President Trump will speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s (RJC) annual leadership conference next month in Las Vegas, the group announced Friday.
Recently, Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats of being anti-Semitic for the party’s stance on Israel and how House lawmakers dealt with the fallout over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) controversial comments regarding pro-Israel lobbying groups.
{mosads}“From tearing up the Iran deal, to moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, to fighting the rise of anti-Semitism, to — most recently — recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the strategic Golan Heights, President Trump has been a great friend of America’s Jewish community,” RJC National Chairman and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) said in a statement.
“His actions in office have strengthened the bonds between the US and Israel, to the benefit of both countries, something that is very meaningful to the Jewish community and to all Americans who proudly support Israel. We are thrilled to welcome him to our meeting.”
Trump has touted his administration’s efforts to tighten the U.S.-Israel relationship, raising eyebrows on Thursday when he reversed decades of foreign policy and said the U.S. should recognize Israeli sovereignty of the Golan Heights, which it wrested from Syria in 1967.
The president also bashed Democrats as “anti-Jewish” after at least eight 2020 presidential candidates announced they will not attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference in Washington.
“I don’t know what’s happened to them but they are totally anti-Israel,” Trump told reporters Friday. “Frankly, I think they’re anti-Jewish.”
The comments were the president’s latest effort to make Israel a wedge issue between Republicans and Democrats ahead of the 2020 election.
While support for Israel has enjoyed a bipartisan consensus for decades, Democrats were pushed into a messy debate over their support for the state after a handful of freshman Democrats brought harsh criticisms of Israel with them to Capitol Hill and the party’s progressive flank began demanding more accountability for Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Trump spoke to the RJC in 2015, where he sparked controversy by telling its members, “Look, I’m a negotiator like you folks; we’re negotiators,” and telling them they would likely not support him in the GOP presidential primary because he wasn’t interested in accepting their money.