Israelis Support Trump While Palestinians — Working with Biden — Desperately Await His Defeat

While Jewish Israelis are overwhelmingly hoping and praying for a Trump re-election, the Palestinians have long awaited a Trump defeat which could reverse much of the strong policies that the Biden campaign has indicated it would not seek to uphold. 

Jewish Israelis’ growing support of President Trump is in part due to the Trump administration’s stronghanded policies in dealing with the Palestinians and Iran, the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the relocation of the U.S. embassy there, as well as the recent epic peace agreements with Gulf and Muslim countries, with more in the foreseeable future.

The peace deals were deemed by senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, as an abandonment of the Palestinian cause, saying it amounted to “a stab in the back” and “treason.”

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded President Trump’s Mideast policies, telling reporters that the alliance between the two countries “has never been stronger” as he expressed his appreciation for steps taken by the Trump administration and his hopes for continued bipartisan support.

WATCH: PM @netanyahu hopes President @realDonaldTrump's policies on Iran and Middle East peace continue after #Elections2020, the Prime Minister tells Alex @Traiman of @jns_org. pic.twitter.com/oD61B6sW49

— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) November 1, 2020

“We will wait and see whether the election will mean a continuation or a disruption of US policy toward Israel,” said Danny Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., adding Israel is in a “much better place” as a result of Trump’s policies.

In the meantime, Palestinians see the prospect of a second Trump term as disastrous. 

“If we are going to live another four years with President Trump, God help us, God help you and God help the whole world,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said last month in a meeting with a group of European parliamentarians.

“There is nobody who could possibly be stupider than he is. He has been the worst American president as far as our cause is concerned. The most important thing as far as we are concerned is that Trump goes,” said Nabil Shaath, a senior adviser to PA President Abbas.

Abbas and his deputies are desperate for a Biden electoral victory, believing he will be more supportive of the Palestinian cause as he has come out strongly against Israeli annexation plans, criticized the Trump peace plan, and voiced support for a two-state solution satisfactory to the Palestinian leadership.

Recently, two senior Palestinian officials confirmed that the PA is in direct communication with the election campaign of US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. 

In addition, Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris indicated Saturday in an interview via email with The Arab American News that under a Biden administration, the US will renew its ties with the Palestinians and oppose Israeli unilateral actions that undermine a two-state solution.

Harris added that a Biden administration will take immediate steps to restore economic assistance to the Palestinians, attempt to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) mission in Washington. 

“We will also oppose annexation and settlement expansion,” she noted.

According to a poll published on Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute, the majority of Israelis believe President Trump is the better candidate in the U.S. presidential elections in regard to Israel’s national interests. 

October’s survey points to an increase in support for the president among Jewish Israelis, reaching 70 percent who favor Trump and up 10 percent from June. Surprisingly, 40 percent of Israeli leftists said that Trump is preferable in terms of Israeli interests. 

Many Jewish Israelis believe that Biden’s election would weaken US-Israeli relations, with only seven percent stating they believed it would strengthen. 

On Monday, Jewish settler heads held a public prayer event for President Trump’s victory at Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, revered by all three Abrahamic faiths as the burial place of the biblical patriarchs.  

Chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, Mark Zell, also participated in the event, stating the site was especially appropriate to express gratitude for all that Trump has done for the Jews and Israel during his presidential term.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to President Trump for four good years and for his support of the State of Israel, the land of Israel and the settlement enterprise,” said Yochai Damri, head of the Hebron regional council and the event’s organizer. “The polls are close and we are gathering to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs for his success.”

“We have come to bless President Trump, both for the past, to thank him, but also for the future, that he succeeds in the coming election,” said Yishai Fleisher, spokesman for the Hebron settlers.

Over the weekend, a motorcade featuring dozens of motorbikes supporting President Trump in Jerusalem’s Old City went viral, marking the fourth Jewish “Trump train” within a week. 

The motorcycles, mostly Harley-Davidsons, sported Trump flags in both Hebrew and English, as well as Israeli and American flags.

RIDE BABY RIDE!!

The #IsraelisForTrump motorcycle motorcade coming out STRONG from Jaffa Gate in the Old City of #Jerusalem@realDonaldTrump #4MoreYears pic.twitter.com/7nSF564uRY

— Yishai Fleisher يشاي ישי פליישר 🕎 (@YishaiFleisher) October 31, 2020

Last month, Israel’s top rabbis prayed for President Trump to recover from COVID-19, invoking his name in a Jewish holiday ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

“May He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon send healing to Donald John, son of Fred,” intoned Shmuel Rabinovitch, rabbi of the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, to the amens of Israel’s two chief rabbis.

On the Palestinian side, things have been quite different.

The PA has cut off all contact with the Trump administration and has refused to cooperate with Trump’s Deal of the Century peace plan. Furthermore, Trump halted millions of dollars of financial aid and closed the PLO office in Washington. 

“We are sure that if Biden wins, he will reassert the U.S. position on the two-state solution and order the PLO office in Washington reopened,” said one PA official.

The support for President Trump in Israel may have significant and practical ramifications.

As many as 300,000 American-Israelis are eligible to vote in the election according to some estimates, and many are registered in key swing states such as Pennsylvania and Florida. 

With elections here, the long-awaited outcome will decide not only the future direction of the U.S. but that of the world and the Middle East in specific. 

With a Biden administration soft on Iran and the Palestinians and with little hope in its ability to achieve historic peace agreements similar to the ones the Trump administration has, a reversal of current U.S. policies would likely bring back the failed ones of the Obama administration along with its consequences.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.