By Al Weinstein
The problem with Trump jokes:
Republicans don’t think they’re funny, and Democrats don’t think they’re jokes.
It seems like a no-brainer. Of course they are. Why even ask this question?
Maybe because over recent months we’ve seen Jews marching with and supporting pro-Palestinian protestors: Senator Schumer has come out for a cease fire; J Street has couched the problem as one of Israel’s making because the Palestinians don’t have a homeland.
The Palestinian position is a bit different. It is that they want a homeland but would like all the Jews to be killed. It’s in their charter.
Jews are constantly bending over backward and rationalizing. The opposition doesn’t rationalize. They want Jews dead.
The upcoming election is effectively between Biden and Trump. In general, we don’t like Biden but as Jews, in general, we absolutely despise Trump.
Biden was unequivocally supportive of Israel–until he wasn’t. When he started getting pushback from his Progressive anti-Semites he did a full-court press on Netanyahu trying to get him to accept a cease-fire and then not attack Rafah which would have effectively granted Hamas a victory. As a follow-up, Biden then withheld arms shipments as punishment for non-compliance. Fortunately, Netanyahu resisted him. Biden’s motivations appeared to be political. The one thing in life that Biden has been good at is politics. Now that there’s been a backlash and he’s realizing that the pro-Palestinians are not forgiving him anyway he has announced resuming arms to Israel. But he’s still courting both sides. His policy is not coherent. Trump despite his recent conviction (we’re still not sure what he was convicted of) seems to understand the Gazan situation more clearly.
Trump when president presided over the Abraham Accords, moved the American embassy to Jerusalem and did many other things on behalf of Israel. And yet 80% of American Jews who take pride in being liberals helped elect and voted for Biden who has done nothing for Israel. Trump commented on this lack of gratitude and was criticized for it. Biden has been both supportive and condemning of Israel at the same time.
Ironically, the main person in the Democratic Party who is forcefully speaking out for Israel is Senator John Fetterman who is not Jewish. Who’da thunk it.
Note: Israel doesn’t target civilians, they target Hamas. Israel doesn’t rape and they don’t indiscriminately murder. Hamas hides among the very civilians on whose behalf they purportedly started this war so predictably as Israel attacks Hamas warriors civilians are hit. It’s war.
Hamas targeted Israeli civilians in the most cruel and vicious ways. Many seem to have forgotten or at least put it on the back burner that over 250 hostages were taken, including many elderly, women, and children. Over 130 are still hostage. One can only speculate as to the horrors that these hostages are still experiencing. But all the conversation is about the Palestinian civilians who elected Hamas and largely support what they did on October 7th. And all the pressure is on Israel who is responding to an unprovoked massacre.
When Iran was threatening to attack Israel recently Biden, Blinken, and Austin all had the same warning for Iran which they issued forcefully. “DON’T”. Well, Iran did and predictably Biden did not respond, similar to Obama’s threat to Syria not to again use poison gas on their civilian population. Syria did and Obama did nothing.
But when I converse with my many American Jewish friends the topic is exclusively Trump. They’re not happy with Biden or Harris but can’t get to supporting Trump. And the comments about Trump contain every disparaging thing they can say about him. With great emotion and heavy usage of four-letter words.
When Iran was threatening to attack Israel recently Biden, Blinken, and Austin all had the same ominous warning for Iran. “DON’T”. Well, they did, and predictably Biden did not respond. Similar to Obama’s threat to Syria not to again use poison gas on their civilian population. They did and Obama did nothing.
It should be noted that Trump has already served a term as president and all the terrible things his detractors said about him didn’t come to pass. He didn’t start any wars and the world was far more peaceful than it is today. The economy was good, gas prices down and stable and he creatively handled the immigration and Afghanistan situations. Crime was nowhere where it is today.
And there is this issue with the international rules of war. Hamas micro-waved babies, raped women and girls in front of their families, and slaughtered 256 unarmed civilian concertgoers using military-grade weaponry yet it is Israel under intense scrutiny and international condemnation. No other country that might have suffered the kind of terroristic attack like October 7th would be scrutinized and criticized this way. The world and Biden are unfair to Israel.
It’s an undisputed fact that Israel is far more militarily powerful than Hamas. Or that Israel would have retaliated for the horrific attack from Hamas. But somehow Israel is expected to rise to an impossible standard and not only not engage in the barbarism that Hamas inflicted but make sure that Palestinian civilians are not harmed despite serving as shields for the perpetrators. And there is the expectation that Israel makes efforts to supply or allow supplies to the very Palestinians who seek their demise. It’s been reported that Hamas is actually impeding the transfer of supplies to its people and likes it when the Palestinian body count goes up for propaganda purposes.
And who do we hear this from, none other than President Joe Biden who can’t seem to decide what to do and when. He threatens to stop arms to Israel and then we find they are sent. He is trying to satisfy both the pro-Palestinian Progressives and the less radical Democrats including the Jewish Democrats who have by and large become timid.
The strategy of Hamas, which sadly is working, is that though Israel is more capable militarily they must be prevented from being able to utilize their military in a way that would achieve a victory. Only pressure and unity among the sane and fair people of the world including our own Jews can help get this resolved. There must be a way for Israel to put enough pressure on them to influence the decision. This is not likely to happen under Biden or the Democrats. So the next election will have massive repercussions for Israel and Jews. We’d better make the right decision.
Some may hate his personality and demeanor and things he says but the prospect is that Trump will be far better for Israel than Biden. That’s not a high bar.
While Hamas continues their evil quest which has continued since 1948 to deny Israel their existence in defiance of international law we as American Jews are not being vocal enough and not demanding the Jewish elected officials be stronger with Biden and the Democratic Party. Cowering from the Progressives is not a good look. In fact, we keep making excuses for them.
And we have failed to make the case to all the pro-Palestinian ignorants out there who have been misled into believing that Israel has its land unjustly. Most of the pro-Palestinians are clueless and vulnerable to the lies that Israel usurped their land.
If Jews truly support Israel, words and feelings are not enough. You have to vote and be vocal about it. Otherwise, we are not truly supporting Israel and we share the blame for the suffering they, our fellow Jews, endure. At this time Jewish American support for Israel is at best equivocal. This must change to absolute and unequivocal support.
