Let us begin with two facts: Israel has the highest proportion of Donald Trump supporters of any country outside of the United States; and most Israelis are far more interested in their country’s affairs than in the U.S. presidential election.
That said, an August 19 poll by JNS/Direct Polls, which works—a caveat—for pro-Netanyahu TV Channel 14, indicated that 64 percent of Israelis support Trump for U.S. president, 28 percent want Kamala Harris and 9 percent have no opinion. Younger adults are significantly more supportive of Trump (93 percent of those 18-29), while the oldest group surveyed split evenly.
Israel’s self-declared Trump supporters, most of whom rely on bite-sized information and slogans, are divided into two groups. The largest, relying directly on Channel 14 and Netanyahu’s social media influencers, embrace Trump as a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people who is fortunately also an effective global power monger. They expect Trump’s America to handle itself in the Middle East as a thug among thugs on a perennially lawless battlefield, in which “our side” must be as aggressive, reckless and free of moral restraints as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. Thus, Trump is expected to enhance and regionalize—perhaps even globalize—the Netanyahu government’s current Gaza policy.
A smaller group of Israelis support Trump not for his alleged love of Israelis or Jews but for his unpredictability and aggression, hoping that, even if Netanyahu stays in power, Trump can lead, force or blackmail him toward an Israeli-Palestinian accord. But tempting as it sounds, morally rogue players are not good at rescuing democracies in danger. Under Netanyahu, corruption is flourishing, and his minister of justice is once again busy dismantling the judiciary as an independent branch of government.
Even if Netanyahu is forced into signing an agreement with Mahmoud Abbas or his successor, what would remain of Israeli society when the current coalition finishes off the last remaining checks and balances? Moreover, would the ongoing erosion of U.S. democracy be good for the world, let alone for Israel?
It’s alarming to see the rise of anti-Harris venom on Israeli social media.
Enter Kamala Harris. I stand with the more than half of Israelis who feel deeply grateful to Joe Biden for his unflinching and farseeing support of our country since the very first hours of the October 7 calamity. Another JNS/Direct poll taken July 9, before Biden left the race, showed that while 55 percent of Israelis already supported Trump, Biden scored 34 percent—significantly more than Harris in August.
It’s alarming to see the rise of anti-Harris venom in Israeli social media and right-leaning press, directly following cues from the Trump campaign. While Biden was mocked as “sleepy” and “senile,” the younger, energetic Harris is dragged straight into the mud of racism and misogyny. She is constantly misrepresented as a protégé of Barack Obama and, as a Black woman, conflated with the Democrats’ anti-Israel “Squad” by analysts who ought to know better. Another favorite trope is that she is an idiot who can’t put two sentences together. Very few of her Israeli antagonists stick to legitimate concerns, such as Harris’s choice of advisers; most cast her as an automatically suspicious member of the Global South. This is slightly more polite than a reader’s comment I found on an Orthodox Jewish news site, which the editors apparently have no problem airing: “Harris is a stinking Arab.”
A consequential election
I belong to the 28 percent of Israelis, perhaps more, who are cautiously pinning their hopes on Harris. We trust her democratic values far more than Trump’s value-blind swagger. We prefer her steeliness over his aggression, her good sense over his rancor, her optimism over his self-pity. Harris’s human empathy for Gazan innocents, in our view, does her credit, alongside her genuine support of Israel’s right to exist in peace.
Speaking for myself, I believe that no friend of Israel can currently remain a friend of Netanyahu and his government, which has become incompatible with the historical objectives of Zionism: security, liberty, civic solidarity and international legitimacy.
A true friend of Israel must help us free the surviving hostages—at present Biden is doing more for that cause than Netanyahu—and then defeat Hamas and Hezbollah and thwart Iran. We will surely need the help of some pinpointed military strikes, but the only final way to defeat deadly Islamist fanaticism is political. Our best prospect is a tough, patient and strong-nerved regional negotiation, leading to a territorial compromise. It will be a long and careful road toward two states, the Palestinian one demilitarized for at least a generation. I cannot see Trump embarking on such a road, because it will require numerous brave, honest and selfless moments. But it’s reasonable to hope Harris’s leadership, analytic powers and strong moral personality will be up to it. In an era of unspeakable cruelty, enormous stakes and a scarcity of responsible adults, this is as good a hope as any.
Fania Oz-Salzberger is an Israeli essayist, political activist and history professor emerita at the University of Haifa.
Take a look at your own Anti Semitism Monitor and tell me again why Biden -Harris has been so good for American Jews.
I’ll wait while you tabulate the horrific rise of assaults, intimidation, burglaries, vandalism and death of Jews and Jewish businesses all over our country while they have been in office.
Hint: it’s not the white good ‘ole boys in their pick ups from the hills of Kentucky who are causing this frightening wave of anti Semitism at Columbia, NYU, HARVARD, U Penn, and dozens of other elite “ Centers of Learning.”
While you’re tabulating ~ look, really look at who is terrorizing the Jews on the streets of New York City, Washington DC and LA.
If you don’t know this…. You should. Check out your university alma maters and how they have contributed to this unexpected and dangerous Jew hate
“While they have been in office” : Six words that say “I don’t know what I’m talking about but I’m not above casting aspersions to pretend I’ve proven my biases”
gee Amy.. you forgot the Haitians who are eating “cat”…..
In agree that Biden, along with most politicians, were strong supporters of Israel in the early months after October 7th. However, when the large Arab population in the swing states of MI and WI announced they would not support Biden unless he stopped selling military supplies to Israel, Biden’s top democrats, including Chuck Schumer, Liz Warren, Nancy Pelosi and others turned on Israel like feral cats. Also, while casually speaking to a small crowd at the Minnesota State Fair recently, Tim Walz was asked about the six hostages who had just been murdered by Hamas. Clutching his vanilla milkshake, Walz practically sprinted from the cameras without answering. One last point: Who can forget in a 1982 Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, then Senator Biden threatened Menachem Begin with cutting off military aid for Israel’s campaign in Lebanon. Begin responded: “I’m not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history… We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.” As 2024 Presidential candidate Donald Trump remarked, if you support Israel and vote for Kamala, you need to have your head examined.