Which presidential candidate do Jewish Americans support for peace in the Middle East?

Supporters of both parties are switching their traditional allegiances just days before the election. (AFP) (AFP)
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Updated 29 October 2024
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Which presidential candidate do Jewish Americans support for peace in the Middle East?

LONDON: On Oct. 7, the first anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Jewish husband Doug Emhoff planted a small pomegranate tree in the grounds of the vice president’s residence at the US Naval Observatory.

The solemn occasion, and the tree itself, was freighted with symbolic meaning.

In Judaism, the fruit of the pomegranate tree is a symbol of righteousness and hope, traditionally served on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The fruit is said to contain 613 seeds — exactly the same number of the commandments, or mitzvot, found in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

Harris, who said she was planting the tree to remind future vice presidents “not only of the horror of Oct. 7, but (also) of the strength and endurance of the Jewish people,” dedicated it “to the 1,200 innocent souls who, in an act of pure evil, were massacred by Hamas terrorists.”

A few weeks earlier, her rival Donald Trump had made an altogether less subtle pitch for the votes of Jewish Americans. Addressing the Israeli-American Council summit in Washington at an event also held to commemorate Oct. 7, he told his audience that “anybody who’s Jewish and loves being Jewish and loves Israel is a fool if they vote for a Democrat.”

In fact, he added, any Jew who voted for Harris “should have your head examined.”




Trump said: “Anybody who’s Jewish and loves being Jewish and loves Israel is a fool if they vote for a Democrat.” (AFP)

In truth, with precious votes to be had from Jewish and Arab voters alike in the seven key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, both candidates are walking a tightrope between the regional sensibilities that could have such an impact on a presidential election taking place almost 10,000 km away.

And, as the recent Arab News-YouGov poll revealed, Arab American voters in particular are hard pressed to decide which of the two candidates, with their very different rhetorical styles, are likely to be better for the Middle East in general if elected president. Both Harris and Trump are each supported by exactly 38 percent of those polled.

As a mark of the general uncertainty about the real plans and intentions of either candidate once in office, supporters of both parties are switching their traditional allegiances just days before the election.

On Oct. 14, the Arab American Political Action Committee, which has consistently backed Democratic presidential nominees, announced that for the first time since its foundation in 1998 it would be endorsing neither candidate.

“Both candidates have endorsed genocide in Gaza and war in Lebanon,” AAPAC said in a statement. “We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s bravura performance at the Israeli American Council summit on Sept. 20, at which he cast himself as Israel’s “big protector” and suggested a Harris presidency would spell “annihilation” for the state, appears to have backfired.


His comments earned rebukes from organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, addressed Trump’s remarks in a statement, saying that “preemptively blaming American Jews for your potential election loss does zero to help American Jews (and) increases their sense of alienation in a moment of vulnerability.”

As if to illustrate just how tricky the electoral tightrope is, strung as it is against the background of events in the Middle East, a poll commissioned by the Jewish Democratic Council of America at the beginning of October found that 71 percent of Jewish voters in the seven battleground states intended to vote for Harris, with only 26 percent backing Trump.

This is an intriguing development, especially when set alongside the findings of the Arab News-YouGov poll, which found a similar swing away from traditional voting intentions among Arab Americans, a slim majority of whom intend to vote for Trump.

The slight majority support for Trump (45 percent vs. 43 percent for Harris) is despite the fact that 40 percent of those polled described themselves as natural Democrats, and only 28 percent as Republicans.

It reflects disappointment in the Arab American community at the perceived failure of the Biden-Harris administration to adequately rein in Israel or hold it to account. In 2020, 43 percent of respondents had backed Biden, with only 34 percent voting for Trump.




Kamala Harris and her Jewish husband Doug Emhoff planted a small pomegranate tree in the grounds of the vice president’s residence. (AFP)

As Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C., told a recent edition of the Arab News podcast “Frankly Speaking,” “the fact that they are so evenly split is surprising, particularly given what’s been happening in Gaza and now Lebanon.

“You’d think that that would have an impact and would dampen the vote for somebody who is so staunchly pro-Israel, like Donald Trump, but clearly that’s not the case.”

With just days to go until the election, however, it remains almost impossible to say with any certainty which of the candidates would be best for the Middle East in general, and in particular for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Even the experts are struggling to predict how a Harris administration and a Trump administration might differ in their approach to the Middle East.

“When you dig a little deeper into things beyond our headlines, beyond our polarized politics, President Trump’s and Vice President Harris’ positions on a variety of important issues in the Middle East — whether it’s the two-state solution, whether it’s US policy toward Iran, whether it’s regarding human rights and promotion of democratic reform in the region — are not all that different from each other,” said Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, speaking in a Foreign Policy magazine election debate on Monday.

