(Las Vegas) – Former US President Donald Trump promised, on Saturday, on the occasion of the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting, to reinstate his controversial immigration decree targeting Islamic countries if he is elected again.
At the beginning of his term in 2017, he banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and initially also Iraq and Sudan).
The measure was quickly challenged in court until Joe Biden overturned it during his first week in office in 2021, but it remained popular with Donald Trump’s supporters.
“Remember the entry ban? One day, I will reimpose the entry ban,” Trump said, vowing to keep “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the United States.
The RJC meeting, an annual event at which conservative contenders for the Oval Office traditionally seek financial support, is of particular importance to the American Jewish community, which was traumatized by the Hamas attack that left 1,400 people dead in Israel on October 7.
It is a way to underscore the expectation of explicit and unequivocal support for Israel, at a time when the Israeli response to Gaza is intensifying: the bombings left more than 8,000 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, according to the ministry’s latest report on Hamas’ health.
The eight leading candidates for the Republican nomination are scheduled to speak over the weekend, and those who have already done so have thrown their support behind Israel. Among them is Donald Trump, who is leading in opinion polls, and his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“The United States stands completely with Israel,” Mr. Trump, the most favored candidate at the event, speaking of “the battle between civilization and barbarism,” said.
“The United Nations is connected to the cities of Israel in their mission to ensure that the Hamas are close and all of them are affected by the fire.”, at the end of the day, they promised to defend Israel, “However, this person does not do anything” .
In recent weeks, the former president sparked controversy in particular when he said that Hezbollah, Israel’s enemy in Lebanon and Hamas’ Islamist ally, was “very smart.”
Big issue
Trump’s other rivals have also declared their unwavering support for Israel.
At the RJC meeting, Ron DeSantis called the Hamas attack “the deadliest attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Photography by Steve Marcus/Reuters
Ron DeSantis
Earlier in the week, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the only woman in the presidential race, promised to act against anti-Semitism by focusing on the debates the conflict is currently sparking on American college campuses.
“As president, I will amend the official federal definition of anti-Semitism to include denial of Israel’s right to exist, and I will strip schools of their tax exemption if they do not combat anti-Semitism in all its forms, consistent with federal law,” she said.
“We need cultural chemotherapy to fight this cancer,” Senator and candidate Tim Scott said during the RJC, while Mr. DeSantis promised to cancel the visas of students demonstrating for Palestine.
Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, announced his arrival at the event. “His participation underscores his commitment to solidarity with the people of Israel and the American Jewish community,” organizers welcomed on X (formerly Twitter).
Security has been beefed up around this weekend’s meeting, especially as organizers expect to welcome a larger number of participants than usual.
In addition to their speeches, the Republican candidates participated in prayers and eulogies for the Israeli victims of Hamas attacks.
Support for Israel is a major issue for both political parties in the United States, and a rare foreign policy issue capable of generating change at the ballot box, thanks in part to the large number of Jewish voters.
It is also an important issue among evangelical Christian voters, who view the establishment of a Jewish state as an essential precondition for the hoped-for “second coming” of Jesus Christ.
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