Trump and Biden both tout unrivaled Israel support in Florida

BY PHILIP WEISS  NOVEMBER 1, 2020

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/11/trump-and-biden-both-tout-unrivalled-israel-support-in-florida/

As the presidential race comes to an end, both Trump and Biden campaigns have made strong appeals to Florida Jewish voters, saying their candidate would be a better president for Israel.

First, Trump. In Tampa two days ago, both Melania and Donald Trump bragged on his unprecedented support for Israel. Here is Melania Trump:

[W]e have won wars, and we have stayed out of new conflicts. We have made historic peace deals in the Middle East. We didn’t just talk about it, we moved our embassy to Jerusalem. The president stands with our friend, Israel, more than any other president before.  

Her husband also bragged that he has withdrawn troops– “instead of never-ending wars in the Middle East, we’re forging peace deals all over the place.” And Trump gave an expansive version of his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, including an anecdote about his investor friend Ron Baron’s New York offices.

I withdrew from the last administration’s horrible Iran nuclear deal. I recognized the capital of Israel and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem and got the building built for a tiny fraction. You know that story, right? And a friend of mine, Ron Baron, he’s so proud of a wall opposite the elevator. Every time I walk in he shows me the Jerusalem stone. I go crazy. Ron, I don’t care. I said, “David, you’re in Jerusalem. It’s very expensive in New York. Can you get Jerusalem stone?” He said, “Yes we can. We have it. We can buy it for nothing.” I said, “Good. Make the building out of Jerusalem stone.” So he made it out of Jerusalem stone. We had it opened four months later for $500, 000. 

And I also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. They’ve been working on that for 52 years. We got it done in two hours and it’s not easy. And every president wanted to do those two things for many, many decades, but they couldn’t. And I understand why they couldn’t. A lot of pressure, a lot of pressure against.

Joe Biden is not asleep of course when it comes to the Israel issue in Florida. The group Democratic Majority for Israel held a get of the vote call with several Congress-people three nights ago. The big theme of the webinar was that Joe Biden is more pro-Israel than Trump because he will not politicize the question in the U.S. The group wants pro-Israel Jews to believe that Biden is more like Clinton than Obama in his pro-Israel bona fides.

The group’s president Mark Mellman boasted of the party’s near wall-to-wall support for Israel:

We are blessed with a bevy of pro-Israel champions… We are blessed with a whole caucus full of pro-Israel champions in the Democratic caucus in both the U.S. House and the Senate and in statehouses around the country. …. We have a pro-Israel democratic team, we have a pro-Israel nominee, a pro-Israel platform, we have pro-Israel candidates up and down the ballot.

Rep. Lois Frankel (Palm Beach) said, Biden will not, as Trump does, “question how a Jew can be a Democrat…and… won’t use Israel or Jews as political footballs.”

Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, whose career has been defined by Israel support, gave a stemwinder speech, saying Biden will make Israel a stronger country, and that Biden made sure the Democratic platform backs Israel to the hilt.

I want to speak as forcefully as I can at this moment as we approach election day. Joe Biden will be a great president for the US Israel relationship. President Biden and Senator Harris have a long and deep relationship, in Joe Biden’s case, going back to 1973. All of us probably have heard Vice President Biden tell his story about his first trip to Israel, about meeting with Golda Meir. We know he’s had close personal relationships with every prime minister since, and as he says he will continue that strong relationship.

The platform in the Democratic Party is Joe Biden’s platform for the US Israel relationship. It speaks to the deep longstanding support for Israel, it speaks for Israel's security interests, which as vice president he helped the long term MOU [memorandum of understanding] the largest security package from the US in Israel’s history. He was the vice president who stepped up for Israel when rockets were raining down from Gaza….

Most important, Biden won’t let Israel become a political issue, and he will be hawkish overseas.

Israel is the strongest and the US Israel is strongest when America is strong, strong at home, and strong abroad…When it comes to our position in the world, this president has withdrawn American leadership on a whole host of issues, and so when Joe Biden is the president and we have the opportunity to actually lead again, with the respect of our allies, standing up for American values around the world, he will be in a position to do that, which will not only make us a stronger country, it will make Israel a stronger country, it will strengthen the US Israel relationship. And I could not be any prouder of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their support for Israel and I look forward to serving with this strong pro-Israel administration who understands the need to keep this issue bipartisan. That’s what they’re going to do.

As for the Iran deal, Deutch assured viewers he was against the deal, and that while Biden wants to reenter the deal, he “has said that it is his intention to address the shortfalls in the deal, make it longer, make it stronger.”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that Jews are the “key” to winning Florida, 600,000 voters who have the power to “flip Florida from red to blue.”

While Alan Cohn, a Democrat running for Congress in the 15th district in central Florida (Lakeland area) against an incumbent Republican, Ross Spano described the fundraising power of Israel supporters from out of state.

“Thanks to DMFI PAC and thanks to every member of Congress who is here tonight. we have outraised our opponent 2 to 1… Florida 15 is not a wealthy district. It is made up of good hardworking middle-class working families.”