At Republican Jewish Coalition meet in Las Vegas, president touts Golan recognition, asks to give peace bid with Palestinians a chance
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump told Jewish Republicans on Saturday that Israel’s election on April 9 is a close contest between “two good people,” a reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.
Trump’s mention of the election came as he regaled the Las Vegas gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition by ticking off conservative victories of his first three years in office, including his decision to recognize Israel’s control over the Golan Heights two weeks ago, which many called a major boost to Netanyahu’s reelection campaign.
“How’s the race going, by the way?,” he asked the audience. “Who’s going to win the race? Tell me, I don’t know.” Many in attendance started chanting: “Bibi! Bibi!” using Netanyahu’s commonly used nickname.
“It’s gonna be close,” the president continued. “I think it’s gonna be close. Two good people. But I stood with your prime minister at the White House to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” he told the American audience.
He defended the move and said it didn’t ignite the region as some warned it would. “No repercussions,” he said. “We’re in there to protect Israel. We did the right thing.”
Trump has been widely seen as tacitly backing Netanyahu, with whom he is said to have a close rapport. He has not mentioned or met with Gantz, a former army chief and political debutante whose Blue and White party is projected as running neck and neck with Netanyahu’s Likud but as unlikely to have enough political allies to prevent Netanyahu forming the next government.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s vote, Netanyahu has hosted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who made a historic visit to the Western Wall, visited Trump in the White House, and received American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The prime minister sees Trump as a key ally, and his campaign speeches, billboards and social media videos have all heavily featured the US leader’s image, statements and pro-Israel actions as endorsements.
Possibly drawing inspiration from Trump, Netanyahu has dismissed pending corruption charges against him as a “witch hunt” and his Likud party has launched a weekly webcast to counter what it claims is “fake news” broadcast by mainstream media.
In his speech Saturday, the president largely ignored his administration’s efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, but mentioned at one point that he would like to see a peace agreement, claiming that some in the room were opposed to a deal with the Palestinians.
“A big thing for me, and some of you won’t like this maybe, but I would love to see peace in the Middle East,” Trump said. “If those three can’t do it, you’ll never have it done,” referring to his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Mideast peace enjoy Jason Greenblatt, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. “So let’s see if we can do it. You never know.”
At one point, Trump’s speech was interrupted by protesters with the left-wing anti-occupation group If Not Now. “Jews are here to stay! The occupation is a plague! White nationalism is a plague!” they bellowed before being escorted by security.
“He’s going back to mommy,” Trump told the crowd after one of the demonstrators was removed. “And he will be reprimanded.”
Much of the rest of Trump’s speech, before a receptive and riled up crowd, was dedicated to deriding Democrats.
Early in his remarks, he thanked prominent Republicans in attendance, including GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. “And a special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota,” he added, to laughs and boos. “Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel, does she?”
The president has vehemently attacked Democrats since one of its freshman members of Congress, Ilhan Omar, had multiple episodes over the last several months of criticizing Israel and accusing the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC of paying politicians to support the Jewish state. She also castigated pro-Israel activists for pressing her to have an “allegiance” to a foreign country. The House Democratic leadership scolded her for the remarks, and passed a resolution in response that condemned various forms of hate, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Republicans said that measure was insufficient, and that it should have targeted Omar directly and been narrowly focusing on anti-Semitism.
“Democrats are advancing the most extreme partisan agenda by far in American history,” Trump said Saturday. “People aren’t fighting for Israel in Congress. Large numbers of people. You saw what took place three weeks ago. It was shocking. That could not have happened just a few years ago.”
The president also took aim at Democrats for what he described as rejecting anti-BDS legislation last week. Democrats sought to pass a bill against US support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, and blocked a Republican attempt to attach language on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
“Never before has an American political party been more outside the American mainstream. They’ve become the party of high taxes, open borders, late-term abortion, crime, witch hunts, and delusions,” Trump told the RJC. “And now the Democrats have even allowed the terrible scourge of anti-Semitism to take root in their party and in their country.
“House Democrats recently blocked legislation to confront the anti-Semitic movement to boycott and sanction Israel,” he continued. “Nobody could believe it, right?”
He also told the crowd that some Democratic hopefuls eyeing a run for the White House wanted to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew.
As reported by The Times of Israel