Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Donald Trump, right now, looks to be a shoo-in as the 47th
president of the United States. Trump may even get the Jewish
vote, traditionally—and staunchly—reserved for Democrats. The change of
allegiance has less to do with Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline than
his handling of issues important to Jews in the wake of October 7th.
There’s a perception that as much as they hate to admit it, Trump will better
defend Israel and the Jewish people. They are right, and arguably, the
difference in policy boils down to how the two men view the creation of the
State of Israel. Trump sees Israel as the rebirth of the ancient Jewish homeland,
while Biden sees Israel as born in sin: a post-Holocaust haven for Jews that
left Arabs homeless and stateless, and the region in perpetual conflict.
Joe Biden
Joe Biden’s understanding of Zionism as an escape hatch for
the Jews was on full display as he helpfully defined the term “Zionist” for
Speedy Morman during a July 12 interview:
Joe Biden: Look, Israel--if there weren't an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk, every Jew in the world would be at risk, and so there's a need for it to be strong and a need for Israel to be able to have, after World War II, the ability for Jews to have a place that was their own—that you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and the Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they've been persecuted.
Speedy Morman: Are you a Zionist?
Joe Biden: Yes. Now you'll be able to make a lot out of that because people don't know what a Zionist is. Do you know what a Zionist is?
Speedy Morman: I just ask questions, I don't answer.
There is nothing in Joe Biden’s personal definition of Zionism as stated to Morman, to suggest that the Jewish people have any actual claim to Israel—only that after the Holocaust, the Jews needed a place, randomly, to hang up their hats where no one would bother them—a place exclusive to Jews, with Jews in charge, making the laws. The history of the Jews in Israel, according to Joe Biden, begins after the Holocaust. There is no other reason for Jews to live in Israel beyond the need for refuge and autonomy.
A collection of Joe Biden quotes on the Democratic Majority for
Israel includes a more succinct expression of how Joe Biden sees Israel:
Israel must always exist because it’s the only ultimate guarantor of security of the Jewish people the world over.
This is the reason for Israel’s existence? Running from genocide? Security? Nothing about the Jews as the indigenous people of the land? No. It all goes back to Hitler and the Holocaust.
Barack Obama
Joe Biden comes by the concept of Israel as a modern
(colonial, racist) phenomenon, honestly. His former boss—whom many suspect is
currently running the White House by proxy—set the tone for all Democrats going
forward, in his 2009 Cairo address to the Muslim world at large. The roots of
the colonialist project that is Israel, is the Holocaust (emphasis added):
America’s strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.
Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today.
It is really not subtle. He wants the Muslims to know he agrees
with them. The Jews took Israel not because of any longstanding history, but because
of the Holocaust. He as much as promised them that he would work to advance the
narrative that the Jews had no other tragic history and no reason to come to
Israel. No Babylonians, no Romans, no temples. No Inquisition.
As Elliot Abrams
put it, “He seemed to ignore two millenia [sic] of Jewish longing for a return
to Jerusalem.”
Einat Wilf would call him a “Zionism denier.” Wilf used the term in 2017 to describe Daniel Barenboim, a talented musician and Jew-hating Jew.
Daniel Barenboim is a Zionism denier. Zionism denial is the claim he raised in his opinion piece (“Germany is repaying its post-Holocaust debts to Israel – but not to the Palestinians,” June 8) saying that Israel exists because of the Holocaust.
Zionism denial is the story of how the State of Israel “was given” to the Jewish people by the guilt-ridden world after the Holocaust. Zionism denial is also the claim that the Palestinians are also the victims of Germany and Europe, for without the Holocaust, their catastrophe would have been avoided.
The upshot of Zionism denial is ignoring the history of the Zionist movement before World War II. The denier completely ignores the fact that save for the decisive aspect of independence, the State of Israel in the making would have existed in fact on the eve of World War II. Zionism denial means ignoring that the State of Israel arose on the force of the vision, desire and uncommon deeds of far-sighted Jews, who laid the foundations of its independence. . .
