Donald Trump’s Jewish Outreach Chief Hails ‘Historic’ Victory — Won’t Address Anti-Semitism

By Nathan Guttman November 9, 2016

Donald Trump’s Jewish outreach chief hailed his “historic” victory and vowed that President Trump would be Israel’s “greatest friend” — but refused to address the anti-Semitism that appreared during the bitter campaign.

“All I saw across America was fantastic support, support from pro-Israel voters (and) support from the American Jewish community,” said David Peyman, the Trump adviser. “We saw a groundswell of support. It’s been a fantastic night.”

Peyman brushed aside exit polls suggesting that Jewish voters backed Democrat Hillary Clinton by a better than 2-1 margin.

He vowed that Trump would be a strong friend of Israel.

“President Trump has been very clear that he supports Israel as one of our best friends and strongest allies,” he said. “He will protect Israel at the UN and recognize Jerusalem as the capital.”

“Israel has not had a greater friend than Donald Trump, President Trump,” he added.

Peyman refused to address the question of anti-Semitism during the campaign. Trump’s critics accused him of stoking age-old hatred of Jews with tropes and thinly veiled references to Jewish power — and white supremacists and neo-Nazi ‘alt-right’ figures backed him strongly.

He dismissed such concerns as “negativity.”

“It’s a beautiful night, a historic night,” he said.

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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