Jewish Leaders’ Political Mistake in Spurning Trump

As a pro-Israel conservative and an observant Jew, I reject former President Donald Trump’s claim that Jews who vote for Democrats are “disloyal” to their community.

There are many reasons Jews vote for Democrats; some may believe, sincerely, that Democratic policies are better for Israel.

But Trump is right to note that Jewish institutions have not reciprocated his support for Jews or for Israel. In so doing, Jewish leaders may have made a fateful mistake.

Whatever one’s views of his other policies, there is no doubt that Trump was good to Israel.

He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, fulfilling a bipartisan promise. He recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He defunded Palestinian institutions that support terror. He made these decisions over the objections of the State Department and even the Pentagon. That is why Israelis prefer Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris by a 66% to 17% margin.

For his trouble, Trump received almost no thanks whatsoever from the institutional Jewish community. Groups associated with the political right, like the Zionist Organization of America and the Republican Jewish Coalition, honored Trump for his efforts.

But mainstream Jewish institutions were relatively quiet, and some Jewish organizations even led the criticism of Trump whenever he made a perceived rhetorical misstep.

Trump was understandably puzzled and frustrated by the lack of gratitude. Hence his recent comments, at a conference of the Israeli American Council (IAC), that even 40% of the Jewish vote was unacceptable, given his unprecedented support for Israel.

Jewish voters could make the difference, he observed, adding — in a remark that was later taken out of context — that if he lost to Kamala Harris in the end, “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss.”

Trump was not threatening anyone. Nevertheless, Jewish organizations condemned him. Few were inclined to give Trump the benefit of the doubt.

One can imagine that Trump felt, once again, that he had been mistreated by the community, that his outreach to Jews had been met with hostility.

The obvious counterargument would be that Trump has said many things to offend the Jewish community. And I would concede that he has often chosen his words poorly. But many of the “worst” examples are fictional.

Trump never called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, “very fine people,” for example. He said that they should be “condemned totally.” Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris have misconstrued his remarks, even after being fact-checked.

Meanwhile, when Trump was accused of being like Hitler, these same Jewish groups were eerily and shamefully quiet. You don’t have to support Trump to condemn the incendiary and dangerous association with an evil that caused the death of six million Jews, and can only exacerbate the alarming rise in antisemitism. 

While many Jewish organizations were joining the relentless bashing of Trump, something interesting was happening in the Muslim community.

Many Arab and Muslim American voters are upset over the war in the Middle East, believing that Biden and Harris have been too supportive of Israel (while Jewish critics believe they have not been supportive enough).

At first, these “Uncommitted” leaders planned to sit out the race; some ended up endorsing third party candidates like Jill Stein.

But a few Arab and Muslim leaders began to explore the idea of working with Trump.

Voting for Harris’s opponent is a stronger form of protest than wasting a vote. In addition, Trump had, after all, presided over four years of peace in the Middle East — and peace was better than war, even if the terms of that peace favored Israel. Moreover, Republican positions on social issues such as transgenderism are closer to the traditional values of the Muslim community.

There may have been another calculation as well. With Trump at odds with the institutional Jewish community, who rejected him despite his support for Israel, Arab and Muslim leaders may have seen a political opening.

Trump is, above all, a transactional leader, who reciprocates favors. If Muslim and Arab leaders backed him, they might not convince him to shift his pro-Israel policies, but they would at least earn a seat at the table when the Middle East came up.

Notably, Trump visited Dearborn, Michigan, last week, and received a warm welcome. Evidently at least some Arab American leaders and voters understand that their votes are more powerful when one party cannot take them for granted. Have we Jews learned that?

Jewish leaders did not have to endorse Trump. But they could have shown more gratitude in the past, and they could have tempered their contempt for him during this election season to benefit their relationship with a possible future president. If Trump wins, the institutional Jewish leadership could find itself frozen out. 

Trump will still be the most pro-Israel president, in my opinion, because he wants a stronger America, which benefits Israel.

Yet the organized Jewish community may find it has lost its political edge to a smarter, and growing, Arab and Muslim constituency.

Joel B. Pollak is senior editor-at-large at Breitbart News in Los Angeles.