“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed,”
Well, I have voted for Democrats and I can assure everyone that I neither hate my religion nor everything about Israel. Quite the contrary.
To be fair, Trump was obviously talking about now and specifically about the next election. But even though his comments are way over the top, there is a grain of truth to them. For example there are unfortunately a lot of secular Jews that could not care less about Israel. Especially younger secular Jews. In some cases they could not care less even about their own Judaism.
The good news is that a lot of Democrats do support Israel. Some very strongly – such as the US senator from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman. And he is not alone.
Then there are Democrats that strongly support Israel but despise its freely elected leader – such as the current president and and the senate Majority leader. And of course there is the progressive wing of the party led by Jew haters Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
The plain truth is that the vast majority of American Jews do vote for Democrats and probably despise Netanyahu as much as Biden and Schumer do. And the vast majority of those are either secular or heterodox Jews. (There are still a lot of Orthodox Jews that vote for Democrats, but that has been changing dramatically over the past few years. Only a relatively small minority of Orthodox Jews vote for Democrats these days.)
Support for Israel by mainstream Democrats is still pretty strong. But there is one major difference between them and the Israeli populace. Democrats as a whole support the 2-state solution. They believe (naively in m view) that this will end the hostilities. I believe it will very likely increase them. And yet the 2-state solution is a cornerstone of Democratic foreign policy with respect to the Arab-Israeli conflict. A policy that would be suicidal if Israel were to accept it now or at anytime in the foreseeable future.
It is also true that the disastrous ‘Iran nuclear deal’ essentially greenlighted Iran’s export of terror to nations and groups dedicated to - not only the destruction of Israel, but to the destruction of the US and all of Western civilization. That contributed mightily to the terrorist attack by their proxy, Hamas, on October 7th
It is mostly Democratic members of congress that have been suggesting that the US use its leverage with Israel to get them to cease fire in Gaza. Thus allowing Hamas to survive.
And it is the Democrats that despise Israel's freely elected leader. Which ironically is a feeling currently shared by a large segment (majority?) of the Israeli electorate.
True - Trump’s comments were a gross exaggeration. But when Trump says that Jews voting for Democrats would mean Israel would be destroyed - is not all that far off. I have myself said that the above-mentioned Democratic policies can easily have a negative impact on Israel’s existence.
On the other hand - it should not be lost on anyone that Republican support for Israel is not contingent on who their leader is. Nor is their support contingent on how Israel is prosecuting its war against Hamas.
It was on the former president’s watch that the US embassy was moved to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. Recognized as such by him too. And that stated the ball rolling in a few other countries.
It was on his watch that the Abraham Accords took place where there are now diplomatic relations and an exchange of commerce with a few Arab countries who dropped their demands for a Palestinian state before exchanging ambassadors.
It was on Trump’s watch where the 2 state solution was determined to be a pipe dream and abandoned.
What about all the antisemitism he raked up while in office? What about all the antisemitic hate groups that consider Trump their leader? Yes. All true. But the above-mentioned facts with respect to Israel cannot be denied.
What about Trump’s accusation that Jews who vote for Democrats hate their religion? That too is both absurd and outrageous. But there is even an element of truth there too. If one looks at the demographics of Democratic Jewish voters versus Republican Jewish voters one will find that the vast majority of the former are secular or heterodox while the vast majority of the latter are Orthodox.
The reason is that secular and heterodox Jewish Democrats place a much higher value on modern day interpretations of social justice in the mistaken belief that this is what Judaism demands in all circumstances. It’s not that they hate Judaism. it’s just that they don’t understand it.
Orthodox Jewish Republicans place a much higher values on Halacha and considers religious freedom to be paramount. Far outweighing any socials justice policies that would contradict it. When the two conflict, Orthodox Jews favor religious freedom over social justice. Secular and heterodox Jews will favor social justice over religious freedom.
When justices of the Supreme court are chosen by Democrats they will choose social justice warriors. When they are chosen by Republicans they will choose religious freedom warriors. Trump chose the latter.
So what Trump said is indeed outrageous but somewhat understandable in this light.
Please do not misunderstand. I am in no way endorsing the former president’s reelection. There is more wrong with him than there is right. The litany of what’s wrong is way too long to list. (Besides, I’ve already done that more than a few times.)
But neither would I endorse the current president’s reelection. Much as I appreciate his support for Israel up to this point, I’m not at all happy with what he’s been saying lately. To say the least.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
