Abe Foxman: Actions, not words matter on Harris, Trump Israel, antisemitism policy - interview

When reviewing antisemitism and Israel policies of presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and ex-president Donald Trump, according to former Anti-Defamation League national director Abe Foxman, it is more important to pay attention to actions and records than it was to focus on rhetoric.

The 2024 US election season was an important one not just for all American citizens but especially so for Jewish voters and Israeli allies during a time of rising antisemitism and the ongoing Israel-Hamas War.

Foxman said that both the right and left were playing politics, and during such an election campaign, voters had to wade through hyperbole, false promises, and disinformation to understand the situation.

Foxman said that he believed that Harris's record showed that she would be an ally of Israel and would take a strong stance against antisemitism. The greatest evidence of this was her partnership and active role with President Joe Biden's administration.

"I know the Republican view is that he is the worst when it comes to Israel, but he is probably the most pro-Israel in words and deeds," said Foxman.

Biden declared himself a Zionist, had been the first American president to visit Israel during a war, and had supported the Jewish state during one of the darkest chapters of its history, Foxman reminded. As Biden's vice president, he said that this record should reflect kindly on Harris.

"I'm troubled about the Israeli press's often simplistic appreciation of Trump and simplistic understanding of Biden," said Foxman.

Israel receives a platform at the DNC 

At the August Democratic Party National Convention, the party had given an important platform to Israeli concerns, with the parents of now-murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin giving center stage to implore for his return.

"If Israel wasn't mentioned, it might have been worrying," said Foxman, but the opposite occurred.

Foxman said that it had been Harris's difficult decision not to have a Palestinian speaker, a choice that she and the party had taken of criticism over. While in Michigan, Harris had met with members of the Uncommitted movement, which advocates for an arms embargo against Israel. Foxman, at the time, stressed the need for the vice president to make it clear that she did not support such a measure. What was seen in Michigan by many voters was politics, and if it was acceptable for the Israeli Prime Minister to play politics in Israel, it was okay for the presidential candidates to do so in the US election.  

"What we will see is a change in tone and increase on sympathy for Palestinians," Foxman predicted of Harris policy. "We need to understand that support for the Palestinians and greater sympathy for a two-state solution doesn't necessarily mean being against Israel." Many actors who wanted the best for Israel also wanted the same for Palestinians. Yet Foxman again emphasized that tone was less important than actions.

When it came to antisemitism, the administration had taken upon itself the responsibility to take action against antisemitism in a way that no other administration had. Harris had assigned her husband Doug Emhoff a role in spreading awareness of antisemitism, a role he would likely continue to carry as a potential first husband. Foxman said he "respected the criticism from the Republican Jewish side, but he saw the Harris campaign and Biden administration as taking initiative against antisemitism, although he agreed that much more needed to be done. The Harris campaign had engaged in many meetings with Jewish groups, he said.

Foxman welcomed the Trump campaign's efforts to reach out to Jewish voters, but he disagreed in the manner in which he did so -- talking about American Jews supposed loyalty to Israel and therefore being "out of their minds" if they did not support a president who had done so much for the state.

"He thinks he's doing us a favor, he's well intentioned, but there are unintended consequences of this rhetoric," said Foxman, who explained it touched on the dual loyalty tropes."

Foxman was concerned about Trump's unpredictability, saying that while he could trace a pro-Israel and counter-antisemitism trajectory in Harris's record, Trump's actions couldn't be predicted by his past policies.

"US is the only ally that Israel has, so we need a strong and stable support," said Foxman, noting that Trump had not called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months because he had taken personal slight from the Israeli leader's offer of congratulations to a victorious Biden in 2020.

In the same way that Foxman was worried about the impact of progressives on the Democratic Party, the Jewish leader was also concerned about how isolationists were impacting the Republicans.

"If they think they don't need to support Ukraine, who will they retract support from next?" He said of Trump's running mate JD Vance's isolationist tendencies.

Foxman said to choose a suitable candidate in the upcoming election, "deeds, not words," were more important when making the important decision.