So, let’s start at the beginning. Barak Ravid, an Israeli journalist and Axios contributor, has been teasing excerpts of interviews he conducted with Donald Trump for a new book on the former president’s efforts to bring about peace in the Middle East. During his time in office, Trump was a stalwart ally with Israel on just about every important geopolitical issue, and had a chummy personal relationship with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But last Friday, we learned that Trump has cut ties to Netanyahu for his decision to congratulate Joe Biden on winning the presidency, which is the sort of thing a normal world leader is supposed to do. “He was very early — like, earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since. Fuck him,” Trump said. An F-bomb! Amazing. He also suggested Netanyahu never really wanted to make a peace deal with the Palestinians—”I think he just tapped us along. Just tap, tap, tap, you know?”—and that he had expected Israel to be more involved in the U.S. assassination of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani (though how is a bit unclear.)
All of this has unsurprisingly caused a bit of a stir among Israelis and U.S. conservatives, many of whom still feel a deep loyalty to Netanyahu. But let’s leave all that aside. Because it turns out that Trump also shared some thoughts about America’s Jews and their relationship to Israel during his chats with Ravid. Among them: He argues that American Jews “no longer love Israel” as much as evangelical voters, that Israel “used to have absolute power over Congress” but now it’s “the exact opposite,” and that the New York Times, which he incorrectly suggests is owned by Jews, “hates” Israel. (The Sulzberger family famously has Jewish lineage, but the paper’s last publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., was raised Presbyterian. His son now runs the paper.)
via slade: Donald Trump Shared Some Thoughts About “the Jews”