Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Did Trump Invoke Dual Loyalty By Calling Bibi ‘Your Prime Minister’?

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.

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.”

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

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.