Historian Andrew Apostolou argues that despite its justified fear over antisemitism, American Jewry must not be seduced by President Trump’s apparent commitment to fight Jew-hatred. Such promises, he contends, are at odds with Trump’s prior record as an enabler of antisemitism and are intended ‘as cover for racism against other minorities and the dismantlement of the rule of law.’ Against this threat to democracy, American Jewish organisations must stand firm in opposition, Apostolou argues.
President Donald J. Trump has anointed himself the protector of America’s Jews. Justified fear of antisemitism makes the offer tempting to some. However, his record of exploiting antisemitism should make American Jews wary. Trump’s actions have little to do with repelling the recent wave of antisemitic hatred. Rather, he seeks to use Jews as cover for racism against other minorities and the dismantlement of the rule of law. Trump is copying the approach of Hungary and Turkey by making Jews a specially protected group, while he vilifies others.
TREASON OF THE UNIVERSITIES
American Jews come to the debate on antisemitism betrayed by sections of US society, particularly academia. The Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and the subsequent upsurge in domestic antisemitism, shocked American Jews. They have not forgotten how self-proclaimed pro-Palestinian groups celebrated the massacre and the hostage taking.[1] They experienced or heard about the hate, harassment, and violence inflicted on Jewish students and staff.[2] University administrations, which had been unequivocal in their prior denunciations of racism and incitement to violence, seemed less than forthright when confronting antisemitism after 7 October.
The problem is deeper than university administrators. Academics have provided succour to the antisemites and those who use Israel as a cover for their hatred of Jews.[3] Instead of studying Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination, even those researching Jewish and Israeli topics have turned it into a caricature. During the previous Gaza war in May 2021, ‘Scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies’ proclaimed that ‘the Zionist movement, a diverse set of linked ethnonationalist ideologies, also was and is still shaped by settler colonial paradigms.’[4] Actually, Zionism, like Palestinian nationalism, began in the Ottoman Empire.[5] These academics’ ahistorical disparagement of Zionism would have surprised the first Zionist thinker, Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai (1798-1878), who was born in Sarajevo in the Ottoman Empire. Along with religious inspiration, a major influence on Alkalai’s Zionism was the national awakening in the Balkans, such as the Greek (1821) and Serb (1804) risings against the Ottomans.[6] There was every reason for Rabbi Alkalai and his fellow Jews, who called themselves the nasyon yisraelita (Israelite nation), to seek freedom, not colonialism.
TRUMP’S OFFER
Unsurprisingly, Trump and the Republicans reaped political benefit from their loud denunciation of university antisemitism. There was a small movement toward Trump among Jewish voters during the November 2024 election. On the most generous polling, Trump won 36 per cent of the Jewish vote in 2024, compared to 30 per cent in 2020.[7] According to one pre-election survey, Kamala Harris was at a disadvantage compared to Donald Trump on the issues of ‘Security, Israel, and antisemitism.’[8] Some Americans Jews worried about antisemitic attitudes in the Democratic Party.[9] Americans told Gallup in 2024 that they were more concerned about antisemitism than they had been in the previous relevant poll back in 2003.[10]
Once in office, Trump seemed to move quickly against antisemitism in academia. The president declared: ‘I will be your defender, your protector.’[11] He issued a 29 January 2025 executive order,[12] which threatened to deport foreign residents, or students, in the US for supporting terrorism. Already the US government has cancelled over 1,000 student visas,[13] along with some high-profile detentions of foreign students. Trump’s Department of Education informed 60 universities that they were under investigation over antisemitism on campus.[14] The US government has threatened over $6 billion in federal funding to universities.[15] The White House is seeking to remove Harvard’s tax-exempt status after the university refused to bow to Trump’s orders.[16]
TRUMP’S ANTISEMITIC RECORD
Many of these actions are illegal and unconstitutional. They also lack credibility coming from a man who consorts with antisemites and encourages it when politically convenient. Since entering electoral politics, Trump has solicited the extreme, antisemitic right. During his first Republican presidential campaign, Trump said on 13 October 2016 that Hillary Clinton held secret meetings ‘with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.’[17] After the ADL expressed mild concern,[18] Trump clarified the identity of these ‘global financial powers’ by featuring three prominent Jews in finance in a closing campaign ad.[19]
Steve Bannon, who guided Trump strategically and ideologically, accepted that antisemites would participate in the Trump movement. Bannon argued that such elements always accompanied a ‘revolution.’ They would, Bannon claimed, eventually be ‘washed out’ – meaning that they were useful but dirty.[20] Bannon spent most of 2017 as Trump’s chief strategist in the White House.