“On the two-state solution they obviously have very different visions of what that would look like, based on President Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ that he tabled during his one term in office. But nevertheless, they’re both supportive of a two-state solution to bring the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians to an end.”

Similarly, although in 2018 Trump pulled out the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal adopted by Iran and the P5+1 countries in 2015, both candidates now appear committed to reinvigorating it.

FASTFACTS

• A poll conducted in October by the conservative Manhattan Institute had Harris leading Trump 67% to 31% among likely Jewish voters.

• Polls of Jewish voters in 7 battleground states conducted for the Jewish Democratic Council of America had Harris leading Trump 71% to 26%.


“President Trump was often bellicose about Iran,” said Cook. “But his bellicosity hid the fact that what he was most interested in was putting pressure on the Iranians to bring them back to the negotiating table so that he can negotiate a better deal than the JCPOA.

“The administration that Vice President Harris has served has for the past two and a half years sought to draw the Iranians back into a JCPOA deal that would put limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

“So, on those big issues there may be a difference in style, a difference in rhetoric, but the ultimate policy goal of both candidates seems to me very much the same.”

Speaking in the same debate, Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham House policy institute, said that there were still many question marks hanging over Harris’ approach to the region.

“She’s very cautious; she’s a bit of a black box and so we can read whatever we want into her,” she said. “But there’s also no guarantee as to what will come out from President Trump (on) the Middle Eastern landscape.




“Both candidates have endorsed genocide in Gaza and war in Lebanon,” AAPAC said in a statement. (AFP)

“I think there is a lot of expectation that he will stop the war, because he has implied as much, and for a lot of leaders around the region, but more broadly for citizens across multiple Middle Eastern countries, this is urgent.

“They would like to see the violence coming to an end, regular humanitarian aid being delivered to Gaza, and, of course, the violence also stopped in Lebanon, and that is the expectation, that Trump is going to pick up the phone to Prime Minister Netanyahu and put an end to this conflict.”

There is also an anticipation that Trump “will try to find some way around his previous engagement in the region to invest in an Israeli-Saudi normalization process,” she said. “But here there’s a caveat.

“Over the past year and particularly over the past few weeks the Saudi leadership have made it very clear that normalization is going to be predicated not on a process but on (Palestinian) statehood, and so there will (have to) be negotiation on what all of that means.”

On Oct. 14, the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, non-partisan think tank, published a report comparing and contrasting the two candidates’ positions on a series of global issues, including Israel, Gaza and the Middle East.

Harris, it summarized, “backs Israel’s right to self-defense but has also been outspoken about the toll on Palestinian civilians amid the war between Israel and Hamas.”




Even the experts are struggling to predict how a Harris administration and a Trump administration might differ in their approach to the Middle East. (AFP)

As a result, many of her policy positions have been contradictory. For example, she called for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in March, a month ahead of President Biden, criticized Israel’s leadership for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and called for a two-state solution “where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”

She has also said Israel must bring to justice “extremist settlers” responsible for violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Yet Harris has also said she “will always give Israel the ability to defend itself” and fully supports US military aid to Israel (worth more than $12 billion since Oct. 7, 2023), which she has vowed to continue providing if elected president.

In the past, Trump’s support for Israel, “a cherished ally,” has raised hackles across the region.

In 2017 he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy there. In 2019 he reversed decades of US policy and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, seized from Syria by Israel in 1967.

In 2020 his Abraham Accords were widely seen as favoring Israel and patronizing the Palestinians, while from an Arab perspective the fatal flaw in a two-state peace initiative he unveiled that same year was that it proposed granting Israel sovereignty over much of the occupied territories.

Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity: A vision to improve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli people,” which he unveiled alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, received a mixed reaction.

It was rejected by the Arab League and denounced by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority as a “conspiracy deal,” but received more positive reviews from Gulf states.




Harris has also said she “will always give Israel the ability to defend itself” and fully supports US military aid to Israel. (AFP)

The UAE’s ambassador to Washington called it “a serious initiative that addresses many issues raised over the years,” while Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates the efforts of President Trump’s administration to develop a comprehensive peace plan.”

The plan, three years in the making, was never implemented. Intriguingly, however, it remains on the shelf, an oven-ready initiative that would allow a new Trump administration to hit the ground running in pursuit of his claim that only he is capable of bringing peace to the region.

It was, perhaps, telling that in the middle of campaigning in the knife-edge presidential race, Trump took time out last week to give an exclusive interview to Saudi TV channel Al Arabiya — recalling that his first overseas trip as president in 2017 had been to the Kingdom.

