From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Trump cheered in prerecorded video address to Michigan synagogue about antisemitism
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US President Donald Trump addressed a Michigan synagogue by video last night as part of an event orchestrated by Leo Terrell, chair of his administration’s task force for combating antisemitism, and the right-leaning Zionist Organization of America.
Trump’s greeting, which was prerecorded, was met with applause from the estimated 500 Jews who had come to Congregation Shaarey Zedek, a Conservative synagogue in the Detroit suburbs, amid a pivotal Senate election in the state between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a harsh critic of Israel, that has prompted deep anxieties among its Jewish population.
Trump told the crowd that Terrell “speaks for our country” and “speaks for a lot of people, a lot of people that love Israel but really, more than anything else, they don’t want to see false and inaccurate statements made about this horrible subject of antisemitism.”
The event was billed as the first stop on Terrell’s “American Tour Against Hate” and was staged by the US Justice Department, while also serving as a fundraiser and booster for ZOA. Attendees were handed donation forms for ZOA’s Michigan chapter. The organization’s national director, Mort Klein, is close with Terrell and said he intends to participate in all future stops on the tour.
Several other Trump officials, including Terrell and US Attorney General Todd Blanche, would address the crowd over the course of the night to emphasize the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism.
The Times of Israel Community.