Did Trump Invoke Dual Loyalty By Calling Bibi ‘Your Prime Minister’?
Donald Trump Image by Getty Images
President Trump seemed to be confused about who he was addressing at the Republican Jewish Coalition over the weekend.
He appeared to refer to the crowd of American Jewish Republicans as Israelis, even noting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “your prime minister,” Business Insider reported.
Speaking to the American Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump refers to Bibi Netanyahu as “your prime minister” pic.twitter.com/rAv4MrxyBt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2019
Trump also was indignant over Democrats’ policies, which he viewed as anti-Israel.
“Democrats are advancing the most extreme partisan agenda by far in American history … people aren’t fighting for Israel in Congress,” Trump said. “If implemented, the Democrats’ radical agenda would destroy our economy, cripple our country, and very well could leave Israel out there all by yourselves. Can’t do that.”
Trump admits that his decision to recognize the Golan Heights as a part of Israel was completely impulsive and even surprised the US ambassador pic.twitter.com/DHwvNiJxW9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2019
Some viewed the remark as the suggestion of dual loyalty, the anti-Semitic trope that accuses non-Israeli Jews of being more loyal to Israel than the country they were born in, according to The Intercept. This comes a few weeks after Trump condemned Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar for making comments that seemed to accuse Jews of dual loyalty.
Netanyahu for his part has compared Trump to Cyrus the Great, Lord Balfour, and Harry Truman, according to Business Insider.
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters in Brooklyn as Columbia library takeover fallout continues
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters in Brooklyn as Columbia library takeover fallout continues
-
Opinion This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.