Lauderdale, Oct 7: Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are marking the first anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust as the presidential candidates approach the final weeks of the campaign during a widening conflict in the Middle East.
Trump will speak before Jewish community leaders at one of his Florida resorts in the Miami suburb of Doral. Harris will briefly speak to journalists and plant a pomegranate tree with her husband on the grounds of the Vice President’s residence in honor of the 1,200 people, including 46 U.S. citizens, who were killed by Hamas-led militants in the Oct. 7 attack last year.
Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, will recite a prayer at an event to commemorate the anniversary with the American Jewish Committee.
Trump has blamed both Harris and President Joe Biden for the war, arguing their administration empowered Iran, and tried to take advantage of some of the divisions within the Democratic Party with progressives protesting Israel’s military campaign, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.
Trump has also repeatedly said that Jewish voters who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined” and recently said that if he loses the presidential election to Harris on Nov. 5 “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that.” In an excerpt released from an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air Monday night, Harris appeared to avoid answering a question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered “a real close ally,” and said that “The better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.” (AP)
