Jonathan S. Tobin
JNS, Nov. 15, 2024
“With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as secretary of state, Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and Waltz, Huckabee, Witkoff and Stefanik in charge, there is no longer any question whether the second Trump administration will take a very different, far more pro-Israel position than the stands of the Biden/Harris administration that it is replacing.”
The American people just returned the most pro-Israel president since the founding of the modern Jewish state to the White House. And he has chosen a foreign policy team that indicates that his second term will be at least as unabashedly pro-Israel and opposed to the forces seeking the Jewish state’s destruction as his first was. What’s the response from some liberal American Jews and the groups that claim to represent them? No, thank you.
There were, of course, reasons for voters—both Jewish and non-Jewish—to oppose Trump. Differences over domestic issues as well as partisan loyalties have relegated Israel’s security and even the fight against antisemitism to a secondary priority for many Jewish voters. But the vocal dismay of left-wing Jews about the picks he has made for his next administration is indicative of the split not just between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. It is a gulf between those who think Americans have the right and even the duty to override the verdicts of Israeli democracy and save the Jewish state “from itself” and those who believe Israelis have the right to decide the issues of war and peace for themselves.
That’s the upshot of comments coming from some Jewish groups in response to the president-elect’s naming of people like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel, real estate mogul Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as ambassador to the United Nations and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as national security advisor. … [To read the full article, click here]