4/9/2025
Last week, it was reported that the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to federal programs included $13 million in grants for Israeli institutions. Soon after that Trump imposed a 17% tariff on Israel, a day after Israel had removed tariffs on American exports. These moves forebode a concern about the Trump administration’s long term support and commitment for the Jewish state that we at DJOP have argued for years. As an isolationist who has undercut traditional international allies at every turn, and as a notorious transactional self-described “deal maker” with no real ideological or philosophical commitment to anything or anyone but himself, we never trusted his bombastic protestations in support of Israel or Jews for that matter as anything but transparent attempts to leverage votes away from Democrats.
Republicans use support for Israel as a talking point for political gain hypocritically contradicting that support if it gets in the way of other objectives.
This recent cut in grant aid to Israel and the levying of tariffs with nary a comment from the administration should sound the alarm for Israel supporters in this country. It’s worth recalling some of the warnings we offered before the election about just how superficial and cynical Republican support for Israel often is, with thanks to Steve Sheffey writing in the Times of Israel September 11, 2024.)
(1) “The 2024 Republican platform does not mention October 7, the hostages, Iran, or aid to Israel. Ask your Republican friends if they’ve read the party platforms. Ask them to compare the Democratic and Republican platforms on Israel and antisemitism. The Democratic platform is the strongest and most detailed platform on Israel and antisemitism ever adopted by any American political party. The Republican platform tells us how little the GOP cares about supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism.
(2) The vast majority of Republicans voted to cut aid to Israel two weeks before October 7. On September 29, 198 Republicans–90% of all House Republicans–voted for HR 5525, a so-called continuing resolution that would have cut aid to Israel by nearly 30%. Republicans wrote the bill without Democratic input. Republicans brought it to the floor for a vote. Republicans voted for it even though it violated our Memorandum of Understanding with Israel. It failed because 21 Republicans and 211 Democrats voted against it. No Democrats voted for it. Trump said nothing about it….After October 7, Republicans blocked the Biden-Harris administration’s emergency aid request for Israel for six months.
(3) JD Vance twice voted against emergency aid to Israel. He’s been in the Senate for less than two years. Vance voted against the package that included $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel twice, on February 13 when it could have passed and on April 23 when it did pass. The first time, Senate Republicans voted against the package 26-22 (Democrats supported it 46-2) but the second time even most Republicans supported it, 31-15. Vance was one of the few Republicans who voted against it twice, yet Trump selected him as his running mate. Harris never voted against aid to Israel when she was in the Senate. Walz never voted against aid to Israel when he was in the House.”
It’s worth recalling that while Democrats are more heterogeneous than Republicans and usually have varying approaches on most topics let alone Israel and the war in Gaza, support for Israel has been unwavering. The last administration provided record breaking and historic amounts of aid to Israel in her time of need. Report finds US spent record $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel in year of war | The Times of Israel
| What’s even more troubling is that Trump and his acolytes cynically employ an ironic and contradictory type of Israel support, which Zack Beauchamp in VOX describes as a “love of Israel while exhibiting a consistent hostility to Jews.” How many times during Trump’s term of office have we been confronted with inexplicable antisemitic behavior if not by Trump, then through those he supports. | |||
| “This is how pro-Israel antisemitism works in practice. (Referring here to Europe) The far-right party’s top leadership takes staunchly pro-Israel and anti-Muslim positions, using both to frame itself as a defender of Jewish interests. At the same time, they deploy antisemitic dog whistles and permit the spread of poisonous antisemitism throughout the party rank and file. The result is mainstreaming of right-wing antisemitism by a party that claims to be standing up for Israel and the Jewish people. This is exactly the pattern we’ve seen in the GOP and under Trump-with added twist.”
The Trump right’s pro-Israel antisemitism, Zack Beauchamp Vox March 10,2025 It goes even further. Yair Rosenberg writes in the Atlantic, “in reality, Donald Trump and his allies have been using “antisemitism” as a pretext to advance a radical agenda that has nothing to do with Jews at all-and that most American Jews do not support.” |
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Trump’s Anti-Semitism Agenda Isn’t About Jews – The Atlantic
This week in writing about Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, Tom Friedman addressed this theme (along with others) when he quoted Jonathon Jacoby:
“President Trump has taken a real phenomenon that needs to be addressed — antisemitism that emerges out of debates on Israel — and is using it to justify crackdowns on immigration, higher education and free speech on Israel,” Jonathan Jacoby, national director of the Nexus Project, which works to fight antisemitism and uphold democracy said…..As an American Jew, I neither need nor want Trump’s cynical defense. He is still the man who, in 2017, defended the white nationalists and neo-Nazis who protested in Charlottesville, Va., as including “some very fine people.” Vance has also embraced Germany’s Nazi-sympathizing, Holocaust-trivializing AfD party, whose leaders have called on Germans to stop atoning for Nazi crimes.”
Trump and Netanyahu Steer Toward an Ugly world, Together-Tom Friedman April 8, 2025
Examples of questionable support go on:
We recall the rather bizarre comments from Trump’s special middle east envoy Steve Witkoff about Hamas (he said he didn’t think the terror group is “ideologically intractable” and expressed views that Hamas could be “involved politically” in Gaza…or that he didn’t think Putin as a “bad guy”. Clearly this man, with no diplomatic experience, is in over his head and putting him in this position does no favors to Israel. What’s up with Witkoff-Jewish Exponent April 2,2025
Questions are raised about other cabinet members and their relationship with Qatar. Qatar also has a long history of “investing” in U.S. influence. Former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was convicted of accepting gifts and bribes from Qatar and Egypt; Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, has done extensive business with Qatar; and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have all been lobbyists or consultants for Qatar. The Outsized Reach of Qatar-Jewish Exponent April 2,2025
Judaism teaches that a measure of a person is based on what they do not on what they say. We need to keep this in mind in the weeks and months ahead and challenge those who far too easily give Trump and Republicans a pass when they do things toward Israel and the Jewish community that they would find unacceptable from Democrats. Stay tuned to these pages as we keep track.
