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Trump: Jewish leaders ‘lack loyalty’ and should be ‘ashamed’
(JTA) — Former President Donald Trump said Jewish leaders “lack loyalty” and “should be ashamed of themselves,” his latest broadside against the American Jewish community, this time because of criticism of his dinner with two prominent antisemitic figures.
“How quickly Jewish Leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, President for Israel,” Trump said Friday on his social media platform Truth Social before making it an official statement under his campaign for the 2024 presidency. “They should be ashamed of themselves. This lack of loyalty to their greatest friends and allies is why large numbers in Congress, and so many others, have stopped giving support to Israel.”
This is not the first time Trump has accused American Jews of being disloyal, but in the past he has said they were not loyal enough to Israel, not other “greatest friends.” Calling out “Jewish leaders” instead of Jewish Democratic voters also is a new point of rhetoric.
In 2019, Trump said that any Jew who votes for a Democrat shows “a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”
The statement comes less than three weeks after a dinner Trump held with Nick Fuentes, who questions the Holocaust and is labeled a white supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League, and Kanye West, the rapper who now goes by Ye and who has for months peddled a persistent stream of antisemitic invective.
Mainstream Jewish groups have lambasted Trump, but so have Republicans, including a number of Jewish Republicans who were close to him and defended him in the past.
Trump’s post was attached to an op-ed by Wayne Allyn Root, an evangelical Christian who was born Jewish and who defended Trump in 2019, the first time the former president said Jews were disloyal.
In the op-ed, which appeared on various right-wing platforms, Root as he has in the past emphasizes his Jewish roots: “Let me start with a disclaimer: I’m a Jew.” Root repeats arguments Trump has advanced in his defense of the West-Fuentes meeting: that the former president is more supportive of Israel than Democrats are, that West is an old friend who was in trouble and that he did not know who Fuentes was.
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The post Trump: Jewish leaders ‘lack loyalty’ and should be ‘ashamed’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.