. . . Zionism denial is not only ignoring the pre-war history of Zionism but also a theft of the Zionist consciousness from the Jewish people – the recognition that Jews can, by force of vision, desire and work [to] return to history as an active agent and shape a future in which they are not the victims of others. Zionism denial means that the State of Israel becomes a “gift” that was given to the Jews because of what was done to the Jews by others – not for what the Jews did by and for themselves.
Worse than that, Zionism denial seeks to return the Jews to their “rightful” place in European history, as tolerated people whose fate is set by those who give and take as they please. Zionism denial turns Israel – alone among all countries in the world – into a conditional state, which is permitted to exist as long as those who received it, by grace and not by right, will find favor in the eyes who “gave” them the country.
Far from serving as the catalyst for the birth of the State of Israel, says Evyatar Friesel, the Holocaust almost brought labor—and the return to Zion—to a halt:
It is widely believed that the catastrophe of European Jewry during World War II had a decisive influence on the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. According to this thesis, for the Jews the Holocaust triggered a supreme effort toward statehood, based on the understanding that only a Jewish state might again avoid the horrors of the 1940s. For the nations of the world, shocked by the horror of the extermination and burdened by feelings of guilt, the Holocaust convinced them that the Jews were entitled to a state of their own. All these assumptions seem extremely doubtful. They deserve careful re-examination in light of the historical evidence . . .
. . . Nevertheless, there was a point of contact and influence between the Holocaust and the creation of the Jewish state. It was, however, exactly the reverse of what is commonly assumed: the destruction of European Jewry almost rendered the birth of Israel impossible.
Bill de Blasio
The idea that Israel is a post-Holocaust land grab is mainstream
Democrat policy. Listen for it whenever a Democrat speaks of being “pro-Israel.”
It’s not about being in favor of the return to Zion, it’s the idea that Jews
need a safe place. But because they’re evenhanded, Arabs deserve a safe place,
too. Right in the same spot as the Jews, of course.
In one 2019
press conference, Bill de Blasio described what being pro-Israel means to
him—giving the others the same thing:
To have a place that is a refuge for the Jewish people is absolutely necessary.
I believe 100 percent in protecting the state of Israel and I believe that the BDS movement – very misguided – is undermining the economy and the existence and the survival of the State of Israel. I also believe in a two-state solution, and I've always believed in a two-state solution. As president, I would work very hard for [a] two-state solution, which I think is still within reach. But I want to convince my fellow Democrats and fellow progressives who have moved in a different direction that they're making a mistake. I also want to say, that is by far a minority of the Democratic Party. The vast majority of the Democratic Party, the vast majority of Democratic office holders are pro-Israel.
J.D. Vance
Far from the Democratic party line erasure of Jewish history and ownership, the Republicans (except for a few nutcases like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene) embrace the return of the Jews to Zion. It’s a core Republican belief. J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, has attributed American support for Israel, to America being a Christian-majority country:
A big part of the reason why Americans care about Israel is because we are still the largest Christian-majority country in the world, which means that a majority of citizens of this country think that their Savior — and I count myself a Christian — was born and died and resurrected in that narrow little strip of territory on the Mediterranean. The idea that there is ever going to be an American foreign policy that doesn’t care a lot about that slice of the world is preposterous.
Donald Trump
Israel is a light unto the world. The hearts and history of our people are woven together. The Land of Israel is an ancient home, a sacred place of worship, and a solemn promise to the Jewish people that we will never again repeat history’s darkest hour. . .
All humanity should be able to enjoy the glories of the Holy Land. This part of the world is forever connected to the human soul and the human spirit. These ancient lands should not be symbols of conflict but eternal symbols of peace.
Jerusalem is a sacred city. Its beauty, splendor, and heritage are like no other place on Earth. What a heritage. What a heritage. The ties of the Jewish people to this Holy Land are ancient and eternal. They date back thousands of years, including the reign of King David whose star now flies proudly on Israel’s white and blue flag.
