I care about many issues, from reproductive freedom to the environment. But we all have our priorities.
For me, it is a secure Jewish and democratic State of Israel. Indeed, I devoted my entire professional
career to building American government and public support for Israel. That is why this coming
November I will vote unhesitatingly for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as president and vice president.
Republicans long have tried to win Jewish votes by portraying themselves as the pro-Israel party. Former
President Trump even asserted that Jews who vote for Democrats should be “ashamed” of themselves
and Jewish Democrats “need to have their heads examined,” leaning, once again, into the antisemitic
‘Bad Jew’ trope.
No doubt, we will hear again and again that former president Donald Trump moved the US embassy
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It’s true, and this was a welcome development, but it possesses only
symbolic value and fails to advance Israel’s security and the search for peace. Republicans, once again,
are peddling a false narrative.
The Biden/Harris administration should get enormous credit for the way the US has stood by Israel since
that awful October 7 providing billions of dollars of additional military assistance — repeatedly working
around a Republican controlled House that held up the administration’s supplemental aid package for
Israel and Ukraine — and defending Israel before biased and hypercritical international forums. The US
joined with a coalition of regional forces to protect Israel from the barrage of Iranian missiles and drones
last April. And we have deployed naval strike groups, as well as a nuclear submarine, to the Eastern
Mediterranean to deter Iran further. These represent only a small number of examples of how the
administration has concretely helped an Israel at war.
While the administration’s past record on Israel is exemplary, we are electing a president who will serve
for the next four years. Thus, we would be well served to look to the future. What can we expect from
an administration led by Kamala Harris, whose close relationship with the Jewish community goes all the
way back to her days as San Francisco District Attorney? In her nomination acceptance speech at the
Democratic National Convention, she declared, “Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right
to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of
Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7…”
There will be a day after in Gaza, in fact, years of reconstruction and complex efforts to implement a
post-Hamas governance structure. In addition, even if Hamas is neutralized, Iran and its other terrorist
proxies will continue to pose severe threats to Israel’s security.
These are enormous challenges that Israel, with the help of the US, must address in the years ahead. A
reason for optimism, there is potential for establishment of a regional alliance involving Israel and the
moderate Sunni Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, that will work together to address Gaza’s future
and, also, to confront the Iran-led Axis of Resistance.
The key question here is who would be best positioned to take advantage of this historic opportunity
going forward, a Harris administration or a second Trump administration? The Arab states have made it
clear they are not prepared to move forward with this vision without some movement, however
incremental, toward the goal of Palestinian independence. This is not likely to happen under a Trump
administration. Last June, when asked whether he will agree to support a Palestinian state if its
establishment brings Middle East peace, Trump responded in his usual equivocal style, “I’d have to see.”
Republican members of Congress have consistently expressed antipathy toward the two-state outcome.
Harris can be expected to pursue this agenda, albeit with the clear-eyed recognition that peace between
Israel and the Palestinians can only be achieved over time, not in the near term. One may legitimately
ask; how can Harris go down this road if the current Palestinian leadership is corrupt and dysfunctional
and the Israeli government is adamantly against even discussing the possibility of future Palestinian
independence? Yes, these are problems. But there ought to at least be an effort to encourage the
formation of a more responsible and effective Palestinian Authority. And we don’t know what kind of
Israeli government will emerge in the years ahead once the dust settles in Gaza, maybe one that is
prepared to seize the opportunity of a transformed Middle East.
Then, there is the broader foreign policy environment to consider. Would Israel’s security be best served
by a Harris administration that supports NATO and believes fundamentally in America’s obligation to
stand by our democratic allies, or by an “America First” neo-isolationist and thoroughly transactional
President Trump who has essentially indicated he would hand Ukraine to his pal Vladimir Putin on a
silver platter?
I know the answer to that question. Yes, give me Harris and Walz for the next four years.
By : Martin J. Raffel, until his retirement in 2014, served for 27 years as senior vice president at the
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an umbrella body with 16 national member organizations and
over 120 locally based organizations (JCRCs). He was JCPA’s lead professional on matters related to
Israel, world Jewry and international human rights. In 2009, Raffel took the lead in organizing the Israel
Action Network, a joint strategic initiative of The Jewish Federations of North America and JCPA that
seeks to combat the assault on Israel’s legitimacy. He currently serves on the Board Of Democratic Jewish
Outreach PA.
