Clinton or Trump: who is better for Israel

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Many beautiful words are heard from US presidential candidates about Israel and the need for America to support a Jewish state. But how does Clinton and Trump really relate to Israel, and which of them does Israel itself prefer in 2016 elections?

Competitor parties about Israel

In the pre-election noise of the Democrats and the Republicans, the oaths about the inviolability of the union of the USA and Israel that have already become traditional are heard. These streams of words do not change for decades, accompanying any presidential campaign. Both presidential candidates assure Israel of their love and sympathy, and these praises have long since become traditional mantras aimed at obtaining both Jewish voices and voices of pro-Israel Christian evangelicals within the United States.

Let's see what, apart from the beautiful speeches, is documented in the electoral programs of the two leading political parties in America.

In July, 2016, both parties adopted at their congresses political platforms, which dealt with the attitude towards Israel.

The Republican Party Committee unanimously approved 3 important amendments related to Israel. The principle of “two states for two peoples,” implying the creation of an Arab state in Judea and Samaria, was excluded from the party program. The very mention of a “Palestinian state” completely disappeared from the text. The new Republican platform rejected "the false notion that Israel is an occupier." The capital of the Jewish state, Jerusalem, was designated as “indivisible.”

The Democrats also approved the party platform for Israel, but there was a significant critical vector for the Jewish state. Only because of a small margin was rejected the requirement for Israel to "put an end to the occupation and illegal construction in the settlements." Supporters of the ultra-left Democrat Bernie Sanders tried to make this amendment to the party’s platform.

As a result, the platform of the Democratic Party does not call Jerusalem "the indivisible capital of Israel" and calls for the implementation of the project "two states for two nations", which, according to the democrats, is the best solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The obvious difference in the accepted documents of the two opposing parties is the principle of attitude towards Israel: if in the Democratic political platform Israel is criticized as an “occupier” and forced to give in, the Republican platform is initially based on Israel’s correctness and the need to take into account and protect its interests in the first place .

Clinton about Israel

In the summer and autumn of 2016, the former state secretary said many good words to Israel, promising as the US president "to renew and confirm the inextricable link with Israel and Netanyahu." Hillary Clinton stressed that she "was on the side of Israel throughout her career." In Israel itself, these words were met with smiles.

Here, they remember well how Secretary of State Clinton pressed Israel, twisted her arms to the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and sharply criticized any Jewish construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Clinton's role in stirring up chaos in the Middle East during the so-called “Arab Spring” is also well remembered. In Jerusalem, Clinton’s position in the preparation of a nuclear agreement with Iran, which Israel considers a threat to its national security, is also remembered.

The legacy of the Democratic administration, in which Hillary Clinton occupied a key place, also includes a markedly increased level of US espionage against Israel. According to Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, “the goal of the war (Obama administration with Israel) — bring the government to its knees so that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lose power or beg Obama and his advisers to lead Israel through a “peace process” in which Israel will give up its rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. One of the components of this war is espionage. According to The Wall Street Journal, Israel is the top target of American espionage.”

Nevertheless, in all public speeches of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, repeated statements about the firmness of support for Israel are repeated. Just Clinton herself understands this support is not at all the way it is understood in Israel.

Experts note that Hillary’s permanent pro-Israel motives are also based on the fact that more than 50% of the largest sponsors of the Democratic Party are American Jews, with whom Clinton prefers to stay in warm relations.

It is important to note that traditionally American Jews vote more for Democrats than for Republicans - by an average ratio of 75% to 25%. And for many Jewish voters in key states such as Florida, dubbed "Jewish retiree paradise," words of support for Israel are the minimum they expect from their presidential candidate. And Hillary Clinton honestly fulfills this verbal minimum for their ears.

Trump about Israel

Donald Trump, even a few years before his nomination, was a regular guest of honor at the New York Independence Day parades in Israel, passing by his skyscraper on Fifth Avenue with thousands of American friends of Israel. Trump’s public hostility toward Muslims is also perceived as part of his pro-Israeli views.

