Israel’s mission as GOP confab starts: Stay out of it – analysis
Listening carefully to the parties’ rhetoric, this is what oddly emerges: If you’re for Israel, vote Republican; if you’re against antisemitism, vote Democrat.
By HERB KEINONUS President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news briefing at the White House in Washington, US, July 23, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to open Monday in Charlotte, North Carolina, and unlike last week’s Democratic convention, Israel is expected to be mentioned more than once by the keynote speakers.It will likely be mentioned in regards to US President Donald Trump’s move of the US embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019, and to the recent announcement of the Trump administration-brokered normalization accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.It will be mentioned in the context of energizing the president’s Evangelical base. Pro-Israel positions are not the reason why this base continues to support Trump – they support him because his vision of America aligns more closely with their own – but it is an added benefit.Trump knows this, and uses it. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin earlier this month, he said: “We moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the Evangelicals. You know, it’s amazing with that: the Evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people.”In their virtual convention last week, the Democrats hardly mentioned Israel at all. And that is understandable, as the party – striving to get the Progressive wing fired up over the nomination of the moderate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – wants to unite the ranks, and Israel is not the issue to do that. Better to just not talk about Israel. Besides, with corona and race relations dominating the US domestic conversation, Israel is not an issue at the forefront of the public’s mind.With the US election soon to enter its final lap – after Labor Day on September 7 – Israel may yet still turn into an issue, with the Republican campaign likely to highlight the anti-Israel positions of a handful of junior Democratic representatives, and present the party as a whole as hostile to Israel’s interests.If this indeed does transpire, Israel will be turned into that proverbial wedge issue, defined by Wikipedia as “a divisive political issue, especially one that is raised by a candidate for public office in hopes of attracting or alienating an opponent’s supporters.”Israel, more specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, must do everything to avoid being seen as giving credence to this narrative.First, because the Progressives – as the nomination of Biden and Harris proves – have not taken over their party, and their very critical positions on Israel, as reflected in the party’s platform, are still minority opinions. And, secondly, because Israel will want to have a good relationship with Biden if he does end up defeating Trump in November.By the same token, the Democrats are trying to make antisemitism a wedge issue, seeking – as Biden did at the convention – to pin Trump with responsibility for its rise in America.Listening carefully to the parties’ rhetoric, this is what oddly emerges: If you’re for Israel, vote Republican; if you’re against antisemitism, vote Democrat.With US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on Monday, followed by a trip to Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, and with Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner, and Middle East negotiator Avi Berkowitz, scheduled to make a similar trip in early September, the UAE deal, and the administration’s role in brokering it, will naturally be highlighted.But Netanyahu needs to walk a delicate tightrope here: on the one hand, be thankful to Trump and the administration for midwifing these deals, but on the other hand not wanting to be used as a prop in the Trump election campaign.And it’s not going to be easy, because just as Trump stumped for Netanyahu in various ways before the election in April 2019 and March 2020 (less so in September 2019), so too is he going to expect reciprocity from Netanyahu. But if Netanyahu hugs the president too tight, if he is over-effusive in his praise, he runs the risk of angering Biden and Harris, who very well may be sitting in the White House come January 20, as well as infuriating the Democratic Party, which may win back control of both the House and Senate.Israel has much for which to be thankful to Trump. Nevertheless, the trick in the coming weeks, even as there may be more US-brokered normalization pacts with Arab countries, is to show this gratitude in a way that avoids creating the perception that Israel – as Israel – is working on behalf of one particular candidate.Given the close relationship that Netanyahu has developed with Trump, given what the president has done for Israel over the last four years, and given the recent agreement with the UAE, this is not going to be easy. Nevertheless, it will be critical if Israel is to work well in the future with the Democratic Party and with Democratic administrations.
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