WASHINGTON — The White House criticized former President Donald Trump on Monday for telling American Jews over the weekend to "get their act together" and "appreciate" Israel "before it is too late."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing that Trump’s comments on his Truth Social website were "antisemitic" and "insulting" both to "Jews and to our Israeli allies."
"For years now, Donald Trump has aligned with extremist and antisemitic figures," she said.
Trump, who has frequently described American Jews in relation to Israel and argued that he deserves more political support for having moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, wrote Sunday: "No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S."
Jewish organizations swiftly criticized Trump’s comments, which leaned on a trope that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.S.
"These are dangerous comments at a dangerous time," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in an interview Monday with MSNBC. "He has been invoking antisemitic tropes for years about Jewish power, about Jewish greed, about dual loyalty."
The White House has in the past been reluctant to respond directly to inflammatory comments by Trump. But Jean-Pierre said Monday that antisemitism and hateful speech "should be called out."
"We need to root out antisemitism everywhere it rears its ugly head," she said. "We need to call this out."
Jean-Pierre also said the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is "ironclad," describing it as being rooted in "shared values and interests."
"Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understand that, either," she said.
NBC News has asked a Trump spokesperson for comment.
