenting evidence, that 40% of American Jews support him. (A poll sponsored by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, showed Harris with a 68% to 25% lead among Jewish voters, and a Pew Research Center poll showed 34% of American Jews supporting Trump.)

“That means you got 60% voting for somebody that hates Israel,” he said. “It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let this happen — 40% is not acceptable, because we have an election to win.” 

A second speech, a Holocaust comparison

Later in the evening, Trump also addressed the annual summit of the Israeli American Council at the Washington Hilton, and claimed without evidence that a Harris win would mean the end of Israel, with Iran targeting it with nuclear and ballistic missiles.

“If we continue down our current path, with four more years of Kamala, Israel will be faced not just with an attack, but with total annihilation,” Trump told the crowd. “Total annihilation, that’s what you’re talking about. You have a big protector in me. You don’t have a protector on the other side.” 

He asked the audience: “Can you imagine that a non-Israeli election is the single most important election that Israel will ever have?” and compared the months before the election to the period before the Holocaust.

“You’re under attack like never before,” he said. “There’s a very great similarity.”

Adelson, the widow of GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, who has committed to spend more than $100 million to boost Trump’s presidential bid, also helped organize the second event of the night.

Introducing Trump, she described him as the only possible choice for those who care about Israel.

At a time when the Middle East is in chaos and the Jewish state is fighting for its survival, she said, American Jews “should already have made up their mind on whom to vote for in November: Donald Trump.”