Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that Jewish American voters would be partly to blame if he loses the Nov. 5 election to Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.

During comments to the Israeli American Council National Summit in Washington, D.C., the former president lamented that he was trailing Harris among American Jews.

Israel would likely cease to exist within two years should Harris win the election, and Jews would be partly to blame for that outcome because they tend to vote for Democrats, Trump argued.

“If I don’t win this election — and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because if 40 per cent, I mean, 60 per cent of the people are voting for the enemy,” Trump told the crowd, citing a poll that he said showed Harris polling at 60 per cent for support among Jewish Americans. 

“Absolutely despicable at a moment when antisemitism is already at such a horrific boiling point,” former Trump administration spokesperson Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host on The View, said on Friday in reaction to the comments.

Trump said he was “wasn’t treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish,” in the 2020 election, which he refused to concede to Joe Biden.

As he has in the past, the Republican nominee for the third consecutive time tied his election prospects with the future of Israel.

“I’ve said long and loud anybody who’s Jewish and loves being Jewish and loves Israel is a fool if they vote for a Democrat,” Trump said.

“If you want Israel to survive you need Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States, it’s very simple,” he added.

For not the first time, Trump called Jewish American Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “a Palestinian,” without elaborating on what he meant. Schumer has previously criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him an obstacle to the peace process as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has transpired.

WATCH l Trump’s verbal attack on Schumer in July:

Trump made similar comments at a separate summit earlier in the evening, also in Washington, which was dedicated to fighting antisemitism in America.

Trump condemned antisemitic attacks that have occurred in the U.S. since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants led a deadly attack in southern Israel.

The Trump campaign has made winning over Jewish voters in key battleground states a priority. U.S. Jews have leaned heavily toward Democrats in federal elections for decades and continue to do so, but just a small shift in the Jewish vote could determine the winner in November.

In the crucial battleground of Pennsylvania, for example, there are over 400,000 Jewish people, in a state Biden won by 81,000 votes in 2020.

In a statement before the speech, Morgan Finkelstein, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, criticized Trump for at times associating with antisemites. Trump has rejected all accusations of antisemitism, noting during his speeches on Thursday that he has a Jewish son-in-law.

North Carolina headache for Trump

During his comments, Trump did not address a CNN report published earlier in the day regarding the Republican gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina, Mark Robinson. That report alleged Robinson, 56, once called himself a “black NAZI!” in comments posted on a pornography website and that he advocated for the return of slavery.

Robinson, currently the state’s lieutenant governor, denied the report and vowed to remain in the race.

WATCH l Democrats see hope for N.C. win after Harris replaces Biden:

Why Democrats are gaining momentum in North Carolina

North Carolina has voted Republican in the last three presidential elections, but since Kamala Harris entered the race, Democrats have gained momentum in the state. For The National, CBC’s Katie Simpson visits two competitive counties to find out why.

Robinson has a history of inflammatory comments that his Democratic opponent Josh Stein has said made him too extreme to lead North Carolina. They already have contributed to the prospect that campaign struggles for Robinson would hurt Trump’s chances to win the battleground state’s 16 electoral votes.

Recent polls of North Carolina voters show Trump and Harris locked in a close race. 

Stein and his allies have repeatedly cited a Facebook post from 2019 in which Robinson said abortion in America was about “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Media outlets already have reported about a 2021 speech by Robinson in a church in which he used the word “filth” when discussing gay and transgender people.

Trump has frequently voiced his support for Robinson, who has been considered a rising star in his party, well-known for his fiery speeches and evocative rhetoric. Ahead of the March primary, Trump at a rally in Greensboro called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking ability.