U.S. Muslim and Jewish advocacy groups criticized President Donald Trump on Wednesday for referring to the top Senate Democrat, Senator Chuck Schumer, as a Palestinian, with the organizations saying the president used the term as a slur.
Trump, a Republican, was asked by reporters at the White House about U.S. corporate tax rate policy during an Oval Office meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, and in response expressed displeasure with congressional Democrats not supporting his agenda.
"Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I'm concerned. He's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He's not Jewish anymore. He's a Palestinian," Trump said.
Schumer is the highest-ranking elected U.S. Jewish official and is not of Palestinian heritage.
"President Trump's use of the term 'Palestinian' as a racial slur is offensive and beneath the dignity of his office," said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Awad, who is of Palestinian heritage, said Trump's comments showed the "continuing dehumanization" of Palestinians.
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, also condemned Trump's remarks, as did Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
Trump faced criticism from rights groups during last year's election campaign in which he referred to former President Joe Biden as Palestinian during a presidential debate. He also said last year that Jews who did not vote for him needed to "have your head examined."
Trump has previously denied allegations of being discriminatory. The White House and Schumer had no immediate comment.
Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
More recently, Trump has faced criticism for his plan for a U.S. takeover of Gaza and to displace Palestinians from the enclave. His plan has been called a proposal of ethnic cleansing by rights groups, Arab states, Palestinians and the U.N.
The Trump administration is also seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
2 Comments
NB
The Palestinians and Israelis could have lived together like brothers. Unfortunately, however, the Palestinians are drifted after extremist leaderships ever since the 1940s. These mad leaderships adopt a genocidal agenda towards the other ethnic group. They are fond of the book Mein Kampf. Their slogan is itbakh el Yahood, which means butcher the Jews. They want the land clean of the other ethnicity from the river to the sea. Some of these leaderships are pseudo-religious. Others are pseudo-Marxist. Others are just plain nationalist. They all refuse to any peace initiative. They launch wars, perpetrate large-scale massacres/rapes of top notch barbarism, and they are especially fond of kidnapping random people of all ages and both genders.
patkim
Trump is either totally evil, or utterly senile. He does not understand one thing what it means to be either a Palestinian or Jewish. By using one race as a slur against another race, is absolutely evil. This is the kind of action that can get you charged with a hate crime. Trump's brain is not capable enough to understand the basic concept that one can not simply change their ethnicity or racial background.
But I guess we shouldn't be surprised anymore. We have a petulant child in the WH. When he disagrees with someone, he calls them names. When you don't kiss his feet he'll demean you and make fun of you.