Donald Trump has claimed that Jewish people who live in the US simply "don't love Israel enough."
In a recent interview with Ami Magazine, the former POTUS spoke about how his loss of the 2020 US Presidential election was down to Jewish people not caring about Israel enough to vote for him.
Referring to a number of key policy decisions of his administration, Trump stated:
"You know what really surprised me? I did the Heights, I did Jerusalem, and I did Iran—the Iran Deal was a disaster, right? And I also did many other things.
"Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you? I’m not talking about Orthodox Jews.
"I believe we got 25% of the Jewish vote, and it doesn’t make sense. It just seems strange to me. But I did very well in Florida. I did great in Florida."
Trump has previously drawn criticism for suggesting that American Jews should base their political decisions solely on the Israel/Palestine conflict, and insinuating that American Jews should automatically be loyal to Israel.
According to The Times of Israel, at a 2018 White House Hanukkah party, Trump told a number of Jewish-American people: "I want to thank Vice President Mike Pence. A tremendous supporter. A tremendous supporter of yours. And Karen [Pence].
"They go there and they love your country. They love your country. And they love this country. That's a good combination, right?"
In May of 2021, Trump blamed his successor, Joe Biden, for the recent escalation in tensions between Israel and Palestine.
In a statement on his now-defunct blog, Trump wrote: "Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.
"America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the US will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself."
He went on to blast Democrats for continuing to "stand by crazed anti-American Rep. Omar, and others, who savagely attack Israel while they are under terrorist assault."
