Did Trump use anti-Semitic imagery in attack on Clinton?

The Trump campaign quickly removed the controversial image and posted an amended version.

By MICHAEL WILNER, REUTERS
Updated: JULY 3, 2016 01:45
Did Trump use anti-Semitic imagery against Clinton (photo credit: TWITTER)
Did Trump use anti-Semitic imagery against Clinton
(photo credit: TWITTER)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted an image of rival Hillary Clinton alongside $100 bills and a Jewish star bearing the words “most corrupt candidate ever!” prompting outrage and bafflement on social media.
Two hours after his initial tweet on Saturday, Trump tweeted a similar image in which the six-pointed Star of David was replaced by a circle.
The original tweet was deleted.
Critics said the image featuring the star harkened back to centuries-old anti-Semitic stereotypes, such as the belief that Jews are greedy.
“Just saw #DonaldTrump’s Star of David tweet,” screenwriter Cole Haddon wrote on Twitter. “I’m impressed by his ability to find a way to insult literally every kind of human being.”
Erick Erickson, a conservative radio host who has been critical of Trump, wrote: “A Star of David, a pile of cash, and suggestions of corruption.
Donald Trump again plays to the white supremacists.”
The tweets originated from Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, and no other users were mentioned in them. It was not clear whether someone inside Trump’s campaign made the image, or whether he found it somewhere else.
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, did not respond to a request for comment.
The presumptive Republican nominee has been trying to assuage fears within his own party that he is alienating voters with offensive statements about Muslims, Latinos and women.
Last month, Trump fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and began delivering speeches using a teleprompter, an abrupt change in style that was seen as an attempt to appear more presidential ahead of the November 8 election.
Saturday’s tweet was a reminder of the unrestrained side of Trump. The candidate has mocked a disabled newspaper reporter, referred to undocumented immigrants from Mexico as “rapists,” and recently pointed to a black man in the crowd at one of his rallies and called him “my African-American.”
On Friday, Trump took to Facebook to condemn “yet another terrorist attack” in Israel, after Michael Mark was killed and his wife and two of his children were wounded in the attack 15 kilometers south of Kiryat Arba.
“A father, shot at by a Palestinian terrorist, was killed while driving his car, and three [sic] of his children who were passengers were severely injured,” Trump said in a brief statement. “I condemn this latest terrorist attack and call upon the Palestinian leadership to completely end this barbaric behavior. I also call upon President Obama to recognize and condemn each and every terrorist attack against our allies in Israel.”
“This cannot become the ‘new normal,’” he added. “It has to stop!” On Thursday, the candidate also issued a statement condemning the murder of 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel at the hands of another Palestinian perpetrator.
Trump’s chief adviser on Israel policy, Jason Greenblatt, questioned Palestinian leadership and Western media coverage in light of the recent spate of attacks.
“The murderer has been hailed as a hero and a martyr by numerous Palestinian factions,” Greenblatt, of the Trump Organization, said in his own statement. “And the silence of the liberal media with respect to this horrific tragedy is deafening.”