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Former US President Donald Trump’s use of the term “Palestinian” sparked outrage after Thursday’s debate with President Joe Biden, with human rights groups calling the remarks racist and offensive.
During the highly anticipated presidential debate, Trump criticized Biden for not taking a tougher stance against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, sparking an Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Trump said the president had become “like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian. He is a weak Palestinian.”
In response, Biden defended his support for Israel. “The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas,” he said.
Human rights groups and social media users said Trump’s comments were perceived as an insult.
Following the debate, Trump again used the term “Palestinian” in a similar manner at a rally on Friday, this time saying that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish, is a “Palestinian.”
“He became a Palestinian because they have a few more votes or something,” he said.
The repeated statements have attracted the attention of several human rights groups in the United States.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) advocacy group said Biden was wrong to claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted an end to the war, adding that Trump’s Palestinian comment during the debate was viewed as a racist slur.
“Former President Trump used the word ‘Palestinian’ as an insult and was racist. President Biden’s touting of his military support for the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza was heartless,” said Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at CAIR.
The group said both presidential candidates had “shown support for the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) called for an end to the use of racist and dehumanizing language in political debates and discourses.
“This rhetoric is a reprehensible attempt to denigrate an entire people fighting to end a genocide committed by the very government it refers to,” the group said in a statement, referring to Trump’s comments.
AMP reaffirmed its “commitment to supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination”.
It demands that US foreign policy “must prioritise human rights and justice over its political loyalties that support ongoing atrocities in Gaza.”
The exchange between the two candidates for the White House did not focus on how to end the conflict that has killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The war has also triggered a catastrophic humanitarian crisis with famine and widespread disease, which international aid organizations have been calling for an end to for months.
Updated: June 29, 2024, 11:02 a.m.
