Trump: Some U.S. Jews ‘Don’t Love Israel Enough’

FLORIDA — Some American Jews "don't love Israel enough," U.S. President Donald Trump said as he addressed some 4,000 Israelis and American Jews at the annual conference of the Israeli-American Council in Florida on Saturday. 

"We have to get the people of our country, of this country to love Israel more, because you have people that are Jewish people that are great people, they don’t love Israel enough, you know that," he said. 

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– Haaretz Weekly Episode 51

Haaretz Weekly Episode 51Haaretz

Trump also said that International law does not prohibit Israeli settlements in the West Bank, echoing a comment by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during the speech, which was punctuated by cheers and chants of "four more years" from the audience.

The president also praised his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, saying he had been told that there was no more difficult deal to make than Israeli-Palestinian peace, but that "if Jared Kushner can't do it, it can't be done."

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Israel "suffered very much under the last administration," Trump asserted in a criticism of predecessor Barack Obama.

Boasting of Washington's decision to halt funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops paying the families of convicted terrorists, Trump slammed "radical Islamic terrorism" before moving on to his claim that he successfully destroyed ISIS and rebuilt the U.S. military. 

"The Jewish state has never had a better friend in the White House than your president, Donald J. Trump," the president said earlier in his speech. "Unlike other politicians, I kept my promises."