While all the important news outlets predicted that Joe Biden won the election and is the 46th president elect of the United States, not only was current US President Donald Trump still declaring that he won the election, but the Republican Party’s Israel chairman sang the same tune. Marc Zell, originally from Highland Park, Illinois and a member of the well-known Zell family, said he was “Waiting for the legal process” to finish. Zell told Israel’s Channel 13 TV news that believed that there was fraud in the election process, a claim unsupported by little if any evidence, and that Trump would ultimately be declared the victor.
In 2016, when the pollsters predicted a clear victory for Hilary Clinton over Donald Trump, Zell appeared on Israel TV brandishing his laptop and told the interviewer that according to the polls the Republicans were running, Trump would win the election. He was politely ignored by the interviewer who clearly considered Zell ill-informed. The results showed Zell to be better informed than the pollsters. This has led some pundits to be cautious in declaring Biden a clear winner. “The official results will be announced in Congress in mid-December,” said one observer. “Until then, anything can happen.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was equally cautious. He delayed sending congratulations to Biden for nearly 12 hours following the news announcements of Biden’s victory. Pundits think Netanyahu was trying not to upset Trump, who was still president, and could still give Israel a few last-minute gifts, like approving the sale of advanced F-22 stealth fighters to Israel. Even Netanyahu’s congratulatory Tweet to Biden and Harris was less than enthusiastic. “Joe we’ve had along warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years and I know you are a great friend of Israel.”
But Netanyahu also covered his bases, according to one analyst, by sending President Trump a message shortly after that to Biden thanking Trump “for the friendship you have shown the State of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights.”
However, two former US Ambassadors to Israel, both Democrats, thought the election results were clearly final. Dan Shapiro, US Ambassador to Israel from 2011 until 2017, now a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said Trump had “no chance” of winning the election and despite the legal maneuvering by the Trump team, thought the results would not be reversed. He thought that the Trump administration was “chaos” and Biden would bring calming moderation back to the White House.
Daniel Kurtzer, US Ambassador to Israel from 2001-2005, speaking on Israel Radio’s Galei Zahal Army Radio, dismissed Republican legal challenges to the election. “This just seems to be a stalling technique without any merit.” Kurtzer did think, however, that the US and Israel would disagree on Iran. He thought the Obama administration’s approach to Iran was quite effective. “During the three years when it was in effect, the Iranian (nuclear) program was stopped dead in its tracks, and then it restarted after the Trump administration pulled out of the deal. So my guess is that the Biden administration will want to find a way to go back in.”
According to Israel’s Ynetnews, the Biden approach to Iran will be in two phases. The first after Biden takes office, the second after the Iranian presidential elections in June. In the first, the US will want the Iranians to freeze the development and distribution of ballistic missiles, like those going to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, to stop meddling in the Middle East, and to halt nuclear military activity. In the second, the US will lift the onerous sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
Ynet also reported that Israel’s security officials believe a good deal to curtail Iran’s distribution of ballistic missiles and a halt to the development of nuclear weapons would be preferable to an armed conflict with Hezbollah.
When asked about US Jewish involvement in Israel, former ambassador Shapiro said that young American Jews weren’t interested in Israel. To underline his point, when asked about the election results, J., a young American now working as a teacher of English in primary schools in Israel, under a Jewish agency program, said that today’s young Jews want more active representatives, like the progressives in the Democratic camp. “Young Jews today aren’t interested in moderate Democrats.” J is also saddled with a huge student loan debt that is frozen as long as she stays in Israel. Perhaps, said one observer, President Biden will do something to relieve those student loans that most have trouble repaying.
However, J’s views are not unusual. Many young Jews, from solid Jewish families who firmly back Israel, have taken to protesting against groups like Birthright, the program that brings young Jews to Israel on a free fact-finding trip, and even show up at airports with placards shaming those who are boarding the plane to Israel. These same progressive activists also support BDS and the “progressives” in the Democratic party. This election, those young Jews voted for Biden, because, pundits say, this was the only choice to prevent the USA from enduring four more years of Trump.
The question now is if President Trump will leave the White House once Joe Biden is to take up residence. Most analysts expect he will go peacefully, albeit reluctantly. What these analysts also expect is that Trump will do whatever is necessary to undermine the Biden presidency, including the continued claim that the election was stolen from him by crooked Democrats. “He loves the limelight,” said one analyst. “He’ll do whatever he can to stay in it. Including making outrageous statements that keep him in the news. He may keep this up for four years if he can.”
And finally, a Baruch Dayan Emet, (Blessed is the True Judge) for Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks, philosopher, writer, and spiritual leader who served as Chief Rabbi of Britain from 1991-2013. Rabbi Saks was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2005. He was made a Lord in 2009. Prince Charles said Rabbi Saks was “a light unto this nation.” Rabbi Saks was 72 and passed away after a short battle with cancer. May he rest in peace.
