Why Jewish Voters Should Back Trump
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Why Jewish Voters Should Back Trump

Chuck Berk explains his reasoning for voting for former President Donald Trump.

Chuck Berk is a local chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which co-sponsored one of the Republican debates before the April 18 election.

Chuck Berk
Chuck Berk

In 40-plus years in business, I ran into many great talkers who delivered nothing productive, or in my terms were “empty suits.” Most politicians fit that description: promise a lot and deliver little. This election is unique. We can evaluate candidates based not on their campaign “promises” but on their actual record in office to predict how they’ll address our community’s priorities.

You may not like his New York, direct, in your face style, but there’s a strong argument that Donald Trump was the best friend Israel has had in the White House since its 1948 founding.

* Over the years, many Presidents had promised to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but Trump was the one to do it and moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

* He recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

* Moreover, Trump’s policies implicitly called on the Arab world to recognize Israel’s legitimacy and permanency. This not only strengthened the US-Israel alliance but made possible the incredible diplomatic successes of the Abraham Accords with the UAE, Bahrain and others. Real, concrete peace between Israel and Arab states, building social, political and economic ties with Israel for the first time in 25 years. That is truly historic. Trump did that.

* How about the UN? Ambassador Nikki Haley backed by Trump said, “no more” to the UN status quo of the U.S. paying a disproportionate share of the budget while most member nations pursued an antisemitic vendetta against Israel. Trump cut our overall UN contribution, withdrew from the ludicrous Human Rights Council and completely defunded UNRWA, which has been proven to be a front organization for Hamas.

* Trump also signed the Taylor Force Act to stop the Palestinian Authority from taking American development assistance while paying terrorists.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

* Trump recognized the terrorism threat from Iran and their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and he understood the threat of a nuclear Iran. He and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo implemented “maximum pressure” economic sanctions which practically bankrupted Iran, reducing their foreign reserves to $6 billion, not enough to fund their proxies and their nuclear ambitions. The Mideast was quiet during Trump’s term.

* As he did when he was in office, Trump will tell university presidents that “they must end the antisemitic propaganda, or they will lose their federal support.” In contrast, the Biden/Harris administration has been weak on Israel, returning to a policy of appeasement.

* From day one, Biden/Haris ignored the Abraham Accords. They started putting undue pressure on Saudi Arabia, which had been close to normalizing relations with Israel. Little wonder that no additional counties have signed Abraham Accord Agreements under their watch.

* Biden/Harris rejoined the UN Human Rights Council without securing meaningful assurances that the permanent anti-Israel campaign would end.

* They schemed to bypass the Taylor Force Act as the PA’s pay-for-slay payouts continued uninterrupted.

* Where Trump had starved Iran’s coffers, Biden/Harris’s lack of sanctions enforcement and issuance of waivers enriched the regime to the tune of $100 billion which is being used to fund their terrorism.

* After Oct. 7, Biden/Harris initially provided strong support for Israel but as the war has dragged on and the November election has drawn nearer, they have been increasingly at odds with Israel’s war policy. Rather than allowing Israel to do “whatever it takes” to win, Biden/Harris have pushed for a ceasefire, basically forcing Israel back to the tragically failed “mowing the lawn” approach to Hamas and pressuring Israel to give up control of the Philadelphi corridor with Egypt through which Hamas restocks its war machinery.

* Claiming she’d “seen the maps,” Harris spoke out vehemently against Israel’s planned operations in Rafah which proved to be very successful. She dissed Prime Minister Netanyahu by refusing to be present when he spoke to Congress.

* Of course, personnel is policy. Harris named Ilan Goldenberg, an anti-Israel activist, to serve as her Middle East Advisor and “liaison” to the Jewish community. Goldenberg previously advocated for a Gaza deal in which “Hamas would retain some of its military capabilities” and argued that “half the root causes are Israeli actions.”

Under Kamala Harris, the Middle East is engulfed in chaos and war. Under President Trump there were historic levels of peace and security. The contrast could not be starker.

Regardless of what she says on the campaign trail, I find no reason to trust Kamala Harris to support Israel. She has shown little comprehension of the complexities of Middle East diplomacy and little understanding of the dire situation in which Israel finds itself. She doesn’t have the strength and determination to stand up against and deal with Iran (and China and Russia). To survive, Israel desperately needs capable U.S. leadership and support.

Chuck Berk is co-chair of the Atlanta chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

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