Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Holocaust Survivor Who Cheated Death In Pittsburgh Shooting Is Pro-Trump

Holocaust survivor Judah Samet said he doesn’t believe President Trump’s harsh rhetoric bears the blame of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, where 11 people were killed at prayer, the Washington Post reported.

Samet narrowly avoided the shooting — he was four minutes late to morning services at the Tree of Life Congregation on Saturday, enough time for officers to stop in him the parking lot, the Forward reported.

He expressed fear at the rise in anti-Semitism and white nationalist groups but said he doesn’t think Trump is responsible for inciting the violence, according to the Post. In fact, he supports the president.

“I don’t fall in love with people, except my family, but I love him for what he’s doing,” Samet told the post.

He continued: “Our economy is fantastic. Obama was a jerk and hated Israel.”

Samet was born in Hungary and turned 8 years old in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, the Forward reported. Nevertheless, he told the Post that he was unfazed by Trump calling himself a nationalist last week and his criticism of globalism, two historically anti-Semitic terms. The same goes for Trump’s promotion of conspiracy theory about George Soros, a liberal philanthropist and fellow Hungarian Jew.

“Is he a nationalist? To me, America comes first,” Samet said. “Israel is important, but since I’ve been living here all this time, I’m very patriotic.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.