Trump was notably cautious after the violence in Charlottesville in August 2017, when the extreme right chanted ‘the Jews will not replace us.’[21] He eventually condemned the neo-Nazis. Trump, however, claimed there were ‘fine people’ among the other extreme right elements.[22] During a 2020 presidential debate, he told the Proud Boys, an extremist, antisemitic militia, to ‘stand back and stand by.’[23] The Proud Boys then participated in the attempt to overthrow the election on 6 January 2021.
Out of office, the flirtation with antisemites continued. In November 2022, Trump dined with antisemites Kanye West and Nick Fuentes at Mar-A-Lago.[24]
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump put pressure on American Jews, while portraying himself as a defender of Israel. In a speech to the Israeli American Council on 19 September 2024, Trump said that ‘the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40 per cent’ [of the Jewish vote].[25] He also claimed that a Jewish family controlled The New York Times (the chairman of the Times is an Episcopalian). Speaking after his victory on 6 November 2024, Trump thanked previously pro-Democrat groups for their support. He pointedly ignored Jews.[26] To confirm it was no accident, Trump failed to mention Jews during his inaugural address on January 20, 2025.[27] Despite the pro-Trump sycophancy from the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump is communicating that he has no great love of Jews.[28]
Since taking office, Trump and his allies have promoted antisemitism when it suits them. The president disparaged Senator Chuck Schumer’s Jewish identity, claiming that the New York politician had become ‘Palestinian.’[29] The notion that Trump determines who counts as a Jew echoes the antisemitic mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger (1844-1910), who famously declared ‘Wer ein Jud’ ist, bestimme ich!’ (I decide who is a Jew!).[30] Trump’s special government employee, Elon Musk, told an event of the Alternativ für Deutschland (AFD), Germany’s hard right party, that ‘There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.’[31] Similarly, Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, denounced Germany’s domestic intelligence agency after it formally labelled the AfD as right wing extremist. With U.S. encouragement the Federal Republic of Germany had created institutions, such as its domestic intelligence service, to protect it from radical movements. These bodies seek to prevent the emergence of parties which echo the Nazis. Musk and Rubio’s words were music to the ears of those who wish to forget the Third Reich and its crimes.
DANGEROUS AUTOCRATIC LIAISONS
Worse, Trump’s approach resembles the Jewish policies of the autocrats who govern Hungary and Turkey – nominally protecting Jews while weakening civil society. Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, have turned their respective Jewish communities into a state political asset. They simultaneously oppose and promote antisemitism, using their apparent protection of Jews as a shield behind which they repress other groups.
Like Trump’s America, Hungary and Turkey ostentatiously shield Jews. They provide physical security for schools, synagogues, and other Jewish communal spaces. Hungary boasts of its record on Jewish safety.[32] Similarly, there is little anti-Jewish violence in Turkey. However, Orbán and Erdoğan govern through threats and oppression. Anybody they perceive as an opponent cannot thrive economically.
Like Hungarian and Turkish Jews, US Jews are now told their safety is a state priority – unlike the wellbeing of other communities. The political message of these authoritarians is that antisemitism is unacceptable, but all other forms of bigotry are just fine. That is the reverse of the extreme left position, expressed by the Democratic Socialists of America, that allows antisemitism masquerading as criticism of Israel, while anathematising all other racisms.[33]
So, while the US government targets universities supposedly to protect Jews, it demeans other minorities and women. Trump blamed the 29 January 2025 plane crash on ‘diversity,’[34] code for minorities getting jobs previously reserved for white men. The US armed forces, once an engine of integration, are forsaking efforts to recruit African Americans.[35] The US Department of Defense has removed material on the achievements of women and African Americans from its websites, thereby making anti-Black racism and misogyny acceptable again.[36] Perhaps the most sinister official act was an executive order that criticised the Smithsonian museum for denying the ‘biological reality’ of race.[37]
Similarly, Hungary routinely discriminates against its Roma minority[38] and has banned the Pride parade.[39] The Turkish government commemorates the Holocaust but suppresses mention of the Ottoman genocide of the Armenians, calls LBGT a ‘plague,’[40] and routinely imprisons activists for Kurdish rights.[41] The Hungarian and Turkish administrations expect gratitude and support from their Jewish communities.[42]
The US now resembles Hungary and Turkey in its antisemitism policy. Formally, these authoritarian regimes reject antisemitism. Orbán says there is ‘zero tolerance on antisemitism.’[43] Erdoğan has more than once[44] called antisemitism ‘a crime against humanity.’[45] Simultaneously, these autocrats encourage antisemitic rhetoric for domestic political gain. Orbán has a long running campaign against George Soros. The Hungarian government does not overtly refer to Soros as a Jew, but everybody gets the message.[46] US Republicans now routinely repeat that anti-Soros rhetoric.[47] Erdoğan has made extreme statements about Israel,[48] invoked the Torah to accuse Israel of murder,[49] supported Hamas,[50] and called on God to destroy Israel.[51]
TRUMP AGAINST DEMOCRACY
Trump’s anti-democratic agenda taints the justified battle against antisemitism. As Prof. David Hirsh has argued, anti-democratic populism and antisemitism complement each other.[52] The administration regards the presidency as an elected autocracy that does not have to follow the courts.[53] Demolishing democratic norms and the law does not defeat antisemitism nor liberate Jews from its threat, it makes it worse.
