President Trump expands travel ban on US starting January 1st
President Donald Trump has expanded the travel ban on the United States to 39 countries, citing national security and foreign policy concerns.
President Donald Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar at a Hanukkah event at the White House on December 16, saying she “hates Jews.”
President Trump said that Israel and the “Jewish Lobby” were once the most powerful lobbies in Washington. But that is “no longer true,” the president added.
“Congress in particular is becoming anti-Semitic,” Trump claimed. “You have AOC plus three. You have people like that, Ilhan Omar, she hates Jews. And you have to be very careful because big changes are happening.”
Omar has long been critical of Israeli leaders, particularly during the war with Hamas and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In March 2023, the House voted along party lines to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her past comments about Israel, which drew criticism from members of both parties.
Still, Omar has repeatedly accused anti-Semitism. “We continue to oppose any attempt to silence the Israeli government’s real concerns about anti-Semitism,” the congressman said in a news release last year.
Omar has not commented on Trump’s latest criticism, but previously said, “The president’s creepy obsession with me is very unhealthy.”
“Mr. Trump is returning to the same tired bigotry to distract from his obvious failures,” she argued in X on Tuesday afternoon. “His recycled xenophobia will not intimidate me or silence my fight for the people of Minnesota’s 5th District.”
The president has targeted Omar, a Muslim, since her first term in office after she was elected to Congress in 2019 and became part of a progressive faction known as “The Squad.” President Trump has stepped up his attacks on the Minnesota Democrat and her native Somalia in recent months.
President Trump has implemented a travel ban on some foreign visitors, including Somalis, South Sudanese, Syrians and Palestinians.
President Trump’s Hanukkah event at the White House comes amid a rise in anti-Semitic attacks, including a mass shooting in Australia over the weekend that left 15 people dead. President Trump is a strong ally of Israel and has emphasized his administration’s efforts to broker peace in the region.
The violence has not completely stopped since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect in October. Hamas-run health authorities say Israeli forces have killed at least 386 people in attacks in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire. Israel says three soldiers have been killed and a number of fighters have been attacked since the start of the ceasefire.
During the Hanukkah event, conservative talk show host Mark Levin, whom the president invited on stage, called Trump “the first Jewish president.”
“I’m not Jewish, but my father was very friendly with many Jews,” Trump said in his speech. “We grew up respecting and loving Jews.”
Contributor: Michael Loria, Reuters
