News Roundup for November 14, 2022
J Street works to promote an open, honest and rigorous conversation about Israel. The opinions reflected in articles posted in the News Roundup do not necessarily reflect J Street’s positions, and their posting does not constitute an endorsement from J Street.
Donald Trump May Have Had a Bad Week With Us Voters, but Republicans in Israel Still Love the Former President, Business Insider
“Trump wrote: “No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the US Those living in Israel, though, are a different story — Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be P.M.!” His support in Israel is significant and spans the political spectrum. It’s not unusual to hear secular, left-of-center people from Tel Aviv praising him. In 2019, Pew Research Center polling found that 71% of Israelis who responded to the polls viewed Trump favorably. It isn’t the case with Jewish Americans, however. In a poll of 800 voters by GBAO Strategies for J Street, 77% of Jewish Americans who responded to the poll voted for Biden in 2020.”
Israel’s Netanyahu Officially Tapped To Form Government, Politico
Israel’s president officially tapped former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government on Sunday, opening the door for the likely return to power of the long-serving leader after a one-year hiatus. With Netanyahu comes what’s expected to be Israel’s most right-wing coalition ever.
At ZOA Event, Trump Again Attacks U.S. Jews for Supporting Democrats, Haaretz
Former President Donald Trump blasted American Jews for failing to vote for Republicans in sufficient numbers after he accepted the Theodor Herzl Medallion from the Zionist Organization of America, at the right-wing group’s annual gala on Sunday.
Key UN Committee Seeks Legal Opinion on Israel’s Occupation, The Washington Post
A key U.N. committee approved a draft resolution Friday calling on the International Court of Justice to urgently issue its opinion on the legal consequences of denying the Palestinian people the right to self-determination as a result of Israel’s actions since the 1967 Mideast war. The measure was vehemently opposed by Israel, which argued it would destroy any chance of reconciliation with the Palestinians.
Far-right Plan to Change Law of Return Could Make Millions Ineligible for Aliyah, Haaretz
If the religious parties set to be in Israel’s next governing coalition have their way, nearly 3 million people with Jewish roots — the overwhelming majority of them from the United States — could lose their right to immigrate to Israel, new estimates on the size of the Jewish population show.
Before Election, Israel Approved $2.3 Million Plan To Improve Its Image Among Reform and Conservative Jews, JTA
Concerned that progressive values widely held by American Jews were fueling growing skepticism about the Jewish state, the Israeli government launched an unprecedented plan to counter the trend, according to internal documents obtained by the Israeli watchdog newsroom Shomrim.
Israel Strike Hits Major Air Base in Central Syria, Military Sources Say, Reuters
Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missiles over Homs province on Sunday, state news agency SANA said, in what military sources said was a strike on a major Syrian air base. Syrian state television posted a short video of the “aggression” but gave no further details.
Israel’s Election Empowers a More Muscular Religious Zionism, The New York Times
Isabel Kershner reports, “The extreme wing of the nationalist religious community has prevailed. At the same time, religious Zionists are increasingly part of the Israeli mainstream.”
What To Make of the Week That Was in Israel and the United States?, The Times of Israel
J Street Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet Co-Chair Rabbi John Rosove writes, “I’m still left feeling betwixt and between despite the elections now beginning to recede in the rear-view mirror. I’m deeply worried about what is happening to the Israel I love, the middle-left in Israel, my liberal Zionism in America, and what Israel might become with the election of the most right-wing racist, exclusionary, misogynist, homophobic, and anti-pluralistic government ever to be seated in the Knesset.”
