Senior Trump advisor claims Clinton has deeply embedded hostility towards Jewish state. ‘I don’t think she particularly likes Israel’.
Despite pledges early in the primary season to maintain neutrality in dealings with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Donald Trump has since emphasized his pro-Israel bona fides and hinted at a major deviation from policies supported by presidents of both parties since the 1967 Six Day War, including the two-state solution, Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria, and America’s embassy in Israel.
In an attempt to woo Jewish voters and supporters of Israel, Trump has relied heavily on proxies, including his daughter Ivanka, an Orthodox Jewish convert, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as campaign spokespeople and advisers.
On Thursday, David Friedman, a long-time Trump confidant highlighted the Republican nominee’s ardent support for Israel, adding that his general election opponent would be “terrible” for Israel, and had no love for the Jewish state.
Speaking with Yediot Ahronot, Friedman said the GOP nominee ‘trusts’ Israel, a subtle jab at incumbent President Barack Obama, whose feud with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu strained relations between the two allies over the past seven and a half years.
“Trump policy first and foremost is to trust Israel that they know what they are doing,” said Friedman. “Israel has now been independent for 70 years. They’re a grown up country. They are not a client state of the United States. They are a partner with the United States in a global war on terrorism. We trust our partner and we want our partner to be secure and safe. We trust them to do the right thing.”
‘Clinton no friend of Israel’
Friedman added that much of the hostility between the White House and Israel was a result of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s push for a unilateral building freeze in Judea and Samaria, suggesting the Democratic nominee has a personal animus towards Israel.
“As soon as she became Secretary of State, the first thing she did was to embrace a unilateral settlement freeze. I think it completely poisoned the environment. I’m not aware of anything she did that is particularly good. I can name off the top of my head things that were nasty, like ripping up the letter from George Bush to Ariel Sharon, which I think was the only thing Israel got from evacuating Gaza.”
“I don’t think she particularly likes Israel. I think she likes the kind of elite left among the Jewish people of Israel and in America like the Max Blumenthals, the Sidney Blumenthals and the people of that ilk who would like to turn Israel into a sort of Singapore. I think she’s terrible for Israel.”
‘Trump won’t blindly embrace two-state solution’
With an unorthodox presidential campaign and policies that defy the political establishment of both parties, Trump also appears poised to drop a staple of US foreign policy towards Israel that has been accepted by both Republican and Democratic administrations alike – the two-state solution.
Labeling support for the two-state solution after a quarter century of failure “insanity”, Friedman said a Trump White House would have a more nuanced view of the issue, one with an eye for improving the quality of life for those in the region, rather than adherence to political dogma.
“[Trump’s] position is that he’s observed the obvious, which is that a two-state solution over the past generation has been attempted over and over again and has been a failure. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result—and he’s not insane. To blindly embrace a two-state solution because it’s been an American policy for the past 25 years is not something he’s going to do, any more so than one would have expected a president in the 1970s embrace the Vietnam war because it was a 20-year policy of the United States. Policies are only good if they work.”
“I don’t think this is an area which is susceptible to jingoism. It’s a very complex issue. The conventional wisdom is that Israel has to be a Jewish state or a democratic state, but can’t be both. It’s essentially a demographic assessment, which I think is wrong. With the removal of the Gazan population from the denominator, I think a one-state solution would reduce Israel from about 75 percent of a Jewish state to maybe about 65 percent. I don’t think it’s existential to do that. Ultimately, the issue is one of reducing tension and improving quality of life. That ought to be the first step, not the geography. The geography will follow if appropriate advances are made in quality of life.”
Tel Aviv or Jerusalem – The US Embassy in Israel
If questioning the basis of American support for the two-state solution is a novelty for an American presidential candidate, proposing to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital of Jerusalem is not.
Multiple Republican nominees, including Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney, all pledged to relocate America’s embassy.
Yet Bush, the sole Republican to win the White House over the past quarter century, failed to make good on his campaign promise. With Trump, Friedman claims, things will be different.
