Trump: Anti-Semitism ‘Horrible’ and ‘Painful’

Reacting to the latest round of threats to Jewish community centers, Trump called to “root out hate and prejudice and evil.”

US President Donald Trump denounced anti-Semitism and threats against Jewish community centers as “horrible” and “painful,” saying more needed to be done “to root out hate and prejudice and evil.”

Speaking after a tour of the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture on Tuesday, Trump said that “this tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.”

He was relating to the latest round of threats phoned in to 11 Jewish community centers across the country on Monday, including Chicago, Cleveland and Houston.

No bombs were found and no arrests were made, but the threats, the fourth such round just over a month, have created fear and uncertainty within the Jewish community.

Also on Monday, roughly 200 headstones were found knocked over or broken at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Missouri – a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis. Investigators have not yet determined if it was a hate crime.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who is Jewish, posted a statement on Facebook calling the vandalism “despicable” and “cowardly.”

The president is a Presbyterian, but his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism ahead of her 2009 marriage to Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to the president.

Ivanka and Jared Kushner’s children — the president’s grandchildren — are Jewish.

On Monday, Ivanka Trump wrote on Twitter, “We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers.”

By: AP and United with Israel Staff