Trump Hotel Hosting Holocaust Denier Days After Israel War Breaks Out

The Trump hotel in Miami is slated to host an event featuring a Holocaust denier this weekend.

The Trump National Doral Miami is expected to host the ReAwaken America tour on Friday and Saturday. Among the speakers is fitness influencer Ian Smith, who has previously made antisemitic and Holocaust denial comments.

Smith’s scheduled appearance at the event comes a week after Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Thursday, at least 2,700 people had been killed on both sides, the Associated Press reported.

The fighting has also sparked an uptick in antisemitic incidents around the world. The Anti-Defamation Leagues said anti-Jewish threats surged by 488 percent in the first 18 hours of Saturday when Hamas launched its surprise attack.

Smith has taken a critical stance against Israel amid the Israel-Gaza war, calling Israel “the welfare queen” and defending the Palestinian lives that have been lost in the fighting.

“It’s absolutely wild that you can call for the complete annihilation and destruction of Palestine and nobody bats an eye, but if you say maybe both sides are at fault, you’re an antisemite that hates ‘God’s chosen people,'” Smith said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

“What’s the difference between civilian deaths of Muslims and Jews? Why do Americans only seem to care about Jewish civilians dying? Is it because the news told them to be mad about it?” he said in another post. “Truth is the most important thing. I don’t care who gets mad, I don’t care if your panties are in a twist over Zionism.”

Smith has appeared at other events hosted at Trump Doral. In May, he spoke at an event that featured former President Donald Trump’s son Eric. He met the former president himself last year.

A video promoting this weekend’s upcoming event said Smith would speak Friday afternoon. Eric Trump, his wife Lara Trump, Trump lawyers Alina Habba and Christina Bobb and Trump ally Roger Stone are also scheduled to speak.

Last month, Smith posted a video featuring a meme that attempts to cast doubt on the 6 million figure of Jewish people who were killed in the Holocaust. He also alleged that Jewish people are behind banks, Hollywood and “all of these things that are used to control us” in an appearance on the Pete Quinones Show. During that interview, Smith complained that people don’t question President Joe Biden enough about why “everyone” he “surrounds himself with is Jewish.”

In another July post, the influencer wrote, “When there is a large percentage of white people in the government, owning businesses, attending colleges, and accumulating wealth it’s called oppression. When it’s a wildly disproportionate amount of Jewish in those positions and accumulating wealth it’s called high-achievement. Anyone else find that weird?”

Newsweek reached out to Trump National Doral Miami via email for comment.