Politics

Trump, who has insulted Jewish voters who don’t support him, to attend Oct. 7 memorial event

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

Trump, who has insulted Jewish voters who don’t support him, to attend Oct. 7 memorial event

Donald Trumpwho has long embraced white nationalists and repeatedly criticized Jewish voters who don’t support himis planning to attend an event on Oct. 7 to honor those killed in Hamas’ attack on Israel one year ago, his campaign announced Wednesday.

The Republican presidential nominee intends to speak at the event, which is scheduled to be held at the Trump National Doral Miami, one of his golf courses. (It’s unclear if the Trump campaign is also organizing the event; the campaign did not respond immediately to a request for comment.)

“President Trump has always condemned antisemitism and will continue to do so once he is back in the Oval Office,” his campaign said in a statement. “He will hold accountable those who perpetuate violence against the Jewish people, and as such, America will be safe and patriotic again.”

Trump has long claimed to be the most pro-Israel U.S. president in history. He has accused the Biden administration of not being supportive enough of Israel, even as the White House has provided unconditional military and financial support to its ally despite the soaring death toll in Gaza. (Trump’s anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian beliefs are also well documented.)

Yet Trump himself also has a history of invoking antisemitic tropes and has rubbed shoulders with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers. He singled out Jewish Democratic lawmakers, like Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapirofor attacks. In a radio interview in July, Trump claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people” and appeared to agree when the host called Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, a “crappy Jew.”

Trump has also repeatedly denigrated Jewish Democrats in remarks about the election, even at events focused on combating antisemitism. He said that any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat “hates their religion” and that “they should be ashamed of themselves.” He claimed that Jewish and Black people vote for Democrats out of “habit” and said that if he loses the 2024 election, Jewish voters “would have a lot to do” with it — a line that drew outrage from Jewish groups.

Clarissa-Jan Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

Politics

World Cup fuels ticketing reform demands

Published

7 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Demands are growing for a political reckoning over ticket scams at the World Cup — and beyond.

The National Independent Venue Association and Fan Alliance, organizations representing and advocating for entertainment venues and artists respectively, sent a joint letter to Congress on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to ban speculative and ghost tickets, cases where resellers flog tickets they don’t actually have.

The letter — addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer — includes nearly two dozen accounts of fans who say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to get tickets to the World Cup, which began last week. The groups are also asking fans to share their own stories with elected officials via the Fix the Tix Fan Action Center that launched last week.

“Every one of these stories erodes the public’s faith that consumers should and will be protected from fraud,” NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker and Fan Alliance founder Donald Cohen wrote. “We urge Congress to work with us to prevent fraud like this in the future and finally enact ticket resale consumer protections that will protect Americans and ensure affordability.”

The letter flagged fans like Dacy Gillespie, who bought World Cup tickets for her sons on Christmas, only to learn on match day — months later — that the seller couldn’t deliver them. And Skylie Shore, who Parker and Cohen said spent well over $6,000 on tickets to the Scotland-Haiti match on June 13, but was forced to wait outside the stadium because she couldn’t access them as fans marched in on gameday.

“These examples reveal a consistent pattern: consumer deception, speculative ticket sales, and broken-hearted American families at the hands of resale ticketing companies like StubHub,” Parker and Cohen wrote.

In a statement, StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne said that the platform does not allow speculative ticket sales, and blamed FIFA for users’ difficulty in accessing their tickets.

“We understand that attending the World Cup represents a significant investment in time and money, and we take our responsibility to every fan who books through our platform seriously,” Sterne said in a statement. “Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s technology infrastructure, newly announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago.”

In response, FIFA said in a statement that the organization “can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms” and that FIFA.com/tickets “is the official ticket sales channel” for the tournament.

NIVA and Fan Alliance are urging congressional leadership to place universal price-gouging limits on ticket resale, enact stringent fines on perpetrators and a violation-reporting mechanism for ticket scams, and require secondary ticketing platforms to produce data on ticket fulfillment and consumer complaints.

The groups are not the only ones monitoring for evidence of shady ticket practices. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a consumer guidance in advance of the tournament, urging match-goers to beware of fraud and promising to hold offenders accountable. And the FBI in May put out a public service announcement, warning fans against purchasing tickets on copycat websites modeled on FIFA’s.

“With the World Cup coming to Kansas City, excitement is high and, unfortunately, so is the potential for fraud,” Hanaway said in her statement. “Missourians should be able to enjoy this once-in-a-generation event without fear of being deceived. My office will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit our families, and we stand ready to assist anyone who encounters suspicious activity.”