Israel Doesn’t Need A Friendly US President, and rather than debate which candidate would be more supportive of Israel, we should focus instead on how Israel can achieve real independence & no longer feel that our country is so vulnerable to the results of US elections.
ed note–yes, it’s a week after the elections in the US, but the following OpEd needs to be read and understood for what was, is, and will be going on behind the scenes and under the water’s edge that most people (including unfortunately a large percentage of those who consider themselves ‘wise’ to the ways of Judea) fail to grasp.
Firsto is the following fact, ladies and Gentile-men–
Donald Trump is not (yet) the President of the United States…
…and, just as important is that–
The strong possibility exists that Donald Trump will not be President of the United States…
We hate to have to explain things at their most elementary level in this fashion ladies and Gentile-men, but he doesn’t become ‘President Elect’ until the electors from the states vote for him, which is an entire month from now. Following this–assuming that it takes place–the votes are then taken to the Congress where this gal–
–Kamala Harris, VP of the United States, presides over the vote count, after which time, IF she decides to certify the vote, it becomes official that Trump has been elected POTUS.
Now, a LOT can happen between now and January 6th when the votes are tallied and certified and with Harris–who has no inclination whatsoever in seeing this process take place–giving her official stamp of approval on it. A terrible terrorist attack that cripples the nation, (blamed on Iran of course under the guise that Iran hates Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani) Trump actually being assassinated or him being sentenced to prison for the 34 felony convictions that were leveled against him in NY state–ALL OF THESE AND MORE could & may be part of the screenplay that the world is about to witness in Israel’s drive to keep Trump and his ‘Deal of the Century’ from being imposed upon Netanyahu’s Pirate State that right now is moving heaven, hell and everything in between in getting WWIII/Armageddon started.
Now the reason the essay below is important is as follows–
Far too many people, FAR TOO MANY, are easily seduced and swayed with political superficialities put out for public consumption, and this includes unfortunately huge swaths within the ‘911 truth movement’ and other groups organized along anti-Zionist/pro-Palestinian lines. They see pictures of Trump and Netanyahu shaking hands and the air of cordiality that SEEMS to exist between the 2 at the moment that the camera goes ‘click’ and assume from this that the 2 are ‘BFF’s and that there is no bad blood between them, when in fact, this is not the case–AT ALL.
As we have pointed out for many years here at this humble little informational endeavor, the truth of the matter is that Trump and Netanyahu didn’t get along–AT ALL–beginning within a mere ONE MONTH after Trump took the reins of power when he hosted Netanyahu at the White House in February of 2017 to launch his plans for the ‘Deal of the Century’ that would have put the kibosh on Netanyahu’s plans for Armageddon in the Middle East. This fact–as well as much more, was/is validated in the book ‘Trump’s Peace’ by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid who actually sat down with Trump face-to-face on several occasions and wherein Trump revealed what was the real ‘skinny’ between him and Netanyahu.
Now, to the point of the following essay–
The outfit that wrote/published this essay is as close to the ‘beating heart’ of Likud as one can get. It is the voice of the settler movement, of Netanyahu and of fellow travelers such as Ben Gvir and Smotrich and of the entire ‘Greater Israel’ braintrust that planned/set into motion Israel’s self-inflicted wounds sustained on Oct. 7th, as well as everything that has taken place since that time.
Yes, we know, it’s tedious pouring over information such as this and not nearly as emotionally-satisfying as being able to say ‘Trump is owned by d’Jooz and is going to give them the same WWIII they demand cuz’ he and Netanyahu are BFFs’, but the thing about the truth is that it is what it is, and those who ignore it because they find it too ugly or too painful do so only to their own detriment.
by Vision Magazine
As Election Day approaches in the United States against the backdrop of a broadening war in West Asia, debates continue to rage over the question of how the outcome of a race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump might impact the future of the Jewish State and of the region.
The conventional wisdom amongst most Israelis and pro-Israel Diaspora Jews has been that another Trump presidency would be far more beneficial to Israel than a Harris administration and that Jews should therefore throw their support behind the former president.
There are of course Liberal Zionists, as well as Jews who see themselves as both “liberal” and “Zionist” (without falling into the official Liberal Zionist camp), who’ve put forward arguments for why their perception of Israel’s interests could best be met by a Kamala Harris presidency. But the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Israel supporters abroad have for the most part accepted the premise that Trump is the candidate most likely to strengthen the US-Israel relationship and support Israel in our current war against Iran and its regional proxies.
This would make sense given the fact that Trump and his rightist political base tend to hold more surface-level positive views of Israel while Harris appears closer to a constituency more supportive of Palestinians.
But a closer examination makes clear that this breakdown centers around ideology, values, and a misunderstanding of Israel.
The pro-Israel voices in Trump’s camp largely support Israel because they see it as an extension of American power. In their perception of a conflict between Western civilization and a savage Islamic world, they see Israel as a bulwark of the West nestled in the heart of a decisive region for protecting US imperial interests.
While many of Harris’s liberal supporters might hold a milder version of this view, there’s also a significant camp within her base that is vocally critical of US imperialism, America’s colonial past, and how they see that ugly past mirrored in Israel’s contemporary treatment of Palestinians. For many of these people, curtailing Israel’s wrongs can have a redemptive effect on America’s past, demonstrating that the US has evolved to the point of opposing the kinds of injustice upon which it was founded.
