The Biden-Harris and Trump Scorecard

If there are any undecided Jewish voters left for next Tuesday’s razor-tight presidential election, we offer this policy “scorecard” to compare policies affecting our community. This scorecard won’t include any grades or suggest who you should vote for. Instead, we offer condensed highlights from 2016 to the present so you can get a better idea of where each candidate stands on key Jewish issues. Above all, don’t forget to vote!

Jewish Affairs and the Administrations

When giving remarks to American Jewish audiences, Trump has been friendly and frank, with boisterous, unsolicited commentary. Like Biden, he has given very formal remarks at Yad Vashem. In various other circumstances, he has dropped the script. At the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and Israeli-American Council (IAC) conferences in 2019, he directly ridiculed the majority of the American Jewish community, who traditionally vote Democratic, as either “uneducated” or “disloyal.” At the 2024 IAC Summit, Trump claimed that American Jews would be largely responsible if he loses the 2024 election and claimed repeatedly that Israel “won’t exist within two years” if Harris wins the presidency. The 45th president’s 2016 campaign included a video ad that featured the faces of notable Jewish figures with a voiceover about them being part of a “global power structure” that has “robbed our working class” and “stripped our country of its wealth.” After losing and contesting the election results in 2020 and talking down the January 6 insurrection, he was up in arms about Israeli PM Netanyahu’s congratulatory wishes to Joe Biden – exaggerating in his assessment that a “disloyal” Bibi was the first to send this message – despite Bibi waiting around twelve hours.

Across the aisle, Joe Biden would frequently give vaguely mustered responses to the press on his policies over the years. Biden refused to meet with Netanyahu in-person amid judicial reform protests for about a year, while Kamala Harris skipped the IAC and Prime Minister’s address to Congress this past July 25. However, she pulled no punches to condemn the pro-Hamas demonstrations, antisemitism, vandalism, and U.S. flag burning that happened outside Congress during Bibi’s address.

Trump has flexed his distinctive policies upholding Israeli sovereignty and freedom of action (especially on social media), wedging a gap by testing expectations on bipartisanship for Israel. For Jewish-Americans, Trump also advanced the parameters of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include oft-erased ethnic and national components of Jewish identity, so that the Department of Education would take seriously antisemitic discrimination complaints in universities and workplaces.

Seeking to surpass Trump, Biden released the first-ever National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism – robust and substantive, but with questionable partnerships in its making (cue CAIR) and mechanisms to ensure lasting implementation. On the other hand, the Biden-Harris administration called on the DOJ, DOE, and other federal agencies to work with university administrators and students to address campus antisemitism and condemned the encampments amid Israel’s multi-front war post-10/7. Periodically, the application of new inclusions of anti-Zionism have been systematically delayed. As much as Harris and Biden have prided themselves on fighting anti-Jewish hate, they have also wavered, depending on the audience. In response to young protesters at her events claiming “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, Kamala has at least twice delivered soft and affirmative-sounding responses. Her campaign has had to set the record straight otherwise, without her audible voice.

As much as Harris and Biden have prided themselves on fighting anti-Jewish hate, they have also wavered, depending on the audience.

Having taken over the Democratic presidential nominee ticket in July, Vice President Kamala Harris stuck out to attentive Jewish voters when she called out Trump on his Charlottesville remarks regarding antisemitic white supremacist marchers in the second presidential debate. Yet, she omitted that her own VP pick, Tim Walz, had essentially made a similar claim over the prior weekend about antisemitic pro-Hamas protesters in Michigan (as did Joe Biden about pro-Hamas protests at the DNC in Chicago).

During the Trump and Biden presidencies, commemorative statements on Jewish celebrations or tragedies had been well-written and with sincere intentions, but there were still “one-offs.”