“I think one of his first acts is going be to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I think the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem is logistically something that can’t be done on the first day (but) I think that will happen in due course.”
Tougher line with Palestinian Authority
Aside from abandoning the reflexive support for a two-state solution that has animated American policy for decades, Friedman says Trump would also hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for its behavior.
“The message to Abbas is that you have a burden that you have to carry to be taken seriously as a potential nation-state. You haven’t met that burden yet. That includes renouncing violence, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, creating infrastructure where money and funds are handled in a non-corrupt manner.”
lsatenstein Said:
is this your foreward to your post… its a breath of fresh air to see you issue a disclosure warning to readers prior to starting your post. I would have to agree with your advance assessment as it reminds me of the muslim terrorists in Israel who dressed up as orthodox Jews. thanks for the heads up…. like trump you have summarized your post in one simple line.
Since this blog is posted, all contents therein are Bullshit.
After the years that Hillary was scuttling between Israel and the neighbours, her daughter met a reform Jew, converted to Reform Judaism and has given her grandchildren. Suddenly, Hillary has a new understanding of what Israel means for we Jews.
Do not think that Israel would be in bad hands with the Democrats. That is a fear that should be put aside.
But rest assured, the Republicans (and probably the Democrats too), need to cut foreign aide, and if either controls congress, they will do it.
Had Israel signed their agreement after November, with a new president, I feel deep down in my bones that Israel would be receiving much less, and more lip-service.
Israel would have suffered financially if its a Republican, due to their strong desires to cut cash outflow. And because Trump will side with Putin, a Putin who wants Israel to give up the Golan. There will or may be problems with Assad.
Assad with Russian aide, will try to take back the Golan. Trump would not be the support president you think he should be. With Trump, the Golan will become a hotbed of problems, taxing Israel’s military resources.
Ted Belman Said:
I think that sums it up…. they hate what he stands for
Ted Belman Said:
recognizing bullshit is the key… most cant see it.
lsatenstein Said:
I read it, nothing but fluff, trivial irrelevant BS. But what I found interesting is the hysteria that has arisen among the establishment which control both parties. This is the first time they will not have control of the president as they always have an extablishment stooge in both parties… for them it never matters who wins. E.G. one would have thought that the marxist obama would have been a disaster for the establishment but they made sure that HE without the bulk of the democrats forged and agreed with the GOP to pass with no probleme the TPP. that is their big worry with Trump, he is the only one that they see might not play ball with them. Buffet, Kocks, Saban, soros, murdoch….. all pretending to be in both parties but all in agreement on the main thing, their power, their money, their freedom to manipulate and steal… that is what the TPP is….. a license to steal across borders…. these folks always control the president along with much of the parties… its their money which puts them in. But with Trump their major plans could go down the drain. I have never seen in my 70 + years such a frantic and total attack on a candidate from both parties, hollywood, most of the media who censor the real facts… what we are seeing the the elite establishment mustering all their paid whores against the one small billionaire who could give them a problem. Buffet is merely one more hog used to enjoying an unearned wealth while some rove in trash dumps for food. The fact that they are all attacking in unison is the best reason to try and stop their march to fascism… fascism disguised as democracy. I think it is likely the elections will be rigged.
Hogs who dont want anyone disturbing their trough
the world they seek is one of equality, democracy, socialism at the base of the pyramid with them controlling the strings and maintaining their wealth and power at the top. they want a world of equality for those at the bottom as long as they remain at the top. wealth is relative, its not the amount of wealth but the distance between the wealth at the bottom and the wealth at the top.
the elite will make one world of equality for the plebes, give them radios, tv, cars, etc.. to all in the world… and they keep the rest. To understand the one worlders you have to see it from their perspective. They have a vision of a world of equality, of no war or violence, where everyone can have a basic good life… which they will organize and run from the top. They see themselves as the good guys bringing a new nice world.. but oddly enough they are not with the rest of the world. thats why they can flood europe and the US with migrants, they see the picture a 100 years from now when its all been worked out… and they dont have to suffer any of the catastrophe…. using the US and EU purchasing power to develop china…same thing.. but they will make the wealth. Their the good guys who have the whole world as their “white mans burden”. they stay at the top to oversee and control… trump is a wrench in the works.
