By Tsvi Sadan, Israel Today—
One would think that with him being so unprecedentedly pro-Israel, Trump’s loss in the US election is Israel’s loss. But these days “pro-Israel” is understood quite differently by rival Israeli political camps.
The Right still thinks that to be pro-Israel means a president should support traditional Zionist convictions, such as keeping Israel “Jewish.” For the Right, a pro-Israel president means supporting Israel in her quest to bring large areas of the West Bank under Israel’s sovereignty. For the Right, pro-Israel means a president who supports traditional values. And so on.
The Left, on the other hand, sees a pro-Israel president differently. He should fit the mould of Barack Obama, who is perceived by this camp as one who labored for a new kind of society in which all forms of bigotry are a thing of the past. And since the notion of a “Jewish” state is inherently bigoted, a pro-Israel president should urge Israel to become a progressive democracy focused on its democratic nature rather than its Jewish character. And he should compel the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Following the lead of American media, the front page of Yediot Aharonot gleefully welcomes “President Biden”
Considering the way bigotry is understood nowadays, Trump and his supporters are big-time bigots, because they still advocate for the patriarchy, the nation state, the notion of citizenship, things that make Republicans illegitimate by definition. This is why Democrats didn’t give Trump the benefit of the doubt for even one second. What he stood for was enough to say, “he is not my president.”
Israelis relate to Trump in much the same way. The Left loath him for the values for which he stands. The Right love him for the same reasons. This is why those who have discredited Trump from day one–supposedly because of his unconventional manner, his tweets, his offensive bluntness–would have discredited him anyhow, no matter how he had acted, simply because they hate not the person, but the things for which he stands.
This might explain why Israelis are unabashedly, and uncritically, copying and pasting the arguments of their American counterparts. The ample examples seen on the any media outlet demonstrate that these are not anecdotal. From the Right, Shai Attar writes: “Al Gore challenges George W. Bush’s victory – a celebration of democracy. Donald Trump challenges Joe Biden’s ‘victory’ – damaging democracy.” Continue Reading…
