During the September 10 debate, Donald Trump claimed that Kamala Harris hated Israel. In fact, both camps openly support the Jewish state’s war against Hamas, even as the Democratic candidate, unlike her opponent, has more enthusiastically called for consideration of the suffering of the Palestinian people.
While the media often portrays the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a decidedly polarizing issue in the American election campaign, the truth is that Republicans and Democrats hold very similar positions on the issue, although some distinctions should be noted.
Donald Trump’s regularly declared support for Israel masks his true motivation: Above all, he is more concerned with pleasing evangelical voters than with genuinely caring about Israel’s interests. The Democratic Party continues to emphasize Israel’s security and the strategic nature of relations between Washington and Tel Aviv, despite a minority of ultra-progressives condemning the brutality of the IDF’s war in Gaza.
The GOP’s evangelical reality
At the Grand Old Party (GOP, the nickname for the Republican Party) convention, issues related to Israel’s security in the context of the Gaza conflict and the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States occupied the front stage.
The meeting was marked by a speech by the parents of Omer Neutra, a 23-year-old American citizen held hostage by Hamas, and an intervention by Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard graduate who has sued his former university for failing to respond to the anti-Semitism that has emerged within its walls. As the convention began with a prayer for the hostages, those concerns appeared to overshadow everything else, underscoring the importance Trump’s campaign team has placed on the issue.
But the recent memoirs of H.R. McMaster, the former national security adviser who served from February 2017 to April 2018, reveal Trump’s frustration with Jewish voters who traditionally support Democrats. Jews who don’t vote for him are “bad Jews,” Trump said.
In any case, in addressing the Israeli issue, his primary goal, as his vice presidential pick shows, is to mobilize evangelical Christians, especially Christian Zionists. This Christian group is more closely aligned with the Israeli far right than any other group in American politics and forms the core of Trump’s voting base.
The unwavering support for Israel that Trump continues to emphasize — particularly through recent ads highlighting what he has accomplished during his time in Israel, such as recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and the peace accords with Abraham — actually overshadows his motivations and even more so his recent positions. The recent rifts between Trump and Netanyahu, and the Republican nominee’s public criticism of his longtime ally, suggest that Trump’s relationship with Israeli leaders is more complicated than his campaign claims.
The Democratic Party’s balancing act
On the Democratic side, the media has widely discussed how this issue has divided the party, with the party’s far left wing, many of whose supporters are from younger generations, demanding that Israel immediately halt its operations in the Gaza Strip and condemning the massive military and financial aid provided to it by Washington.
However, two members of “The Squad,” the small group of elected radical left Democrats representing the most progressive and pro-Palestinian wing of the party, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, were recently defeated in the primary elections for the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives (which will be held on the same day as the presidential election) will be held by more moderate Democrats. One explanation for this double defeat probably lies in their uncompromising stance on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
In fact, while young people and progressives are undeniably passionate and active, their actual voter weight within the Democratic Party is not as high as is often believed. Studies of national elections in the United States from 2018 to 2022 have found that younger generations abstained from voting at high rates in midterm elections: those under 30 represented only 11% of the electorate in 2018, and 10% in 2022. Despite voting more in presidential elections, the youngest generation continues to vote proportionally the least.
The question of the position of minorities, especially African Americans, has received considerable attention: will the support given by the Biden administration to the Netanyahu government, including Kamala Harris, likely encourage some of these voters to walk away from the election, becoming the party of the donkey?
In this context, it is important to remember the historical relations between this community and the Jewish community, which were strengthened during the time of Martin Luther King Jr. Their ties during the civil rights movement were shaped by deep solidarity and mutual support. This partnership is exemplified by King’s close friendship with figures such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. While there have been tensions in this relationship over time, we have seen movements such as Black Lives Matter, which previously openly supported the Palestinian cause, adopt more nuanced positions that express themselves most easily.
We also read that Harris could miss out on votes in the Muslim community because of the Biden administration’s stance on the war in Gaza, and that this could make a difference in some segments. oscillation situationsLike Michigan. But the Muslim minority in the US makes up about 1 percent of the population, or half of Jews, and will not vote for Trump under any circumstances. To win the election, Harris will likely need to rely on independents and moderate Republicans who are neither radical nor pro-Palestinian. These groups could play a crucial role in her victory.
The Democratic convention last August allowed the current vice president to state his position clearly:
“I will always defend Israel’s right to self-defense” […]. The Israeli people must never again experience the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas inflicted on October 7th… At the same time, what has happened in Gaza in the last ten months is also devastating. »
The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was held hostage by Hamas for eleven months and executed at the end of August, spoke at the congress while their son was still alive. Their speech, calling for peace for all, was met with chants of “Bring them home” by thousands of attendees. The ostensibly pro-Palestinian “non-affiliated delegates” demanded that a Palestinian speaker speak at the congress, but the idea was rejected earlier this week even by more moderate voices over concerns about potential problems when people are suspected of being suspicious. Pro-Palestinian activists left maggots on the congress breakfast buffet.
When Hersh’s body was found on August 31, Harris issued a statement condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization that could play no role in controlling Gaza and must be eliminated.
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Despite the seeds of doubt sown by some Republicans and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the violence of the pro-Palestinian camp’s social networks and whatever Donald Trump said in his debate against Kamala Harris on September 10, Democrats defend Israel while saying they want the war to end as quickly as possible, preferably before the November elections, such a development can be attributed in part to the Biden administration.
Is it a real effect?
This agreement between Republicans and Democrats on the need to support Israel does not mean that the two parties do not have major differences on some fundamental issues regarding the Middle East, on the scenarios of the next day, on the role of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Court. Of course, on the simple criticism of the war that Israel is currently waging. But ultimately, both sides believe that turning the page and ending the war is in the best interest of everyone, especially the United States and the American economy. And this is primarily for electoral reasons.
Most Americans favor peace and humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, but two broad trends prevail: The most radicalized young people are in the minority and vote less; and those who do vote base their choices on the economy and issues that directly affect them.
Both sides are more or less on the middle ground; the preservation of the security of the Jewish state is never seriously discussed, even among those who call for more humanitarian aid and peace. After all, in a country and a two-party system where the two major parties are the all-encompassing parties and the game is now based on appealing to as many voters as possible, even if their perspectives are different, everything is a matter of nuance and balance. often contradictory.