Clinton is very dangerous for Israel and the USA. She will continue the start of collapse of the world order as has happened under Obama.
She will bring more terrorists into the USA via the Syrian refugee program.
She is against Jews living in large parts of Jerusalem and Judah/Samaria. Basically anti-Semitic and discriminatory to Jews in our own country.
At this point she is the favorite by a lot so things are not looking rosy.
@ Ted Belman:
I agree with Ted
@ lsatenstein:
@ lsatenstein:
For me. what matters most is what policies Clinton stands for v the policies that Trump stands for. Even if Clinton wasn’t a crook or a liar, I wouldn’t vote for her. I don’t like what she has done in the last 7 years or what she will do in the next four years. I like what Trump stands for. I believe that he will be good for Americans and for Israelis. I ignore all the bullshit coming from his opponents and the press.
The ISrapundit wordpress postings should look beyond “love Trump”, no matter what, and look at what has transpired.
a) The Democrats gave Israel a large commitment of money (credit note) for weapons purchases and with the freedom to take 25% of that money for purchases outside of the USA.
b) The Republicans argue that the debt and deficit are too high, and that trimming of foreign funding is to be done. This trimming is in $$$ and will have impacted Israel. Recent support for Israel from the Republicans has never been tested. Support for Israel by the Democrats is the signed agreement that goes into force in 2018, and the end of the current agreement.
So, lets look at wealth accumulation. Trump inherited his starting point from daddy. Trump was always a playboy, as exemplified by his three marriages. He is older and faithful to the current wife, because, at his age, his charisma is gone, it doesn’t function as before.
I mistakingly thought this column was about what is best for Israel, not a blind posting of what is best for Donald Trump.
When will Trump show his financial statements? He can’t because his wealth creation was off-shore, not in the USA and if you look at his assets and subtract his debt, he is fluff, not really the billionaire he claims to be. Do not believe that if I have great cars, and planes, that owning them makes me a “great person”.
Putin has put Trump in his pocket. Trump is a finagler, figuring out how to get things for himself with other peoples wealth.
Look at all the videos in which he was given some attention. Everyone was a negative attack on the Democrats, though congress runs the country. How can you believe stupidity?
Obama and Natanyahu are opposing personalities. Natanyahu addressed congress behind the back of Obama. Yet Obama allowed for a deal to protect Israel with a signed deal that runs from 2018 to 2028 inclusive.
I have removed myself from further ISRAPUNDENT postings.
Deal with facts, not hearsay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/hillary-clinton-nebraska.html?_r=0
Warren Buffett Is Latest Billionaire to Excoriate Donald Trump
By TRIP GABRIELAUG. 1, 2016
OMAHA — The investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett unleashed a withering attack on Donald J. Trump on Monday for refusing to release his tax returns, asserting he had something to hide, and for misleading voters about his success as a businessman and ability to improve the American economy.
Mr. Buffett, known to investors as the Sage of Omaha, said a monkey throwing darts at the stock pages in 1995, when Mr. Trump first offered stock in his Atlantic City hotels, would have come out far ahead of anyone who listened to Mr. Trump’s “siren song” and invested in his company that lost money year over year.
The attack from perhaps the nation’s most revered investor undercut a core argument of Mr. Trump’s presidential candidacy: that his success as a businessman qualified him to run the country despite his lack of political experience.
Mr. Buffett appeared at a rally with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in his hometown, Omaha. Taking on Mr. Trump, he pledged to personally transport 10 Nebraskans to the polls on Election Day on behalf of Mrs. Clinton and urged others to do the same.