Mike Pence
Former Vice President Pence, too, has been known to wax lyrical about Israel:
Israel is like a tree that has grown deep roots in the soil of your forefathers, yet as it grows, it reaches ever closer to the heavens. And today and every day, the Jewish state of Israel, and all the Jewish people, bear witness to God’s faithfulness, as well as your own.
It was the faith of the Jewish people that gathered the scattered fragments of a people and made them whole again; that took the language of the bible and the landscape of the psalms and made them live again. And it was faith that rebuilt the ruins of Jerusalem and made them strong again.
Ron DeSantis
Former Trump competitor, Governor Ron DeSantis, goes even further, declaring that Jews have the right to settle in Judea and Samaria, that this is their land every bit as much as the rest of Israel. DeSantis laid out his policy—and what he believes should be the American policy on Israel—to Israel Hayom, when he was still in the running for the nomination:
I’m asked, “You’re a stalwart for Israel and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. Why, why Israel?”
Well, it’s something that’s personal to my wife, Casey. And to me, it comes from our faith in God. It comes from the visits, and I’ve done a number of visits to Israel over the years where you can walk with a Bible in your hand…Where people like David and Jesus stood thousands and thousands of years ago. The bible comes to life when you’re in Israel.It also comes from us knowing historical facts and historical truth about the thousands and thousands of years of connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel. It comes from us knowing that the United States and Israel are in the same fight against the same tyrannical forces, including forces fueled by international terrorism.
We also have to reject the Biden administration’s attempt to force a two-state solution with pre-1967 borders. First of all, those borders are indefensible. They want to carve up Jerusalem and all that. But here’s the thing, you can’t do peace with people that don’t believe you have a right to exist as a Jewish state. And we must...reject the notion that somehow Judea and Samaria are occupied territory, the connections with the Jewish people go back thousands of years, and they have every right to have very strong communities in those areas.
Now in terms of Judea and Samaria, I’ve always rejected this idea that it’s occupied territory. I mean, these are some of the most historic Jewish lands going all the way back to biblical times. Yes, there was a partition plan with the UN in the 1940s. But the Arabs rejected the Partition Plan. It’d be one thing if they accepted it. Israel was willing to accept, they rejected it. And then they chose to wage war for many decades.
And so it’s not occupied territory. It is disputed territory, and I think Israel’s claim is the most superior in terms of anybody else for it.
Jerusalem is in fact, going back thousands of years, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. U.S. policy should recognize the truth.
Where Republicans see ancient holiness and the bible coming
true, highly-placed Democrats like Joe Biden and Obama before him see the
State of Israel as a modern-day bastard child born of the Holocaust. The idea
of Israel is, to them, an illegitimate construct that perpetuates Arab misery.
They don’t say it, but academics on campus are saying it—they can say what
presidents can’t—that the suffering of Israelis is brought on only by
themselves—including what happened on October 7 and the resulting rampant
antisemitism now affecting Jews across the globe.
Joe Biden was all but assured the Jewish vote until October
7 changed everything. Now there is a perception that Biden is doing little to
free the hostages and slow-walking arms to Israel. Biden props up Iran and its
proxy Hamas, even as rampant antisemitism sweeps across the United States, and with
Biden doing nothing to stop it. His vapid replacement, Vice President Kamala "You
can't make shit with flour if you don't have clean water," Harris, is no
better, in addition to being a figure both widely and wildly disliked.
Harry S. Truman
It wasn’t always this way with the Democrats. In fact, the first world leader to recognize the fledgling State of Israel was a Democrat. And in subsequent years, such as in his 1959 filmed address to the 45th national convention of Hadassah, when President Harry S. Truman spoke about Israel, he spoke not of the Holocaust, but of faith:
I had faith in Israel before it was established. I have faith in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it not just as another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
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