Why I am voting for Trump
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Why I am voting for Trump

How quickly everyone seems to forget that Vice President Harris would not sit in Congress and listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu address Congress. What message did that send?

I just finished reading an article by Abe Foxman stating why he was going to vote for a Kamala/Walz ticket. In response, Gadi Taub, a Professor of Public Policy at Hebrew University, stated that the next administration’s policy towards Iran is much more important than its future policy towards Israel.  The Biden/Harris administration has engaged in  a policy of appeasement, leaving Iran with billions of dollars to fuel its ring of fire proxies against Israel, and to continue its nuclear program. It is much more likely, that a Harris/Walz administration will continue this policy of appeasement than a Trump/Vance administration.

Furthermore, while Harris echoes the language of President Biden that Israel has a right to defend itself, Kamala is heard on tape, on ABC news, saying that “she studied the maps, and the Palestinians have nowhere to go,  and so she warned Israel to NOT dare enter Rafah.” It is a good thing that Prime Minister Netanyahu did not listen to Biden and Harris. Yes, Harris says Israel has a right to defend itself, but not to go on the offensive. Israel eliminated Sinwar, Nasrallah, Haniya, Deif and many other terrorist leaders, none of which would have happened if Israel had listened to President Biden and Harris. We also heard Harris appear to justify an anti-Israel activist’s allegations of Genocide in the Gaza Strip at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, for a campaign event addressing students.

Then there is former President Trump’s track record to consider. Besides his policy to stop funding the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, and hold the Palestinians accountable, he moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and his Abraham Accords ushered in an historic peace.

Furthermore, former President Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, and by sanctioning Iran through his maximum pressure campaign, he denied resources to the Iranian government, which decreased its ability to finance its missile programs and its international proxy terrorism.

Most people do not know that, after signing the Abraham Accords, and with just days left in his Presidency, President Trump, in a bid to solidify Arab-Israeli efforts against Iran, decided to move Israel from U.S. European Military Command (EUCOM) to U.S. Central Command  (CENTCOM). Israel became the twenty-first nation to be placed under CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, where these countries share intelligence and engage in joint military exercises. On April 28, 2024, Michael Makovsky and General Charles Wald, from JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, reported that this change “enabled the successful, coordinated defense of Israel against the Iranian attack” on April 13th. “President Trump’s decision to transfer Israel to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) ensured the unprecedented Israeli-American-British-Arab collaboration that repelled 99% of Iran’s missiles and drones.”

The media and the Biden/Harris Administration blamed Israel for the failure to secure a deal to release the hostages, but, at an off the record meeting, a person, with good authority, told all of us who were attending, that after the initial November hostage deal, the negotiators were not able to get Hamas to move an inch in December, January or February. However, after three weeks in March, the Israeli negotiators saw that Hamas was about to agree to a deal, but as soon as the United States abstained from the UN Security Council Resolution 2728, adopted on March 25, 2024, which demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas war during the month of Ramadan, Hamas walked away.  The U.S. administration abandoned Israel and their hostages, and strengthened Hamas and Sinwar.

The Biden/Harris administration followed the playbook of former President Obama. Not only did they abstain from a UN Security Council resolution like Obama did, but they also, just like Obama, delayed arms shipments to Israel, although already approved by Congress. What message does this send to our enemies? Such action, when coupled  with the administration’s threat that Israeli would stand alone if it enters Rafah, only further emboldened Hamas, which still calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews.

In fact, in a JINSA Zoom, which I just heard today, three Israeli Generals stated that the 2,000 pound bombs, which the Biden/Harris administration is withholding from Israel, would have made Israel’s recent operations even moore successful.  And if you think this is bad, if we have a Harris/Walz administration, I am afraid of what the policies will be. Let’s look at who the candidates surround themselves with. The Biden/Harris administration has appointed Maher Bitar, a former anti-Israel activist of Palestinian descent, who has hosted Conferences praising Islamic terrorism, as Senior Director of intelligence.  As much as I worry about how a Harris/Walz administration will affect Israel’s war on terror, I also worry about their foreign policy for the “day after”, as Harris is still calling for a Palestinian State.

If a voter believes that Trump is better for Israel than Harris is, there is no excuse to not vote for Trump, or to not vote at all, which is a vote for Harris, since unlike four years ago, Israel is fighting for its existence. America will certainly survive as it already has under 4 years of Trump. Thanks to Trump, who signed an Executive order to include Jews in Title Six and the Civil Rights Act, now our Jewish students can sue their universities, who have allowed discrimination against our Jewish students this past year. With the crisis of antisemitism on college campuses, in the wake of the Israeli-Hamas war, Jewish students across the U.S. are experiencing growing hostility. This makes Trump signing on December 11, 2019 Executive order 13899, Combating Anti-Semitism, all the more important. “The Executive Order reaffirms that anti semitism and discrimination against Jews based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It directs the federal government to enforce Title VI against prohibited forms of discrimination rooted in anti-Semitism as vigorously as against all other forms of discrimination, prohibited by Title VI ; and requires federal agencies to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, and the IHRA’s contemporary examples of anti-Semitism, in enforcing Title VI”. President Trump signed the Executive Order because the then Democratic majority in Congress would not even vote to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the floor. On account of this 2019 Trump Executive Order, combating anti-Semitism, students are able to  bring lawsuits against their universities.

Even though I made my decision based on these facts, and actually many more, including the border and inflation, I pray every day that G-d should cause the right person to win the election and do what is best for Israel and America.

Mindy Stein of Teaneck is American Zionist Movement Vice President for World Zionist Organization Relations, a Past National President and Chairman of the Board of Emunah of America.

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