If Clinton said that she had helped Israel throughout her career, then Trump swung even deeper: “I have supported Israel since its birth. My father, Fred Trump, also supported the Jewish state. Israel needs my support as president of the United States. ”

Donald Trump's "Israeli quote book" contains such statements:

“They (Israelis) actually think that Obama hates Israel. I am sure that this is the way it is. ”

"Israel is mired in such a huge number of problems because of the agreement with Iran, bad and dangerous for Israel."

"Israel will be safe if I become president of the United States."

“I don’t blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for being unhappy with our president or the United States. We don't care about them. We repeatedly fail to do what we should do.”
"Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons while the entire Islamic Republic cries for the death of Israel and the States."

But to the direct question of which side he supports in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Trump answered that he was neutral. For this, Republican Senator Ted Cruz came down on him: “This week Donald Trump said in a television program that he would be neutral in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. I will, without apologizing to anyone, support the state of Israel. I am not neutral, choosing the side between the murderers and innocent citizens targeted by these murderers. ”

In another interview, Trump said: “Much depends on whether Israel agrees to make certain sacrifices. Israel may not agree to this, I understand that, but then they will not be able to come to a peace agreement. ” At the same time, Trump called the Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria "a giant stumbling block" on the road to peace negotiations.

Trips to Israel are a kind of tradition for the leading candidates for the presidency of the United States for many cadences in a row. Before the elections, George Bush, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney came to Israel. And only Donald Trump canceled his visit to Israel on 2015-2016.

In his nomination speech at the Republican Party Convention in Cleveland 21 in July, Trump called Israel "America's greatest ally" in the region, and never mentioned the Palestinian Arabs.

He stated that Hillary Clinton’s legacy in the Middle East is “death, destruction, and weakness.”

Who is anti-Semitic?

It is difficult to talk about the anti-Semitism of the two main US presidential candidates, given that both Clinton and Trump’s daughters married Jews. Trump's daughter even went through the giyur - the transition to Judaism.

Nevertheless, experts point out a significant number of anti-Semites and white racists among the far-right side of Donald Trump's electorate. For balance, we note that among the far-left part of the electorate Hillary Clinton there are anti-Semitic voices, including among African Americans.

On a third televised debate against Clinton in October 2016, Trump brought into the studio as his supporter Malik Obama - brother of the US president for his father. Malik Obama, a black Muslim, previously appeared in the media with his 2010 photo of the year in Yemen, on which the neck of Trump's current ally was decorated with a scarf by the terrorist organization Hamas. There are Arabic inscriptions on the scarf: “Our Jerusalem - we go” and “From the river to the sea”, which implies the claims of the Palestinians to the entire territory from Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea - with the liquidation of Israel as such.

The performance of Donald Trump to the main Jewish donors and activists of the Republican Party within the Republican Jewish Coalition was shocking. Addressing the Jewish millionaires and public figures sitting in the hall, Trump said: “Is there at least one person in this hall who does not make a deal?” Perhaps in this room there are more delyag than anywhere else. You are not going to support me, because I do not need your money. You want to control the politicians of your choice, I understand. "

These words of the presidential candidate were perceived by many American Jews as using anti-Semitic stereotypes that depict Jews greedy and eager to control a candidate for the highest office in the country.

According to the Jewish Week, one of the participants of this congress wrote on Twitter after Trump’s speech: “If this is not anti-Semitism, then what is anti-Semitism? '.

Donald Trump speaks at a congress of Jewish activists of the Republican Party. Photo: freeze-frame from the TV screen.

Bad sediment remained from the personal comments on Twitter of Trump himself to the famous TV presenter John Stewart, whom Trump called Jonathan Leibowitz. The disclosure of Jewish surnames under the pseudonyms of cultural figures was practiced in the Stalinist USSR, but it looks wild in the modern USA.

