Green light on Judea and Samaria is key to Trump’s re-election
President Trump’s chances of winning another term in November could well turn on his publicly endorsing Israel to immediately implement his Peace Plan restoring Jewish sovereignty in 30% of Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank) after an absence of 3000 years.
Judea and Samaria – the ancient and biblical heartland of the Jewish People – was expressly designated by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine in 1922 as part of the area within which the Jewish National Home could be reconstituted. That right still survives in 2020 under article 80 of the United Nations Charter.
Republican-voting Jews and white, born-again/evangelical Christians are particularly interested in seeing Trump give Israel the go-ahead. It could be the tipping point in their decision to vote or not vote for Trump. Whether Israel positively responded would then be its decision solely.
Jessica Martinez and Gregory A Smith concluded in their article – “How the faithful voted: A preliminary 2016 analysis”:
“Fully eight-in-ten self-identified white, born-again/evangelical Christians say they voted for Trump, while just 16% voted for Clinton. Trump’s 65-percentage-point margin of victory among voters in this group – which includes self-described Protestants, as well as Catholics, Mormons and others – matched or exceeded the victory margins of George W. Bush in 2004, John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012…
… Like Hispanic Catholics, religious “nones” and Jews were strong Clinton supporters. Indeed, nearly seven-in-ten religious “nones” voted for Clinton, as did 71% of Jews.”
Only 72% of white, born-again evangelical/ Christians currently approve Trump’s handling of his job, according to a Pew Research Centre survey conducted June 16 to 22 – a decline of 6 percentage points since April. Actioning his peace plan could see Trump’s Evangelical vote restored to its 2016 levels. Delaying its implementation could see Evangelical support decline below 72%.
Strong Jewish support for the Democratic Party has seemingly resulted from intermarriage – last measured at 58% in another 2013 Pew Research survey:
“Intermarriage rates seem to have risen substantially over the last five decades. Among Jewish respondents who have gotten married since 2000, nearly six-in-ten have a non-Jewish spouse. Among those who got married in the 1980s, roughly four-in-ten have a non-Jewish spouse. And among Jews who got married before 1970, just 17% have a non-Jewish spouse.”
American Jews merging their Jewish identity with their non-Jewish partner’s identity over the last 50 years has seen their families increasingly vote for the Democratic Party – safe in the knowledge that strong bipartisan support for Israel existed between Democrats and Republicans.
However, this bipartisan support has been fractured following President Obama’s post-election sell-out of Israel at the United Nations on 23 December 2016 – followed now by stringent criticism of Trump’s Peace Plan by:
- Democrat Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy and Independent Bernie Sanders.
- 191 Democrat Members of Congress
- The Democratic Party’s Draft 2020 platform – which proclaims:
“Democrats oppose any unilateral steps by either side — including annexation — that undermine prospects for two states”
The Democratic Party now opposes Israel unilaterally reconstituting the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria – a legal entitlement vested in the Jewish People for the last 100 years but unattainable until now under Trump’s Peace Plan.
Many Jews who voted for the Democratic Party in 2016 would be alarmed at seeing their previous bilateral comfort zone collapsing. The choice they thought they would never have to make has now arrived.
Trump can help regain his high 2016 Evangelical Christian vote whilst increasing his very low 2016 Jewish vote by green-lighting Israel’s immediate application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria -considerably boosting his prospects for re-election.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” – one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.