“I want to see the Middle East get back to peace but peace that’s going to be a lasting peace and I feel really truly confident it’s going to happen, and I believe it’s going to happen soon,” he told Al Arabiya’s Washington bureau chief, Nadia Bilbassy-Charters.

He stressed his admiration for, and friendship with, the Saudi crown prince, adding: “I was respected over there and (had) great relationships with so many including (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) and (if elected on Nov. 5) we’re going to get it done and it’s going to get done properly.”

The US election, he predicted, “is going to make a big difference.”

One way or the other, it certainly will.

 


India in mourning after over 240 killed in deadliest aviation disaster in decades

Updated 13 June 2025
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India in mourning after over 240 killed in deadliest aviation disaster in decades

  • Sole flight survivor Ramesh Viswashkumar a British national of Indian origin, is being treated at a hospital, airline confirms
  • London-bound Dreamliner with 242 people on board also killed dozens more when it crashed into a medical college hostel

NEW DELHI, India: Indian authorities were combing the site of one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters on Friday, after an Air India plane crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad less than a minute after takeoff, killing all but one of its passengers. 

The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which had 242 people on board, also killed dozens more people when it crashed into a medical college hostel located just outside Ahmedabad airport and burst into flames on Thursday afternoon. 

The sole survivor, a British national of Indian origin, is being treated in a hospital, the airline confirmed. 

“We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words. Condolences to all the bereaved families,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on social media after visiting the crash site in the capital of his home state of Gujarat. 

The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese and one Canadian. 

The surviving passenger, who was in seat 11A next to an emergency exit in front of the plane’s wing, reportedly managed to jump out. He told Indian media that he had heard a loud noise shortly after flight AI171 took off. 

Various footage showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then sinking and disappearing from the screen, before a huge fireball could be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses. 

Those killed on board include a family who was visiting India for Eid, a newlywed who is moving to the UK and Vijay Rupani, former chief minister of Gujarat. 

Health authorities are conducting DNA tests to identify bodies, which were mostly charred beyond recognition, as relatives take part and wait for officials to release the remains. 

Suresh Khatika, who was waiting at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where the DNA testing was taking place, said his niece Payal Khatika was among the passengers. 

“Payal was going for further studies and she has taken a loan for it. She was really preparing herself for the day when she would go to the UK for studies,” Khatika told Arab News. 

“It is really tragic that her dream crashed like this. We are in deep pain, and don’t know how to react.” 

Many Indians have also taken to social media to mourn the victims, as their stories circulated widely. Among them is Dr. Pratik Joshi, who was reportedly bringing his wife, Dr. Komi Vyas, and three young children to move to the UK. A picture of the family, believed to be taken on the plane and shared with relatives before takeoff, has garnered millions of views online as messages of condolence poured in. 

In addition to the passengers and crew, dozens more people perished as they were caught in the path of the plane crash. 

Thakur Ravi, a cook at B.J. Medical College, said his mother and two-year-old daughter, who had been on the side of the building where the plane had crashed, were missing. 

“Other helpers and cooks managed to escape but my mother and daughter have been missing since yesterday,” Ravi told Arab News. 

“We are frantically hoping against hope to have my family back. It was a horrible incident. It seemed as if the sky had fallen on us.” 

Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said a formal investigation headed by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has been launched. 

Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies also announced they were sending teams to support their Indian counterparts.

India, the world’s third-largest aviation market, has endured several fatal air crashes on its soil, including in 1996, when two planes collided mid-air over New Delhi, killing around 350 people. In 2010, an Air-India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in south-west India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew onboard. 


Judge blocks Trump’s election executive order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach

Updated 13 June 2025
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Judge blocks Trump’s election executive order, siding with Democrats who called it overreach

ATLANTA: A federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to overhaul elections in the US, siding with a group of Democratic state attorneys general who challenged the effort as unconstitutional.
The Republican president’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline.
The group of attorneys general said the directive “usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.” The White House has defended the order as “standing up for free, fair and honest elections” and called proof of citizenship a “commonsense” requirement.


Hong Kong rights group shuts down after years of advocating for workers

Updated 13 June 2025
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Hong Kong rights group shuts down after years of advocating for workers

  • Founded in 1994, organization maintained a database tracking workers’ strikes, protests, workplace accidents and other labor rights incidents in China