The result of Trump’s “attacks” on Jews was that he was completely ignored by the main Jewish structure of the Republican Party: the Republican Jewish Coalition, even now - at the peak of the presidential campaign at the end of October 2016 - does not mention a word about the candidate from its own party on its website. the official website. While in previous cadenzas, this structure has actively promoted Republican candidates in all presidential elections.

Vice Presidents and Israel

Potential Democratic Vice President - 58-year-old Senator Tim Kane - is known for his criticism of the position of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally.

Kane pointedly did not come to Congress during a Netanyahu speech against a nuclear deal with Iran, which Israel considers a strategic threat to its security. The deal with Iran itself was approved by Congress, including thanks to the voice of Tim Kane.

However, Kane has good contacts with US Jewish organizations and is in favor of maintaining religious freedoms. He supported the opening in his staff of the factory for the production of Israeli hummus.

J Street’s radical left-wing Jewish structure, which unites American supporters of hard pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Arabs, issued a statement in support of the choice of Tim Kane as a partner of Hillary Clinton in the struggle for the White House.

In turn, the Republican Jewish Coalition published a statement with angry condemnation of such a choice, noting all the political "sins" of Kane in front of Israel and the security of the United States.

Trump's Republican running mate in the presidential race is the 57-year-old governor of Indiana. Michael (Mike) Pence visited Israel many times, as did Tim Kane. But Pence, unlike Kane, did not hesitate to communicate with ordinary soldiers of the IDF during the military operation 2014 of the year against terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

In a dialogue with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mike Pence called Israel “the most important ally of the United States.” In December 2015, Mike Pence spoke from the Republican Jewish Coalition podium, declaring: “Israel's enemies are our enemies. A challenge to Israel is a challenge to us.”

In 2016, as governor of Indiana, he signed a law prohibiting the state from any dealings with companies boycotting Israel. He is associated with Christian conservative circles among Republicans and declares: "My support for Israel is rooted in the Christian faith."

Opening the second Indiana-Israel business forum in June 2016, Governor Mike Pence said: "As the strongest and most important US ally in the Middle East, Israel is also a key partner for the economic development of our state."

Israel: both are dangerous

To summarize, it must be said that both US presidential candidates and their partners - potential vice presidents - are verbally full of sympathy for Israel and promise to take care of its security. The only problem is that behind the beautiful words there are often no practical actions.

Certainly, for many years, there has been a personal dislike of the administration of the Democrats of Barack Obama to the right uncompromising government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The US State Department even tried through front public organizations to replenish Netanyahu’s defeat in the last elections in Israel. They did not succeed, but the sediment of mutual distrust only increased.

One of the key sponsors of the ruling party of Israel and Netanyahu’s personal friend, an American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is a staunch Republican and cannot tolerate the Obama-Clinton Democrats team.

The Donald Trump campaign headquarters that opened in Israel is clearly supported by Israelis center-right views, who see the unduly “left” Hillary Clinton as a threat to Israel’s security.

Israel’s right-wing forces felt much more comfortable under Republican President George W. Bush than under Obama. All of this, taken together, would lead to the idea that a victory for Republican Donald Trump in 2016 was much more beneficial for Israel.

In fact, this is not so simple. Trump's unpredictable nature scares the Israeli leadership. His speeches about the need to reduce US spending on helping foreign allies cause great concern in Jerusalem.

In practice, Israel signed a record military agreement with the Democratic administration in September 2016: the United States guaranteed $ 38 billion in military aid for the next 10 years. Netanyahu decided to sign an agreement just before the 2016 election, although he could easily pull time before the 2017 year. Apparently, the head of the Israeli government decided that neither under President Trump nor under President Clinton would he receive more than he suggested.

In fact, none of the top candidates for the top post in the US is 100% pro-Israel, as they are not completely enemies of Israel.

If Hillary Clinton, with her pro-Arab foreign policy and experience of putting pressure on Jerusalem, is a guaranteed evil for Israel, then Donald Trump, with his explosive temperament and “everything can be bought and sold” business approach, is a guaranteed chaos both within America and in the Middle East. The choice is up to the Americans.

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