As worrying, Trump’s bid to protect American Jews could backfire on the community. That is because it will create the impression that Jews are privileged courtesy of an administration that ignores the constitution and the law. If Jews were to accept Trump’s protection, while he disdains African Americans and other minorities, that would create a deep sense of injustice. It would isolate Jews from other minorities and definitively sunder the coalition that brought Jews into the political mainstream.[54]
STIFFEN THE MACHERS
Although American Jews are in a substantially stronger position than Jewish communities in Hungary and Turkey, non-partisan Jewish leaders have been cautious.[55] Some Jewish groups may find the offer of protection appealing, although the source is appalling. A non-political statement opposing the US government approach referenced the false choice between ‘confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy.’[56] Yet even this rejection of Trump conspicuously failed to mention his racism against other groups.
Like others, Jewish organisations may fear Trump’s vindictiveness. Starting before Trump’s election victory in November 2024, and even before his inauguration, some media outlets engaged in ‘anticipatory obedience.’[57] Some of the largest law firms in the US have acquiesced to Trump’s demands for free legal services and an end to diversity initiatives.[58]
What outweighs the risk of Trump’s bile is what could be lost. The US constitution and rule of law have bestowed considerable benefits upon American Jews. They enjoy freedoms unknown to other diaspora communities. The establishment clause means that although numerically a minority, American Jews do not have minority status like Jews elsewhere.[59] The constitutional prohibition on an established religion and censorship provides American Jews with complete religious freedom. The rule of law and the insulation of the tax authorities from political direction mean that American Jewish organisations operate without government interference in terms of belief or advocacy. Trump threatens all these rights and liberties.
Instead of treading carefully, Jewish leaders should be brave. There is peril, but waiting for others to reject Trump first is hazardous. American Jewish leaders should therefore denounce in equal measure Trump’s racism and authoritarian exploitation of antisemitism. They can draw inspiration from Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, a foremost Jewish leader from the 1960s to the 1990s. In November 1967, Hertzberg demanded that his congregants not vote Republican because of that party’s racism in local elections.[60]
American Jews can defy Trump through the successful politics of building alliances with other groups. Historically, Jews in the Old World relied upon the good will of the ruler, often to protect them from the hostility of the mob.[61] Such an approach would not work in the United States. The US constitution recognises the danger and necessity of power. There is a federal system that divides power between the three, co-equal branches of government, mandates regular elections, and subjects all elements of power to scrutiny. Jews adjusted to that system, cultivating relations with the government and civil society. American Jews worked with African Americans to further civil rights, and with Evangelical Christians to support Israel.
American Jewish groups need to be blunt: the US government cannot defeat antisemitism with the stroke of a pen, particularly one that undermines democracy and the rule of law. Instead, the state and society[62] must recognise that antisemitism is anti-democratic and corrosive.[63] You cannot repel antisemitism with the echoes of Jim Crow. It is the duty of Jewish leaders to say so.
Andrew Apostolou is a historian of the Holocaust in Greece and a writer on contemporary Jewish affairs.
—
[1] https://www.chronicle.com/article/pro-palestinian-student-groups-use-of-this-image-is-drawing-outrage-heres-where-it-came-from
[2] https://www.columbia.edu/content/report-2-task-force-antisemitism, https://abc7chicago.com/post/person-interest-custody-attack-2-jewish-depaul-university-students-lincoln-park-campus-chicago-police/16185868/ , https://www.wsj.com/opinion/why-im-leaving-clark-university-academic-freedom-israel-hamas-9a59061c
[3] https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.26613/jca/2.2.30/html?lang=en
[4] https://israelpalestinejs.weebly.com/#:~:text=acknowledge%20that%20the-,Zionist,-movement%2C%20a%20diverse
[5] Muhammad Y. Muslih, The Origins of Palestinian Nationalism, New York, Columbia University Press, Institute for Palestine Studies series, 1988.