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong group that advocated for workers rights for decades announced its shutdown abruptly on Thursday, citing financial difficulties and debt issues.
China Labor Bulletin planned to stop updating its website content and appeared to have deleted Facebook and Instagram social media accounts used by the nonprofit rights organization.
“The company can no longer maintain operations and has decided to dissolve and initiate the relevant procedures,” it said in a statement on an archived web page Friday.
Founded in 1994, organization maintained a database tracking workers’ strikes, protests, workplace accidents and other labor rights incidents in China.
As dozens of civil society groups disbanded or left Hong Kong in the wake of the 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law, China Labor Bulletin continued providing valuable resources for journalists and academics in the southern Chinese city.
Critics say the drastic political changes in Hong Kong indicated the decline of Western-style civil liberties that China promised to keep intact when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. However, Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted the law was crucial to bring stability to the city following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
China Labor Bulletin’s founder Han Dongfang, a former railway worker who participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. He told the Central News Agency of Taiwan that the shutdown was his decision and he would stay in Hong Kong.
Han’s decision appeared sudden to many Hong Kong civil society observers. Three weeks ago, he wrote on social media platform LinkedIn about his work anniversary and his team’s progress.
“Let’s keep our faith up at this abnormal time and continue our important work,” he said.


India in mourning after deadliest aviation disaster in decades

Updated 13 June 2025
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India in mourning after deadliest aviation disaster in decades

  • Sole flight survivor, a British citizen of Indian origin, is being treated in hospital
  • Family members provide DNA samples to help identify crash victims

NEW DELHI: Indian authorities were combing the site of one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters on Friday, after an Air India plane crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad less than a minute after takeoff, killing all but one of its passengers.

The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which had 242 people on board, killed dozens more people when it crashed into a medical college hostel just outside Ahmedabad airport and burst into flames on Thursday afternoon.

The sole survivor, a British citizen of Indian origin, is being treated in hospital, the airline confirmed.

“We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words. Condolences to all the bereaved families,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on social media after visiting the crash site in the capital of his home state of Gujarat.

The passengers comprised 169 Indian citizens, 53 Britons, 7 Portuguese and a Canadian.

The surviving passenger, who was in seat 11A next to an emergency exit in front of the plane’s wing, reportedly managed to jump out. He told Indian media that he had heard a loud noise shortly after flight AI171 took off.

Various footage showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then sinking and disappearing from the screen, before a huge fireball could be seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses.

Those killed on board include a family visiting India for Eid, a newlywed who was moving to the UK and Vijay Rupani, former chief minister of Gujarat.

Health authorities are conducting DNA tests to identify bodies, most of which were charred beyond recognition.

Suresh Khatika, who was waiting at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where the DNA testing was taking place, said his niece Payal Khatika was among the passengers.

“Payal was going for further studies and she has taken a loan for it. She was really preparing herself for the day when she would go to the UK for studies,” Khatika told Arab News.

“It is really tragic that her dream crashed like this. We are in deep pain, and don’t know how to react.”

Many Indians have taken to social media to mourn the victims, as their stories circulated widely. Among them is Dr. Pratik Joshi, who was reportedly bringing his wife, Dr. Komi Vyas, and three young children to move to the UK. A picture of the family, believed to be taken on the plane and shared with relatives before takeoff, has garnered millions of views online as messages of condolence poured in.

In addition to the passengers and crew, dozens more people caught in the path of the plane crash perished.

Thakur Ravi, a cook at B.J. Medical College, said his mother and 2-year-old daughter, who were on the side of the building where the plane crashed, were missing. 

“Other helpers and cooks managed to escape but my mother and daughter have been missing since yesterday,” Ravi told Arab News.

“We are frantically hoping against hope to have my family back. It was a horrible incident. It seemed as if the sky had fallen on us.”

India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said a formal investigation led by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has been launched.

Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident. The UK and US air accident investigation agencies also announced they were sending teams to support their Indian counterparts.

India, the world’s third-largest aviation market, has suffered several fatal air crashes on its soil, including in 1996, when two planes collided in mid-air over New Delhi, killing about 350 people. In 2010, an Air-India Express jet crashed and burst into flames at Mangalore airport in south-west India, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew onboard.


Japan’s foreign minister praises Djibouti’s work on maritime security

Updated 13 June 2025
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Japan’s foreign minister praises Djibouti’s work on maritime security

TOKYO: Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya met with Dileita Mohamed Dileita, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Djibouti, on Friday and praised the “deepening of cooperation between the two countries in the field of maritime security.”

Iwaya stated that Djibouti, located at the southern end of the Red Sea and an important sea lane linking Europe and Asia, is a strategically important partner in the quest for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).”

Referring to the good relations between the two countries and his own special attachment toward Japan, President Dileita expressed his appreciation and gratitude for Japan’s development cooperation in various fields and for the Self-Defense Force facility in Djibouti, noting the strategic importance of his country.

The two sides exchanged views on issues that included the regional situation in Africa and in East Asia and agreed to further strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in regional and international arena, with a view to TICAD 9 in August and Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

• This article originally appeared on Arab News Japan