Trump’s MSG rally includes pledges to defend Israel — and draws accusations of anti-Semitism
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Trump’s MSG rally includes pledges to defend Israel — and draws accusations of anti-Semitism

This year’s presidential campaign, more than any in recent memory, has been filled with debates about Israel, anti-Semitism, and the Jewish voice — and Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden was no exception.

It featured an anti-Semitic joke, a speaker who recently skewered a Holocaust denier, and the kind of nativist rhetoric that has historically scared off Jewish voters.

“America is for Americans and Americans only!” exclaimed Stephen Miller, the Jewish architect of Trump’s immigration policy. A comedian compared Puerto Rico to an island of floating garbage and joked about Jews and money. Speakers railed against immigrants and called Kamala Harris the “antichrist,” among other epithets.

Before the event, Democrats likened it to the infamous 1939 Nazi rally in the same arenaand while it was going on, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, said there was “a direct parallel” between the two meetings. Some viewers shared the impression.

“I despise comparisons to the Nazis and the Holocaust, but I really felt shades of 1939 when I watched clips from today: crowds at MSG cheering the most insane and racist and unpatriotic bullshit under the flag of ‘America First,'” tweeted the Jewish comedian Alex Edelman, who has recently worked for Harris.

Jewish Trump supporters disagree: Far from being a Nazi-style gathering, they say, the rally boasted Jews in the stands and on stage in the nation’s most Jewish city. Speakers throughout the night pledged to defend Israel. Orthodox Jews sang Hasidic songs as they waited to enter. Conservative radio host Dave Rubin tweeted a picture of an Israeli flag in the crowd.

“This flag could never be displayed at a Kamala rally because her base is a bunch of Israel hating, America hating lunatics,” he wrote. “So stop with that MSG Nazi rally bulls….”

In his speech in a speech on Sunday night, Trump sounded familiar tones, vowing as he has throughout his campaign to never allow a repeat of the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

“If you don’t have a president who understands that, if you don’t have a president who is respected by the other side — and they respected us four years ago, they really respected us, Iran was broke, they had no money,” Trump said. “Israel, October 7th, would never ever have happened, would never have happened, all these people would be alive right now, the people who were killed on that horrible day.”

Other speakers also said Trump would be better positioned than Harris to protect Israel. Howard Lutnick, the financier who co-chairs Trump’s transition team and who is a major donor to causes in Israelmade the case in stark terms.

“We must elect Donald J. Trump as president because we must crush jihad!” Lutnick said, pumping his fist.

Rudy Giuliani, the scandal-plagued former New York mayor who served as Trump’s lawyer, compared the Oct. 7 invasion to Sept. 11, 2001 — the attack that thrust him into a hot national spotlight.

“Sept. 11 was our darkest hour, Oct. 7 was Israel’s darkest hour — they are our best friend,” said Giuliani, who previously had close ties to pro-Israel activists. He cited an alleged quote from President Ronald Reagan: “We must always be there for Israel, as they are always there for us.”

Sid Rosenberg, a Jewish talk radio host, mocked Democrats in profane terms, including Hillary Clinton, the nominee Trump defeated in 2016, who had compared the event to the 1939 rally.

“I just got back from Israel about two weeks ago. I come back and they say, ‘Sid, do you want to talk about this with MSG?’ only in Israel,’ but I took the gig,” he joked. “She’s a sick motherfucker, that Hillary Clinton, huh? What a sick son of ab—h. The whole f—ing party, a bunch of degenerates, lowlifes, Jew-haters and lowlifes.”

The far-right voices that have hailed Trump since he began his political career, and that he has never fully rejected, were also prominently in evidence. A keynote speaker was Tucker Carlson, talk show host and top Trump ally who has questioned defense aid to Israel, shouted a holocaust denierand drew criticism from Jewish groups for engaging in anti-Semitic tropes himself.

(Carlson did not mention Jews or Israel but mocked Harris’ ethnicity, calling her a “Samoan Malaysian low-IQ former California prosecutor.” Harris is black and South Asian.)

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a former graduate student at Harvard Divinity School who sued the school over the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hostility he said he endured on campus after Oct. 7, and who has become the face of disaffected Jewish Democrats who now support Trump, told The Belaaz, an orthodox outletthat he had backed away from participating in the demonstration because of Carlson, who he said was a “major threat to the Jewish community.”

And a set by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who made headlines for likens Puerto Rico to an island of floating garbagealso contained a joke about Jews and Palestinians.

“It’s amazing what’s happening right now,” Hinchcliffe said. “Ukraine vs. Russia, Israel vs. Palestine, it’s like bad football games, who even cares, what are we doing, why is our money involved in these wars?” The crowd erupted in cheers.

Hinchcliffe continued, “When it comes to Israel and Palestine, we all think the same thing, settle your affairs already, best of three, rock, paper, scissors,” he said. “You know the Palestinians will throw stones every time. You also know the Jews have a hard time throwing that paper, you know what I’m saying!”

The Trump campaign dismissed Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Ricans, saying it “does not reflect President Trump’s views on the campaign.”

But Democrats said the rally made their case for them, noting that another speaker likened Harris to a prostitute and a childhood friend of Trump called Harris the “antichrist” while brandishing a crucifix.

“Trump’s MAGA Square Garden Rally Makes Hitler’s Rally There Look Like a Basket Weaving Convention.” said California Rep. Eric Swalwellattached to his tweet a video of Hinchcliffe’s comments.

The Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish group that calls out anti-Semitism and hatred and has criticized Carlson extensively, condemned the offensive jokes — but did not directly name Trump or Hinchcliffe.

“Political rallies should be about policy and politics, not offensive jokes denigrating Jews, Palestinians, Puerto Ricans and other marginalized groups,” the ADL tweeted.

“At a moment when hatred has risen and when tensions are high, there is no place for bigotry or intolerance on the campaign trail, period,” the ADL added. “We expect more and hope for better in these last days before the election.”

At least one liberal Jewish group took issue with the ADL’s omission of Trump’s name.

“This was a Trump rally,” the liberal Israel lobby J Street wrote in a response to the ADL tweet. This violent, bigoted rhetoric is part of his MAGA movement and must be called out immediately. Organizations that claim to represent Jews and fight anti-Semitism *must* be willing to name and condemn the leaders of this hate-driven movement.”