Human rights advocates on Friday condemned former President Donald Trump’s references to Palestinians and immigrants allegedly taking jobs from Black Americans during Thursday’s debate with President Joe Biden, calling the comments racist or insulting.
Biden and Trump had a brief conversation about the war in Gaza, but did not have a substantive discussion about how to end the conflict that has killed 38,000 people in the enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and caused a massive humanitarian crisis with widespread famine. .
The war began when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250 others, according to Israeli records.
“The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas,” Biden said. Trump responded by saying Biden had “become like a Palestinian,” which human rights advocates called a slur.
“In fact, Israel is the one (who wants to continue), and you should let them go and finish the job. He (Biden) doesn’t want to do that. He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s weak,” Trump said.
On Friday, Trump used the term “Palestinian” again in a similar way, this time telling a rally that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, was a Palestinian. “He became a Palestinian because he has a few more votes or something,” he added.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said Biden was wrong to say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the war to end, while adding that it viewed Trump’s Palestinian comment in the debate as a racist slur.
“Former President Trump’s use of ‘Palestinian’ as an insult was racist. President Biden’s disclosure of military support for the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza was insensitive,” Corey Saylor, director of research and advocacy at CAIR, said in a statement. Israel denies accusations of genocide.
“Insinuating that being Palestinian is somehow a bad thing, as former President Trump did when he called President Biden a Palestinian, smacks of racism and anti-Arab hatred,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, to Reuters.
Human rights advocates have reported a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian prejudice and anti-Semitism in the US since the last outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. The war in Gaza and Washington’s support for Israel also led to months of protests in the United States calling for an end to the conflict.
Trump also faced criticism for using the terms “black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs” as he claimed that immigrants arriving in the United States from its border with Mexico were taking away those employment opportunities.
The Trump campaign had no immediate comment on the criticism.
Immigration is a key election issue and Trump said Biden had failed to secure the US southern border, giving rise to dozens of criminals. Studies show that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
“The fact is that the greatest death he (Biden) caused to black people was the millions of people he allowed to come across the border,” Trump said during the debate. “They are taking black and Hispanic jobs.”
The civil rights organization NAACP wrote on X: “What exactly are black and Hispanic jobs!?!” It added: “There is no such thing as black work.”
Amnesty International’s O’Brien told Reuters that Trump’s comments on immigration were based on white supremacy.
“It is disheartening that false narratives based on white supremacy and racism about people seeking asylum at the border and immigrant communities in the United States continue to permeate our national discourse,” he added.
Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, an organization that works to mobilize Black voters, said Trump’s comments were not true and that Biden should have pushed back more firmly on such false claims.
“That there are specific black jobs for black people that immigrants are coming to take. Total nonsense,” said Shropshire.
Trump’s campaign has made an effort to court black voters, with the former president visiting Detroit and Philadelphia in recent weeks. Some polls have shown a drop in support for Biden among black voters, who have historically been among the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting blocs.
Source: CNN Brasil
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