I recently met yet another solidarity mission of generous, caring, sophisticated American Jews. We all condemned Hamas, dismissed the pro-Palestinian movement as anti-American, cheered Israel\u2019s heroic soldiers, and applauded Jewish students for resisting the academic intifada impressively. Then, someone asked the $2024,000 question: \u201cWho\u2019s better for Israel: Joe Biden or Donald Trump?\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly, this sea of love turned stormy. \u201cLook what\u2019s happening,\u201d I said. \u201cRepublicans don\u2019t want to hear that Trump is unreliable and disrespects democracy. Democrats don\u2019t want to hear that Biden is old and doesn\u2019t project the presidential strength America needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have two of the most unpopular candidates ever, two highly flawed individuals, but so many fear the other side as evil and dangerous, even people who like each other cannot talk politics amicably.\u201d<\/p>\n
American Jews beware! And Israel beware too! As Israel fights on multiple fronts, with Jew-hatred spiking, Left and Right, we risk splitting American Jewry while permanently alienating millions of Americans and Jews from Israel. We must learn how to discuss this election without canceling one another.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the pro-Israel community must tread carefully: many Democrats will never forgive Israel or the Jewish community if they decide Israel is to blame if Biden loses; many Republicans will never forgive Israel or the Jewish community if Trump decides that Israel and \u201cthe Jews\u201d betrayed him.<\/p>\n
This Thursday\u2019s debate will only escalate the tensions.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the Republican Convention in mid-July will probably be a pro-Israel lovefest. Most Republicans support Israel enthusiastically. They will drown out the small Tucker Carlson neo-isolationist wing, especially because they hope to woo pro-Israel Jews frustrated with Biden\u2019s growing pressure on Israel and the Democrats\u2019 pro-Progressive, anti-Israel \u2013 and frequently anti-American \u2013 faction.<\/p>\n
But watch out for Chicago\u2019s Democratic Convention, starting August 19. The \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d Hamas-lovers want 100,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupting the convention, disrespecting the law, menacing Zionists, and creating chaos on the streets. Biden must use these protests to make himself look presidential, not bullied. He cannot mollify fanatics \u2013 anyone calling him \u201cgenocidal\u201d isn\u2019t voting for him.<\/p>\n
He shouldn\u2019t blame Israel for being attacked. Instead, he should denounce these hooligans who burn the American flag, celebrate terrorism, rationalize rape, and intimidate fellow Democrats who dare disagree with them. Biden should make it clear that Americans don\u2019t want Arab street politics imported into America.<\/p>\n
While foreign questions rarely sway voters, a president\u2019s reaction to foreign challenges shapes the president\u2019s image, for better or worse. The tougher Biden is, the better he will do. That\u2019s why his waffling on Israel undermines him. And that\u2019s why he and the Democrats must use the protesters to make their party look strong and patriotic.<\/p>\n
Similarly, chaos in Chicago should not get Jews hand wringing over a dozen un-Jews bashing Israel in tallitot (prayer shawls). The community should launch a campaign asking \u201cWhich side are you on?\u201d Attack the terrorist-loving, America-hating thugs as the ones threatening Biden\u2019s electoral prospects. Don\u2019t be cowed by useful idiots in media and social media validating the Palestinian rioters. Trust the decent American\u2019s judgment. Foment a backlash against these radicals who have even less respect for law and order than the January 6 Trumpians.<\/p>\n
BAD ENOUGH that as Americans clash viciously, Israel will stay in the news, making hard decisions, sometimes making mistakes, sometimes killing innocents. But it\u2019s stunning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has foolishly, arrogantly, injected himself \u2013 and us \u2013 into this madhouse with his planned July 24 congressional speech.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hope that the same adviser who said \u201cDon\u2019t worry about Hamas and Hezbollah\u201d is the genius who suggested making Israel even more polarizing during this highly volatile campaign. This way, only one head must roll. Alas, the growing fear is that it\u2019s all Bibi \u2013 and, reeling, desperate, he keeps miscalculating.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu has backed himself into a corner. If he is not unabashedly grateful to Biden for supporting Israel, he will look petty and many Democrats will never forgive him \u2013 or Israel. But if he is as gracious as he needs to be, Trump will never forgive him \u2013 or Israel \u2013 for boosting Biden mid-campaign.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, Israel\u2019s prime minister could come to Congress, singing a song of bipartisanship, emphasizing that broadly supporting Israel strengthened America not just Israel. After all, healthy democracies need some issues that transcend partisanship.<\/p>\n
Apparently, Bibi didn\u2019t notice that yesterday\u2019s America is not on his itinerary. The America he\u2019s visiting is polarized, brittle, and volatile \u2013 risking a lose-lose for a prime minister already unpopular in Washington, not the usual win-win. And this week\u2019s self-destructive attack on Biden regarding weapons shipments only made things worse.<\/p>\n
What is he thinking?<\/p>\n
Is it worth risking the US-Israel friendship and many Democrats\u2019 goodwill to please a few Channel 14 commentators, who slavishly support him anyway? And is Bibi so contemptuous of his voters that he assumes they won\u2019t notice the backlash his speech risks triggering? Does he really think they\u2019re so desperate to insult Americans, that they\u2019ll forgive Bibi\u2019s October 7 failures, and his spineless, incompetent cabinet\u2019s many betrayals of reservists and evacuees, by planning little except more goodies for haredim?<\/p>\n
In fact, rather than addressing Congress \u2013 why not address the Israeli people first?<\/p>\n
Americans are stuck. Many fear a restored, vengeful Trump will break America. Many others fear a reelected, shrinking Biden will break the world. We all must work hard \u2013 and smart \u2013 to ensure that this campaign doesn\u2019t break the American Jewish community or the US-Israel alliance: that includes our prime minister, who once was far more savvy.<\/p>\n