[6] Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader (With a New Afterword by Arthur Hertzberg), Jewish Publication Society, 1997, page 103.
[7] https://www.jta.org/2024/12/04/politics/almost-one-month-after-election-day-heres-what-we-know-about-how-jews-voted#:~:text=The%20Cooperative%20Election%20Study%20out%20of%20Harvard%20University%20found%20that%20this%20year%2C%20Harris%20beat%20Trump%20among%20Jews%2063%25%20to%2036%25%2C%20a%2027%2Dpoint%20spread.%20In%202020%2C%20the%20poll%20found%20that%20Jews%20voted%20for%20Biden%20over%20Trump%2069%25%20to%2030%25%2C%20a%2039%2Dpoint%20difference.%C2%A0
[8] https://manhattan.institute/article/survey-analysis-of-political-and-policy-preferences-of-2024-jewish-electorate#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSecurity%2C%20Israel%2C%20and%20antisemitism%E2%80%9D%20are%20Harris%E2%80%99s%20weakest%20issue%20relative%20to%20former%20President%20Donald%20Trump%20among%20Jewish%20voters
[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/us/politics/jewish-democrats-antisemitism.html
[10] https://news.gallup.com/poll/646469/americans-show-heightened-concern-antisemitism.aspx#:~:text=Americans%20are%20much,somewhat%20serious%20problem
[11] https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-takes-forceful-and-unprecedented-steps-to-combat-anti-semitism
[12] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/additional-measures-to-combat-anti-semitism
[13] https://apnews.com/article/international-student-f1-visa-revoked-college-f12320b435b6bf9cf723f1e8eb8c67ae
[14] https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-sends-letters-60-universities-under-investigation-antisemitic-discrimination-and-harassment
[15] https://apnews.com/article/harvard-trump-federal-cuts-universities-protests-8fa92331b2780394ea171b0b32d5d243 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-administration-irate-at-harvard-will-pull-additional-1-billion-in-funding-8c209113
[16] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/16/trump-harvard-tax-exempt-irs
[17] https://politicalresearch.org/2018/01/12/steve-bannons-washed-out-antisemitism
[18] https://www.npr.org/2016/10/18/498441990/jewish-leaders-concerned-trump-fuels-anti-semitic-rhetoric
[19] https://www.c-span.org/program/vignette/trump-presidential-campaign-ad/459948
[20] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/this-is-how-steve-bannon-sees-the-entire-world
[21] https://www.vox.com/2017/8/12/16138906/president-trump-remarks-condemning-violence-on-many-sides-charlottesville-rally
[22] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/28/what-trump-said-with-his-very-fine-people-comments-vs-what-he-meant/
[23] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIHhB1ZMV_o
[24] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/25/trump-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-kanye-00070825
[25] https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2024/former-president-trump-remarks-at-israeli-american-council-conference/649107
[26] https://www.jta.org/2024/11/06/politics/donald-trump-thanked-a-historic-coalition-for-his-election-he-didnt-include-jews
[27] https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address
[28] https://www.rjchq.org/coleman_dayenu_reflecting_on_president_trump_s_historic_achievements
[29] ‘And Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yb1dyIKv4c&t=111s
[30] https://ww1.habsburger.net/de/kapitel/wer-ein-jud-ist-das-bestimme-ich
[31] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/25/elon-musk-makes-surprise-appearance-at-afd-event-in-eastern-germany
[32] https://abouthungary.hu/news-in-brief/deputy-pm-jewish-community-can-live-safely-in-hungary
[33] https://fathomjournal.org/the-democratic-socialists-of-america-just-endorsed-ethnic-murder/
[34] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhzpUQ0XFoo
[35] https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/10/military-drops-recruiting-efforts-prestigious-black-engineering-awards-event.html
[36] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/air-force-erases-first-female-thunderbird-pilot-s-achievements-from-websites/ar-AA1D0kTn https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/war-heroes-gay-plane-images-flagged-removal-pentagons-dei-purge-rcna195344
[37] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/#:~:text=The%20exhibit%20further%20claims%20that%20%E2%80%9Csculpture%20has%20been%20a%20powerful%20tool%20in%20promoting%20scientific%20racism%E2%80%9D%20and%20promotes%20the%20view%20that%20race%20is%20not%20a%20biological%20reality%20but%20a%20social%20construct%2C%20stating%20%E2%80%9CRace%20is%20a%20human%20invention.%E2%80%9D
