Potential Vice President of the United States - a true friend of Israel

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It has happened: Trump has become the Republican Party's presidential candidate. And I increasingly like his running mate - potential Vice President Mike Pence, who has repeatedly supported Israel. Pence approved of Israel's active actions against Hamas terrorists and harshly criticized Obama for making concessions to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, Israel itself is becoming a battleground in the 2016 US elections.

Indiana Governor Michael (Mike) Pence, 57, has visited Israel many times, including during the 2014 military operation in the Gaza Strip, talking with ordinary IDF soldiers and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling 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.”

Governor Mike Pence communicates with soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, 2014. Photo: IDF press service.

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 as battlefield in 2016 elections in the USA

It is interesting that within Israel itself, experts and the media radically disagree in their assessment of the confrontation between the Trump-Pence Republicans and the Hillary Clinton Democratic team. Moreover, the fault line clearly runs through the division between the right and left in Israel. For most countries of the world, the 2016 US elections are distant electoral battles. But this is not felt at all in Israel, where the election of a new US president is also an important issue of domestic politics.

Right-wing politicians - primarily from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, as well as Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party - in one form or another speak out in favor of the Republicans - they see the "party elephant" of their ideological brethren and hope for a change in the White House's course towards a "strong hand" and toughness against Islamic terror.

At the same time, left-wing Israeli politicians from the Zionist Camp and Meretz bloc are hoping for the victory of Hillary Clinton’s Democrats and for Washington’s continued pressure on Israel to “force peace” with the Arabs and eliminate the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria. The left in Israel understands: if Trump and Pence are elected president of the United States in the 2016 elections, their tandem will become concrete support for consolidating the power of right-wing parties in Israel.

The pages of the Israeli press show that the left-wing newspaper Haaretz day after day praises Hillary Clinton in dozens of articles and creates the image of a monster out of Donald Trump. In contrast, American billionaire and GOP donor Sheldon Adelson's right-leaning newspaper, Israel Ha-Yom, is filled with positivity about Trump and his Republican team.

Another reason for the bitter confrontation in the Israeli media over the Trump-Clinton fight is that Israel is one of the few countries in the world that is home to tens of thousands of US citizens eligible to vote in elections. There is also a struggle for their voices with the involvement of Israeli media.

The Republican tandem of Donald Trump and Mike Pence is clearly the preferred option for Israel. The Democratic administration has already managed to show itself in all its “glory” for eight years - putting pressure on Israel, supporting Islamists and stimulating chaos in the Middle East.

If the potential President Trump is a rather unpredictable figure on a personal level, then his unpredictability is better than the firmly predicted pro-Arab position of potential President Hillary Clinton, which is well known to Israel, arm twisting and demands to stop any Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria.

And with a vice president like Mike Pence, Israel will have a loyal and sincere friend in Washington. By the way, in recent American history there have been several cases when vice presidents suddenly assumed the presidency mid-term - this happened with Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford. Who knows whether, over time, Mike Pence himself will become a future president if Trump wins.