During the Trump and Biden presidencies, commemorative statements on Jewish celebrations or tragedies had been well-written and with sincere intentions, but there were still “one-offs.” In a January 2023 address, Biden likened migrants crossing the U.S. border to Holocaust refugees. In his January 2017 statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day, Trump never specifically mentioned “Jews” as the victims. Furthermore, both presidents have appointed officials, invited campaign speakers, or had meetings with known antisemites – mostly not to spite, but without sufficient regard for Jews. For Biden and Harris, a few examples include Rev. Al Sharpton, Maher Bitar, Rev. Jen Butler, and Nasrina Bargzie. For Trump, Kanye West (and surprise guest Nick Fuentes), Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, and Pastor Robert Jeffress come to mind. These lists are especially non-exhaustive.

Diplomatic Feats

On a diplomatic level, we’ve seen overall re-engagement from Biden and Harris, with some reservations towards anti-Israel actions. The early years of the Biden-Harris administration saw war already break out in Israel. Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 blazed for weeks. Yet, bracing against pressures, Biden gave no notably reported public critique or disapproval during or after regarding Israel’s war conduct. The same May 2021, Biden declined for the U.S. to participate in the Durban IV Conference Against Racism of the UN, due to the conference’s long-standing antisemitic, anti-Israel bias. The State Department condemned the notorious Ben & Jerry’s Judea and Samaria boycott and BDS, all while endorsing IHRA and flirting with the JDA and Nexus definitions of antisemitism. In 2022, Biden had spent time warming up to the new prime ministers of Israel’s most diverse coalition, PM Naftali Bennett and then PM Yair Lapid. A special joint declaration that July signed by President Biden with PM Lapid asserted the use of any means necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A short Gaza operation against Iran-backed PIJ followed. Nonetheless, Biden sought to renegotiate the JCPOA for much of his term.

A “Middle East NATO” was floated, but Arab leaders got cold feet without further U.S. assurances against Iran and renormalized relations with Qatar, Iran, and Syria. At the end of that year, Netanyahu returned to power with a coalition including far-right parties. Yet, despite the political turmoil, Biden’s Ambassador Tom Nides and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed their commitment to Israel’s security. In the spring and summer of 2023, a short-lived effort to expand the Abraham Accords to a Saudi-Israeli deal developed until October 7. Hesitation from Arab leaders was significant in Biden’s term. As an aside, Biden’s Iran envoy, Robert Malley, was placed on leave for mishandling classified material in June of 2023. The State Dept also executed his suspension poorly and halfheartedly by enabling him many of his privileges until he was finally fired completely by officials. A Pentagon leak of Israel’s Iran retaliation plans in October 2024 spiked this suspicion.

While rejoining UN bodies that Trump pulled out from and restoring funding, such as UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council, in June 2023, Biden’s UNHRC Ambassador helped get 27 countries to demand a halt to the COI (Commission of Inquiry into Israel), calling it “a further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council” that “must stop” (in typical UN fashion, it wasn’t heeded). Biden vetoed a unilateral Palestinian Authority UN bid for statehood. Biden’s UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also joined counterparts from France, Germany, and Canada to publicly condemn UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, for antisemitism.

That being said, as Biden has committedly fought South Africa’s ICC “genocide” case against Israel, it was his administration that lifted sanctions on the body years prior. Surpassing President Obama, Biden abstained from at least two anti-Israel UN resolutions on Gaza last December and March. Months after funding UNRWA post-October 7, the Biden administration finally announced a permanent suspension of aid to the agency (although this formally lasted for two months). Appeals from UN Watch and Israel successfully pushed Congress to expand this ban to 2025, albeit with opposition from Biden when it came to the recent Knesset vote to ban UNRWA operations. More dismaying, Biden’s DOJ has backed the UN effort to claim “diplomatic immunity” for the UNRWA workers that partook in the October 7 terror attacks.

While leveraging ties with Qatar and Egypt, the administration has worked around the clock to secure a hostage-and-prisoner swap and ceasefire deal, to free over 250 hostages including American citizens and bring some calm to a ravaged Gaza Strip. Aside from the few successful agreements reached, Biden has blamed either PM Netanyahu or Hamas of intransigence. Yet, Hamas has especially been held to the president’s limelight for suddenly changing terms and sabotaging progress on the most developed round of negotiations. VP Harris has notably and repeatedly condemned Hamas’ sexual violence, including when framed with an anti-Israel pretext from moderators at the second presidential debate.

