Enthusiasm in Jerusalem as Trump national security team takes shape
Israeli officials were enthusiastic about President-elect Donald Trump’s expected incoming national security team, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as secretary of state and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Mike Waltz (R-FL) for ambassador to the U.N. and national security advisor, respectively.With majority, Senate Republicans pledge aggressive action against antisemitism
A source close to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he is “expected to warmly welcome” his likely counterpart Rubio.
“We’re talking about someone who is not only a firm friend of Israel, but has a consistent track record on the major issues of the day,” such as Iran, the source said.
Officials in other Israeli government offices related to national security had positive things to say about the likely nominees, but did not want to be quoted until they are official. Trump has only announced he is tapping Stefanik for U.N. ambassador.
Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman was the one cabinet minister to comment publicly on Tuesday morning, posting on X that she is “happy and congratulates President Trump for his appointments. Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz are people with their heads on straight and moral clarity. This is good news for the free world and the State of Israel.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon posted his congratulations to Rubio and Stefanik, and said that he “look[s] forward to strengthening the enduring bond between Israel and the United States, working together for a safer, more prosperous future for all.”
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana praised the “brilliant pick” of Stefanik, posting photos from her visit to the Knesset last year and calling her “a strong voice of moral clarity and a fierce fighter for what is right,” as well as “a steadfast friend” of Israel and the Jewish people.
Former Israeli National Security Advisor and head of the Misgav Institute for National Security Meir Ben-Shabbat, who served under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Trump’s first term, said that while he does not know the nominees personally, he is familiar with their stances on matters important to Israel.
“There is potential for a dramatic change, to expand the Abraham Accords and continue the vision of the previous term, to bring stability, peace and prosperity, but it must be done through strength,” he said.
A spokesperson for Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), who will chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he “will continue to do all he can to support Israel in its war against Hamas and Hezbollah, to include the reversal of Biden’s policies of Iranian accommodation and doubling down on efforts to isolate Iran and deny the regime resources to threaten Israel.”Sen. Marco Rubio: Israel's Enemies Are Also Our Enemies
Risch, the spokesperson said, “will continue to counter antisemitism that exists across the world and in places like the [International Criminal Court] and the U.N. If the current Congress continues to stop short of taking action to sanction ICC officials and permanently cease funding to UNRWA, those will be early priorities next year.”
The committee has been at a standstill since April, the result of Risch and Foreign Relations Committee Republicans refusing to move forward on any of President Joe Biden’s nominations or other votes until the panel takes up a House-passed ICC sanctions bill. It is not clear if a bipartisan agreement will be reached before the new Congress begins in January.
Republicans have consistently argued since the spring that their conference would take a more hands-on approach to both Israel and antisemitism. Members have criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for refusing to allow for a vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act despite facing calls from Jewish leaders and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to do so; Schumer said in late October that a vote on the AAA would take place after the election.
A spokesperson for Schumer pointed to Republican holds on the legislation, saying that “because of that fact pattern, the goal of passing antisemitism legislation has long been to use a viable, must-pass vehicle to accomplish passage.”
“We fully intend to get it done before the end of the year,” Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro said of passing AAA in the lame duck session.
GOP senators have also pointed to the lack of any productive hearings on domestic antisemitism as evidence of Democratic inaction, with several incoming committee chairs saying they’d like to convene hearings on the issue.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been pushing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s outgoing chairman, to hold a hearing on the matter since last November. Sanders has refused the requests, despite pressure from HELP Committee Democrats and members of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.
Israel has been a steadfast U.S. ally, a wellspring of technological innovation, and a force for good in the world. Israel's enemies are also our enemies. The Iranian regime and its proxies - Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and a multitude of groups in Syria and Iraq - seek Israel's destruction as part of a multi-stage plan to dominate the Middle East and destabilize the West. The Jewish state is on the front lines of this conflict, fighting with many shared American-Israeli lives.
This makes it outrageous that international institutions are targeting Israel. The International Criminal Court is currently mulling arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials over supposed "war crimes." The court isn't going after Assad in Syria, who gassed his own people. It isn't going after Xi Jinping in China, who is conducting real-time genocide against the Uyghurs. Instead, it's attacking a country whose military has gone to great lengths to protect civilian lives. The hypocrisy is astounding.
In the end, no matter what the international community says, Israel has a right to defend itself, and the United States must support its effort to destroy Hamas as a terrorist threat. We also must support Israel against Iran-backed Hizbullah to Israel's north. (National Review-May 6, 2024)
