Prominent Jewish leaders are slamming former President Donald Trump after he hosted a dinner at his Florida estate that included rap artist Kanye West, also known as Ye, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Both have been accused of antisemitism after comments they made about Jewish people.
‘To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this,’ David Friedman, who served as Trump’s U.S. Ambassador to Israel from 2017-2021, posted on Twitter Friday. ‘Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable.’
‘I condemned Barak Obama associating with Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright,’ Friedman added. ‘This is no different. Antisemites deserve no quarter among American leaders, right or left.’
Friedman’s comment after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago between Trump, Fuentes, and Ye which prompted a sharp pushback from the Biden White House which said that ‘bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America.’
Matt Brooks, executive director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, also criticized Trump over the visit telling CBS News, ‘We strongly condemn the virulent antisemitism of Kanye West and Nick Fuentes and call on all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with him.’
Fuentes has been banned from multiple websites, most notably for a controversial comment questioning how many Jewish people died in the holocaust, a comment Fuentes has said was a ‘funny joke.’
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was recently ditched by several companies and sponsors after social media posts bashing Jewish leaders of the media and music industry including a post where he said he was going to go ‘death con 3’ on ‘jewish people.’
Trump, in statements on TRUTH Social, said he didn’t know who Fuentes was and that the purpose of the dinner was to meet with Ye.
‘Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was asking me for advice concerning some of his difficulties, in particular having to do with his business,’ Trump posted. ‘We also discussed, to a lesser extent, politics, where I told him he should definitely not run for President, ‘any voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.’’
‘Anyway, we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’ Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.’
While he has not released an official announcement, Ye has suggested he is running for president in 2024 which would make him a competitor against Trump who formally announced earlier this month he is seeking the White House for the third time.