Aside from pulling out of a few UN bodies and sharing bold speeches, Trump’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and later Kelly Craft, held many autocracies to account and defended Israel regularly amid dozens of resolutions. UN participation was scaled down but not terminated, and the U.S. projected its voice and policy more outwardly.

Trump also launched a wave of diplomatic upgrades, not seen previously in such succession: recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal undivided capital and finally moving the U.S. Embassy accordingly, recognizing the Golan Heights under Israeli sovereignty, and declaring Israeli settlement communities not inherently against international law. However, Trump quickly backtracked from supporting annexation proposals introduced by PM Netanyahu in June 2019. The suspension of such plans was cited by some as pretext for moving the Abraham Accords forward, beginning with the UAE. President Trump also introduced his own peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinians along much of the familiar lines as previous proposals, but with different land swaps and economic incentives. It was dead upon arrival with the PA’s reaction.

Following his 2020 election loss, Trump’s relations with Israel became more soured and complicated. Trump’s Ambassador David Friedman spoke out against Bibi’s judicial overhaul plans and Trump suggested Bibi was never truly pushing for peace with the Palestinians. Regarding the ongoing war, Trump has risen to the occasion to repeatedly support Israel’s war effort, save the hostages, oust Hamas, and weaken Iran and other proxies. However, he has also recognized the devastation and humanitarian issues in Gaza and called for Israel to win much faster, due to its sullied image and damaged PR. 

Heavy Hitters: Aid, Cooperation, and Sanctions

Under President Trump and Vice President Pence, we saw the blossoming of an unprecedented warm peace. The Abraham Accords brought the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and Kosovo into Israel’s orbit of new Muslim partners. Moreover, at least 1,500 Iranian or Iran-aligned entities were sanctioned, bringing the Islamic Republic’s oil revenue down to a low of $16 billion in 2020 and severely limited its ability terrorize those domestically and abroad. On the other hand, we also saw levels of aid similar to those under President Obama, maintaining the Memorandum of Understanding, with an annual $3.3 billion in military assistance to Israel. Come 2025, it would be very unlikely to see any downgrading of aid to Israel, which Trump has verbally opposed, even with pressure from the isolationist wing of the Republican party and far-right. At the same time, recent remarks by his VP pick JD Vance reflect some level of potential distance: “Israel has the right to defend itself, but…[s]ometimes we’re going to have overlapping interests, and sometimes we’re going to have distinct interests. And our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran.”

Under President Trump and Vice President Pence, we saw the blossoming of an unprecedented warm peace. The Abraham Accords brought the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and Kosovo into Israel’s orbit of new Muslim partners.

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, we’ve seen military cooperation and planned aid to Israel rise to their highest levels in decades, backing congressional bills to $14.3 billion in emergency assistance on top of MOU funding. This aid has largely followed the months since the October 7 attacks and hostage crisis. On the other hand, the Biden administration has sanctioned or cut ties with various Israeli West Bank residents, joint scientific programs, or select IDF units allegedly responsible for extremist violence. Simultaneously, Biden and Harris have replicated Obama’s approach of going back and forth between releasing billions of unfrozen sanctions dollars to the Iranian regime (bolstering its capabilities) and retightening some sanctions. Oil revenues have resurged to $53 billion (only some $12 billion less than what Iran had in 2018 before Trump withdrew from the JCPOA).

Trump took the initiative to eliminate top IRGC general Qassem Soleimani and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Both Biden and Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Biden executed a horrible withdrawal from Afghanistan for the world’s view. Trump’s worst withdrawal may have been in northern Syria, leaving our Kurdish allies against ISIS to Turkey’s slaughter.