But if we look at Israeli society as it actually exists, identify Israel’s deeper aspirations/national interests, and analyze the current challenges confronting the Jewish people, our understanding of next week’s US election changes.
For starters, Israeli and US interests don’t always align. In fact, every US administration since 1967 (including Trump) has consistently shown that Washington opposes an Israeli presence in the territories won during the Six-Day War. But these territories, specifically the West Bank, constitute the cradle of Jewish civilization – the very places that our people have been struggling to return to for nearly 2,000 years.
The West Bank also constitutes the central mountain region overlooking Israel’s densest population centers, national parliament, and airport. One of the most significant conclusions reached during this war is that Israeli leaders had been mistaken to surrender territory at Washington’s behest. So while US policy makers continue to see a “two-state solution” as a central objective for US policy in our region, Israelis are now more reluctant than ever to accept the further partition of our land. This will likely raise tensions between Washington and Jerusalem in the coming years, regardless of who wins this presidential election.
Supporters of both candidates are also wrong about Israel being an extension of American power and part of Western civilization. It may be true that “early Israel” (Israel’s westernized ruling class) has long tried to present the Jewish state this way. But this sector of the population has been rapidly shrinking in recent years in favor of a “later Israel” (Ḥaredi, Mizraḥi, national-religious Jews, etc. that all experienced marginalization at the hands of “early Israel”) and that sees itself as having far less in common with the West.
What’s more is the fact that Washington’s overt support for “early Israel” in its domestic cultural conflict with “later Israel” has given the latter group a healthy distrust of Uncle Sam.
Like Kamala Harris, Donald Trump is happy to provide support for a Western Israeli state that is dependent on American power and embraces a two-state paradigm, but that’s not what Israel came home from exile to become. In fact, Israel, in returning to its true identity, worldview, and values system would inevitably pit us against US imperialism and its impact on humanity.
So if both Trump and Harris are likely to treat Israel as a vassal and to push for Jerusalem to surrender territory, the question we should ask is which candidate would be easier for Israeli leaders to resist, and the answer is obviously Harris. Just as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) found the courage to defy President Joe Biden’s administration at several points during this war, he would likely also be able to muster the courage to say no to Kamala, but an unstable narcissist like Trump, who already thinks Israel owes him for several gestures during his previous term, might be harder to refuse, and especially given his nature.
This is true not only for Prime Minister Netanyahu – who Trump has already blamed for the failure of his two-state “Deal of the Century” – but also for Israel’s national camp and rightwing Diaspora Jews. Pressure from Trump to surrender territory would be more difficult to resist than would be the same pressure from Harris.
In terms of Israel’s current war against Iran and its proxies, Trump has already made clear that he wants it to end before he takes office in January, while his running mate JD Vance has stated strong opposition to being dragged into a war with Iran. It’s important to Trump that he appear powerful and influential in comparison to Biden and, given Biden’s perceived impotence in controlling Netanyahu, Trump reigning in Israel might go a long way in demonstrating his Presidential strength.
Another important question to consider is Israel’s internal national development. In order to advance towards becoming the nation we came home to be, Israelis must increase a healthy desire for freedom from the US empire. This desire has grown and spread over the course of the last year but a Trump presidency that deploys shallow pro-Israel soundbites could potentially lull many Israelis back into the false hope of a strong US-Israel partnership.
On the surface, Donald Trump might appear as the ‘friendly’ president who ‘loves’ Israel while Kamala Harris appears as the ‘hostile’ president who ‘hates’ Israel and sides with our enemies. It would therefore be easier for Israelis and pro-Israel Diaspora Jews to mobilize in opposition to Harris than it would be to do so in opposition to Trump. Because most Israelis don’t yet understand that it’s the US empire itself that seeks to limit Israel’s growth, many can be seduced into a false sense of security by pro-Israel platitudes from friendly US political figures, something that we witnessed during Trump’s previous term when even those who normally lead resistance efforts against US pressure to cede land were effectively neutralized.
Kamala Harris’s open hostility, on the other hand, would likely increase Israel’s desire for independence and help advance Israeli society in a healthier direction.
So in addition to the fact that both candidates are likely to try forcing Israel to surrender land (or at the very least prevent Israel from rebuilding Jewish communities in Gaza) and Harris will be easier to resist, another strong argument for preferring a Harris victory would be her beneficial impact on Israel’s national development.
This is by no means a call for US Jews to vote for Harris or support her candidacy. In addition to the fact that she’s merely a puppet of her party’s donor class, Jews should see ourselves as belonging ONLY to the Jewish State and therefore should not participate in the elections of other nations. But it’s important for us to recognize that the cause of true Jewish liberation will be better served by a Harris presidency than it would be by a Trump presidency.
The reality we seek to attain is one in which the results of a US election have little impact on Israel. So rather than debate which presidential candidate would be more likely to support Israel or less likely to force destructive policies on us, we should focus instead the conversation more on the steps Israel should take to achieve real independence and no longer feel that our country is vulnerable to the results of American elections.