I won’t waste your time with my opinion on who won the debate; as usual, this is a pure red-state vs. blue-state thing, although I do accept ABC’s debate moderator David Muir’s note, based on an official report from Springfield, Ohio, that the rumors about illegal immigrants eating the city’s cats and dogs are false. This is based on personal experience: when my student visa expired, back in the 1970s, I was, effectively, for a couple of years (until I straightened my business with Immigration), residing illegally in the US, and I recall keeping my feasting on my neighbors’ cats and dogs to a minimum (they tasted like chicken).
Anyway, to the business at hand, what did VP Kamala Harris and FP Donald Trump have to say about Israel and Jews?
Early on, Harris said: “Let’s remember Charlottesville, where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches, spewing antisemitic hate, and what did the president then at the time say? There were fine people on each side. Let’s remember that when it came to the Proud Boys, a militia, the president said, the former president said, ‘Stand back and stand by.’”
Trump’s response: “…on Charlottesville, that story has been as you would say, debunked. Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Jesse [Watters] – all of these people, they covered it. If they go an extra sentence, they will see it was perfect.”
There were two different Trump references to the tiki torches march in Charlottesville back in August 2017. The first one was closer to Kamala Harris’s version; a day later, Trump offered a scripted, balanced version condemning violence and racism.
WHO LOVES ISRAEL LESS?
ABC Moderator Linsey Davis: Turning now to the Israel-Hamas war and the hostages who are still being held, Americans among them. Vice President Harris, in December you said, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” but you added, “It matters how.” Saying international humanitarian law must be respected, Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. You said that nine months ago. Now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Nearly 100 hostages remain. Just last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there’s not a deal in the making. President Biden has not been able to break through the stalemate. How would you do it?
Harris: Well, let’s understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would.
And how it does so, matters. Because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end. It must … end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out.
Note: I’m not sure how Israel should defend itself against Hamas while ending the war against Hamas. It sounds good, nice people on both sides, but in reality, unless Israel fights until it destroys Hamas, stopping the war would seriously curtail its ability to defend itself.
It’s a lot like the Biden administration’s effort to defend the Afghanis against the Taliban without destroying the Taliban. In the end, the US army flies away and the Taliban come back to power.
Harris: And so, we will continue to work around the clock on that. Work around the clock, also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.
Davis: President Trump, how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza?
Trump: If I were president, it would have never started. If I were president, Russia would have never, ever – I know Putin very well. He would have never – and there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years. Have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up. Far worse than people understand what’s going on over there.
But when she mentions about Israel all of a sudden – she hates Israel. She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers. She wanted to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel. If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now. And I’ve been pretty good at predictions. And I hope I’m wrong about that one.
She hates Israel. At the same time in her own way, she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up, Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone. It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas, or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror. And they are spheres of terror. Horrible terror. They had no money.
It was a big story, and you know it. You covered it. Very well, actually. They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they’re a rich nation. And now what they’re doing is spreading that money around. Look at what’s happening with the Houthis in Yemen. Look at what’s going on in the Middle East. This would have never happened.
I will get that settled and fast. And I’ll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m President-Elect, I’ll get it done before even becoming president.
Davis: Vice President Harris, he says you hate Israel.
Harris: That’s absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people. He knows that. He’s trying to again divide and distract from the reality, which is, it is very well known that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy. It is well known that he admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on day one according to himself. It is well known that he said of Putin that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine. It is well known … that he said when Russia went into Ukraine it was brilliant. It is well known he exchanged love letters with Kim Jong un. And it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they’re so clear, they can manipulate you with flattery and favors.
And that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace. That is why we understand that we have to have a president who is not consistently weak and wrong on national security including the importance of upholding and respecting in highest regard our military.
A note to all the nice folks who say Trump veers and rambles on – this was a case of Harris veering and rambling on. I’m not suggesting she hates Israel, I’m only saying she didn’t really address the question about hating Israel, other than saying she devoted her entire career and life to supporting Israel and the Israeli people.
I’m not sure how in her earlier career as DA and then the California AG she had anything to do with Israel or the Israeli people unless she was prosecuting them in court. As a Senator, Harris advocated stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and healthcare and tax reforms. She attracted national attention when she grilled Trump’s Supreme Court nominees Jeff Sessions and Brett Kavanaugh (almost made the latter cry).
As VP, and as a presidential candidate, Harris fell in line with the Biden White House regarding Israel, including a strong denial of allegations that she would impose an arms embargo on America’s closest ally in the Middle East.
Also, even though she’s a Baptist, and despite my frowning on intermarriage, I expect that Harris’s being married to a Jewish person suggests she is not an antisemite. Not a rabid one, anyway. Maybe only when he forgets to take down the garbage.
