Trump addresses IAC after vowing to be ‘best friend Jewish Americans ever had’ at donor event

Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is now addressing the Israeli American Council. He is introduced by Miriam Adelson, a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” Trump says during an earlier donor event in Washington, titled “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America.”

“But in all fairness, I already am,” Trump added.

Trump also has been criticized for his association with extremists who spew antisemitic rhetoric such as far-right activist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. And when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed Trump in 2016, Trump responded in a CNN interview that he knew “nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists.”

But during his four years in office Trump approved a series of policy changes long sought by many advocates of Israel, such as moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

In his remarks, Trump criticized Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and for what he calls antisemitic protests on college campuses and elsewhere.

“Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a single finger to protect you or to protect your children,” Trump said. He also repeats a talking point that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”

Trump’s comments denouncing antisemitism come hours after an explosive CNN report detailed how one of his allies running for North Carolina governor made a series of racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”