During the greatest visible threat to Israel during Trump’s presidency, Hamas’ “Great Marches of Return” – Trump backed Israeli freedom of action, despite the tragic civilian casualties that lay squarely with Hamas. Trump has committed to not only shutting down pro-Hamas protests, but also deporting and blocking pro-terror supporters from the U.S. Biden-Harris have been open to accepting refugees from Gaza into the country (vetting processes and their sufficiency uncertain). Today, expressing desire to avert a deeper and more costly war with Iran, Trump has suggested that Israel target Iran’s nuclear facilities sooner than later. JD Vance has concurred at least with Israel’s general freedom of action.

Biden and Harris have sought to avert a deeper and more costly war by limiting Israel’s responses to Iranian drones and ballistic missiles to select military targets instead (leaving oil and nuclear intact). Yet, for whatever political or regional considerations, Harris and Biden have both sought to restrain Israel from reaching its defiantly-achieved war aims: advancing toward Rafah in southern Gaza to locate and rescue various hostages and ultimately eliminate Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar; destroying 150 terror tunnels on the border with Egypt (the lifeline of Hamas); and pushing forth in southern Lebanon while eliminating Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and successors. However, close military cooperation with U.S. forces and partners under Biden-Harris has proven bold and decisive. In August 2023, the U.S. military put armed personnel on commercial ships in Strait of Hormuz to stop Iran’s seizures of shipping movement there and after October 7, President Biden immediately sent a naval carrier strike group near Israel’s coasts in support for deterrence.

On April 13, Tehran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, SCUD missiles, and drones at Israel directly from Iran for the first time. Biden had CENTCOM, the UK, Jordan, UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia join Israel in interception, attacks that mostly never got to even enter Israeli airspace. On October 1, Biden alerted Israel to an incoming barrage of nearly 200 Iranian ballistic missiles, helping with interceptions (which fortunately saw zero Israelis killed). Following, Biden dedicated 100 U.S. personnel to operate a THAAD missile defense system on Israeli soil, despite supposed American missile shortages, against future Iranian attacks. It should be noted that both Biden and Trump have held back from always retaliating to Iranian attacks on U.S. personnel in the broader region.

Biden dedicated 100 U.S. personnel to operate a THAAD missile defense system on Israeli soil, despite supposed American missile shortages, against future Iranian attacks.

There were also moments of stark antagonism. Following a call with PM Netanyahu on Yom HaShoah, Biden halted ammunition shipments to Israel, furious with the looming Rafah invasion by the IDF. On October 13, Sec. of State Blinken and Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a striking letter to Israel essentially threatening a conditioning of aid if 30 days pass (invoking new legislation of human rights compliance from months prior) without Israel improving the humanitarian situation further in Gaza. On September 17, Harris said onstage at a National Association of Black Journalists event that she supports Biden’s withholding of 2,000 lb. bombs from Israel, concerned that they would create more civilian harm in Gaza. Yet these very bombs were needed and used to eliminate Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. VP Harris has since stated she prefers diplomacy on Iran, but “all options are on the table” to stop them from acquiring nuclear weapons and unequivocally called out singling out Israel and campus antisemitism in a speech to Jewish voters before Yom Kippur. Thus, military support to Israel seems much closer with Biden and Harris, but also much more controlled.

Lastly, what remains to be determined is Trump or Harris’ response to Russia and China – especially as it pertains to potential red lines on Iran. Trump wants to mediate with Russia and Ukraine as Iran supplies Moscow drones to kill Ukrainians. Harris and Biden have upheld Trump’s tariffs on China, but have opposed any measures to stop Beijing’s deal to feed cash to Iran’s mullahs for flows of oil.

While this scorecard is surely not all-encompassing, it serves as a comprehensive and educated foundation to make an informed vote about your political priorities and the approach you prefer regarding Jewish and Israel-related policies. You don’t need all the answers to decide, but you are now more equipped than many with more clarity. For a more complete and intricate record of both presidential candidates’ actions on these issues, scan the QR code below. No matter which party you may consider, make your voice heard for our people this November 5. Shanah tovah u’mutzlachat.

Justin Feldman is an Israeli-American writer, speaker, and activist.