Trump: Deadly Charlottesville Neo-Nazi Rally A 'Peanut' Compared To Israel-Gaza Protests

Former President Donald Trump said a deadly 2017 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was a “peanut” compared to protests happening across the U.S. condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians.

“Crooked Joe Biden would say, constantly, that he ran because of Charlottesville,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday night. “Well, if that’s the case, he’s done a really terrible job because Charlottesville is like a ‘peanut’ compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests that are happening all over our Country, RIGHT NOW.”

During the 2017 “Unite the Right” hate rally, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists took to the streets of Charlottesville carrying burning tiki torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”

Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal and anti-racist demonstrator, was killed after a neo-Nazi attendee drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing Heyer and injuring several others. In 2018, the killer was sentenced to life in prison.

At the time, then-President Trump downplayed the violence, saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Pro-Palestinian protests have popped up across the country and at college campuses, with some critics calling the demonstrations antisemitic despite many Jewish people and organizations taking part in calling for a cease-fire in Gaza amid Israel’s military campaign in the region that has resulted in more than 30,000 Palestinians being killed.

Last week, at Columbia University in New York, more than 100 pro-Palestine protesters were arrested. This week, dozens of demonstrators were arrested at the University of Texas in Austin, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Protesters at the University of Texas called for a