A Harris presidency is in favor with Jews and Israel - opinion

The 2024 presidential election could be the most consequential in US history. There are many reasons that Kamala Harris should be elected president.

Harris has had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel. She has often indicated, most recently at the Democratic National Convention, that she defends Israel’s right to defend itself and supports efforts to ensure that it can. She has been a strong opponent of BDS. In contrast, all it took for Donald Trump to become hostile to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the latter’s congratulation of President Joe Biden for winning the 2020 US presidential election.

Trump has antisemetic ties

Harris and her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, have been leaders in the struggle against antisemitism in the US. But Trump hosted notorious antisemites for dinner at Mar-a-Lago, called white supremacists shouting “Jews will not replace us” while marching through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia “very fine people,” and forwarded antisemitic posts from neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. He also made antisemitic statements such as that American Jews care more about Israel than they do about the US, and that Jews who do not support him are disloyal to Israel and Judaism.

Trump is a threat to US democracy. He has stated that if he is reelected, he would like to be a dictator on day one. He praises dictators, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. In a highly brazen initiative, he encouraged a rebellion at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, aiming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He now says he would pardon those convicted of participating in the insurrection. He also encouraged his vice president to overturn the election results. Importantly, the recent Trump vs. United States Supreme Court ruling effectively makes the president immune from prosecution, which is extremely hazardous when there is an unscrupulous president.

Both candidates have different climate change views

Harris and Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, both recognize the severity of climate threats and have supported efforts to reduce them. As a senator, Harris was one of the sponsors of the Green New Deal. But, despite the overwhelming consensus of climate experts that the world is in great peril due to climate change and the recent significant increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, wildfires, storms, floods, and other climate events, Trump repeatedly calls human-induced climate change a hoax and has pledged to expand oil and gas production from already record highs.

If elected, he would likely appoint other climate deniers to key environmental posts and make every effort to roll back regulations designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, just as he did during his administration. He told a meeting of fossil fuel executives that he would continue doing their bidding if they collectively donated a billion dollars to his election campaign.

Israelis should be especially concerned about climate threats. Israel is heating up faster than the world average, and the hotter and drier Israeli future increases the likelihood of instability, terrorism, and war. Also, Israel’s coastal plain, which contains much of Israel’s population and infrastructure, might be inundated by a rising Mediterranean Sea.

Trump’s few positive actions regarding Israel are dwarfed by his endangering Israel and, indeed, the entire world by his denial of climate threats and by his pulling the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was working well according to professional inspectors and most nuclear and strategic experts. This has enabled Iran to be much closer to being able to create nuclear weapons and to be in a much better bargaining position for future negotiations.  

The candidates’ characters should be considered. While Harris is respected by many, The New York Times’ conservative columnist Bret Stephens, a former editor of The Jerusalem Post, wrote that Trump’s character involves “lying, narcissism, bullying, bigotry, crassness, name-calling, ignorance, paranoia, incompetence, and pettiness.” 

Harris’s positions on many issues, such as healthcare, human rights, taxes, and environmental sustainability, are consistent with fundamental Jewish values of kindness, compassion, concern for the disadvantaged, the stranger, the hungry, and the poor, and consideration for future generations. 

The quality of the future administration should be considered. While Harris would select the most qualified people for cabinet, ambassadorial, and other positions, Trump would make loyalty to him his primary consideration.

It is significant that a substantial majority of US Jews vote for Democrats, and a substantial majority of US Jewish legislators are Democrats. In conclusion, Jews can expect a Harris administration to be stable, honorable, trustworthy, and supportive of Israel.