[38] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/hungary#915045
[39] https://apnews.com/article/hungary-pride-ban-amendment-orban-gay-rights-lgbtq-155ec12cbbde7cc6be0f96adb323de77
[40] https://www.duvarenglish.com/erdogan-likens-lgbti-community-to-a-plague-vows-to-take-measures-against-news-65595
[41] https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/05/16/turkiye-kurdish-politicians-convicted-unjust-mass-trial
[42] https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/turkish-jews-defend-erdogan-from-antisemitism-allegation-by-us-state-department; https://www.budapesttimes.hu/hungary/jews-are-grateful-to-hungary
[43] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22423812
[44] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/10/03/bush-backs-turkeys-entry-to-eu-span-classbankheadmeeting-with-prime-minister-also-covers-extremism-middle-eastspan/bb861030-00df-4e25-88c4-a6a658e66001
[45] https://washington-emb.mfa.gov.tr/Mission/ShowAnnouncement/115908
[46] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40554844
[47] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/us/politics/george-soros-bragg-trump.html
[48] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/prime-minister-erdogans-zionism-comments-isolate-him-and-his-country
[49] https://www.haaretz.com/2010-06-04/ty-article/erdogan-tells-israel-in-hebrew-thou-shalt-not-kill/0000017f-da7f-d718-a5ff-faff58380000
[50] https://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-not-allowed-as-erdogan-praises-hamas-antisemitism-rages-in-turkey
[51] ‘Rabbim siyonist İsrail’i ‘Kahhar’ ismi şerifi hürmetine kahru perişan eylesin.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi_JOkwAMcA
[52] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-antisemitism-and-populism-go-hand-in-hand
[53] https://apnews.com/article/trump-judiciary-musk-separation-of-powers-balance-checks-069c169ea1ddf6eea76f502d544c4c16
[54] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/how-donald-trump-threatens-american-jews-2/#:~:text=Politically%2C%20American%20Jews,members%20of%20Congress
[55] https://jewishinsider.com/2025/03/jewish-groups-celebrate-action-on-campus-antisemitism-but-emphasize-need-for-due-process, https://jewishinsider.com/2025/03/trump-universities-illegal-protests-antisemitism-campus-federal-funding, https://www.jta.org/2025/01/30/politics/trumps-order-on-antisemitism-suggests-deporting-non-citizen-campus-activists-dividing-jewish-groups
[56] https://jewishpublicaffairs.org/press-release/jewishcommunalstatement/#:~:text=At%20the%20same%20time%2C%20we%20firmly%20reject%20the%20false%20choice%20between%20confronting%20antisemitism%20and%20upholding%20democracy.
[57] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/anticipatory-obedience-newspapers-endorsement-refusal, https://apnews.com/article/abc-trump-lawsuit-defamation-stephanopoulos-04aea8663310af39ae2a85f4c1a56d68, https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5279570/meta-trump-settlement-facebook-instagram-suspensions, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/media-donald-trump-paramount-disney-meta
[58] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/politics/law-firms-deals-trump.html, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J_bcoMqt46L05As7GN4ZqH4j6XKeI-Dm4ytJPRFtrwo/edit?gid=287708862#gid=287708862
[59] https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/#:~:text=Congress%20shall%20make%20no%20law%20respecting%20an%20establishment%20of%20religion%2C%20or%20prohibiting%20the%20free%20exercise%20thereof
[60] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/11/05/121517380.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
[61] I am grateful to Calev Ben-Dor for this observation.
[62] https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identity/race/racism/69051/this-is-how-we-fight-antisemitism
[63] https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-antisemitism-and-populism-go-hand-in-hand/?_gl=1*iqm83d*_ga*MTMzODI3MDg2Ni4xNjg4NTUzNDE4*_ga_RJR2XWQR34*MTc0MTgyNzY2OS4yNzkuMS4xNzQxODI3NzQ0LjAuMC4w#:~:text=It%20is%20not%20accidental%20that%20antisemitism%20is%20making%20a%20comeback%20as%20populism%20elbows%20its%20way%20back%20into%20mainstream%20politics.%20This%20fact%20is%20hugely%20consequential%2C%20not%20only%20for%20Jews%20but%20for%20anybody%20who%20wants%20to%20participate%20in%20the%20defence%20of%20democratic%20life.