His appearance made him the latest billionaire to come out strongly against Mr. Trump’s candidacy — after speeches by Michael R. Bloomberg at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and by Mark Cuban over the weekend — as Mrs. Clinton enlists their support to question Mr. Trump’s business acumen.
Mrs. Clinton was campaigning in Nebraska — a traditionally Republican state — as she sought to seize on momentum from the Democratic convention last week. On Monday, a CBS News poll, the first major national telephone survey after her nomination, showed her enjoying a bump since Republicans nominated Mr. Trump. They were tied at 42 percent after the Republican National Convention, but she now leads him, 46 percent to 39 percent.
By campaigning in Nebraska, Mrs. Clinton was trying to pick up support in one of just two states that allocate electoral votes by congressional district.
In 2008, Barack Obama won a single electoral vote in the state’s Second District against Senator John McCain, though he lost it in 2012 in his more closely fought re-election race against Mitt Romney.
In his address introducing Mrs. Clinton to the crowd, Mr. Buffett pointed out what most in the audience at a high school gym knew: that their votes could be disproportionately influential because of the state’s peculiar Electoral College system.
“We live in a very special place,” Mr. Buffett said.
Noting that Jonathan Karl of ABC News predicted on Sunday that the Electoral College could come down to a 269-to-269 tie, Mr. Buffett said, “I am looking at the people that can change that 269 to 270.”
Mr. Buffett harshly criticized Mr. Trump for claiming that he had made “sacrifices” by building buildings and working hard, an argument he made after Khizr Khan, the Muslim father of an Army captain killed in Iraq, said during a speech at the Democratic convention, that Mr. Trump had “sacrificed nothing” for the country.
Mr. Buffett said he, like Mr. Trump, had made a lot of money. “I have not sacrificed,” he told the rally.
“How in the world can you stand up to a couple of parents who lost a son and talk about sacrificing because you were building a bunch of buildings?”
Mr. Buffett quoted a famous rejoinder to Senator Joseph McCarthy during his 1950s anti-Communist hearings: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Mr. Trump was campaigning on Monday in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two swing states that Mrs. Clinton visited over the weekend and where Mr. Trump is pushing his anti-trade message hard.
Although Mr. Romney won all but one of Nebraska’s 93 counties four years ago, the Clinton campaign sees opportunity this election cycle. The Second District sent a Democrat, Representative Brad Ashford, to Congress in 2014, and he was one of the rare members of his party to unseat an incumbent during a Republican wave.
Maine is the only other state to split its electoral votes. In a reverse image of Nebraska, Mr. Trump’s campaign hopes to pick up a vote in more conservative, rural northern Maine.
The Clinton campaign hired a Nebraska state director about a month ago, when it also started spending precious resources on TV ads in the state.
“There’s serious dollars and I would say serious politicos who have been hired,” said Jane Kleeb, the incoming chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party.
At the Philadelphia convention, Ms. Kleeb helped mollify and motivate delegates supporting Senator Bernie Sanders, who carried the Nebraska caucuses during the primary race.
More than 1,000 people snaked back and forth in a parking lot to hear Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Buffett. Among those awaiting the speakers was Jim Magill, a retired chief master sergeant in the Air Force. A Republican, he said he supported Mrs. Clinton and did not believe Mr. Trump’s promises to veterans.
He was appalled, he said, about the Republican nominee’s criticism of the Khans.
“It was deplorable somebody would say anything like that about a veteran who died for his country to his parents,” Mr. Magill said. “He should have been slapped.”
Sadly, USA is going down at high speed to its total colapse and destruction; even faster than Europe. So we can expect Clinton will be its next president. As for Israel, It is blooming and growing stronger and richer in Jewish population, despite the terrorists within. Very soon, hundreds of thousands of american and european Jews will make aliyah to Eretz Israel, bringing with them their wholeness, their talents and their money.
I think Israel now has to focus in how all these new Israelies are going to be integrated in their ancestral land. Clinton or Trump is the least of their problems.