‘You Remember The Travel Ban…?’ Trump Vows to Reimpose Muslim ‘Travel Ban’ at GOP Meetnewsbhunt

At a Republican Jewish convention in Las Vegas on Saturday, former US President Donald Trump promised to re-impose a travel ban that targeted a slew of mostly Muslim countries if he gets re-elected. “We will keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country,” Trump said during the annual summit of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “You remember the travel ban? On day one I will restore our travel ban.”

Trump was among several Republican hopefuls lining up at the gathering of influential Jewish donors to pledge unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas. Trump told the event in the southwestern state of Nevada, that he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever.”

Earlier in 2017, Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on the entry of travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and, initially, Iraq and Sudan. The order was quickly challenged in court as discriminatory against a religious group, but the bans were popular with his base. President Joe Biden reversed the ban in his first week in office in 2021.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is “a fight between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil,” said Trump. The 77-year-old GOP front-runner spoke after sparking fury in recent weeks by describing Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among the attendees at the Las Vegas meeting was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on Israel “the most deadly attack against Jews since the Holocaust itself.” Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardments, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. DeSantis and others pointed to what they said was rising anti-Semitism on US college campuses, and proposed yanking funding for universities and canceling visas for pro-Palestinian foreign students. “We need cultural chemotherapy to fight this cancer,” Senator Tim Scott said. “Any student with a visa who calls for genocide should be deported.” Indian American Presidential candidate Nikki Haley also spoke on anti-Semitic attacks in the US.

“As president, I will change the official federal definition of anti-Semitism to include denying Israel’s right to exist,” said Haley. “College campuses are allowed to have free speech, but they are not free to spread hate that supports terrorism,” she said. “Federal law requires schools to combat anti-Semitism. We will give this law teeth and we will enforce it.”

(With agency inputs)