With Israel in peril and the Jewish community under attack, we need a president with a commitment to democratic norms.
In my 50-plus years as a Jewish community leader, I have shared opinions and made calls to action on many issues affecting the Jewish people involving both civil and human rights issues. The one opinion I had always kept to myself was who to vote for. That was until four years ago when, for the first time, I endorsed President Joe Biden. Former President Trump’s first term had unleashed dangerous levels of bigotry, white supremacy, and viral conspiracy theories, all of which have fueled attacks on Jews and so many others. He and his administration dehumanized immigrants, marginalized minorities, and undermined vital democratic institutions – the same institutions that had allowed Jews to achieve a level of security and freedom that no other diaspora community had achieved in over two millennia
It is now four years later, and the volume and sheer brazenness of antisemitic incidents is beyond what I could have ever even imagined in 2020. There has been an accelerated erosion of the basic belief in our nation’s pluralistic vision. A recent CNN poll showed that more than half of Republicans, 56%, believe that rising racial and ethnic diversity are “mostly threatening” to American culture. Five years ago, that same statistic was less than half that, 21%. What we once called “dog whistles” are now out-and-out open calls to scapegoat Jews. And, while Israel is fighting a multi-front war, there has been an unprecedented global campaign to isolate her.
I believe this upcoming election is the most consequential vote Jewish Americans will cast, perhaps in their lifetimes, and again, I cannot remain silent.
Jews are safest in a pluralistic society where democratic institutions and civil rights protections are strong. The brand of authoritarian populism, laced with Christian nationalism and white supremacy that we have seen being normalized by the GOP, scares me.
Trump’s Project 2025 is a fully developed policy agenda that will endanger our democracy and, therefore, the Jewish community. It is clear that, in a second Trump term, there will be no guardrails when it comes to the consolidation of autocratic executive power. I was a Jewish child living under a charismatic dictator who used hatred and division to consolidate power. American nativism and isolationism back then kept the US from intervening in WWII, only doing so after five million Jews had already been murdered. Today, a new America First movement has a leader who would dispense with NATO and who plays footsie with the world’s worst autocrats, including Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un.
Vice President Kamala Harris has a detailed record as an active partner in the Biden Administration, as a Senator, and as a senior officeholder of the largest state in the country. In the face of significant public pressure and on the eve of a very close election, Biden and Harris continue to stand by Israel. Vice President Harris and President Biden pushed through Congress almost $18 billion in military support after October 7th. Former President Trump played politics with military aid to Israel, instructing Republicans in Congress to link aid to Israel to border reform, which delayed the aid and, in fact, his running mate voted against it.
And on the night the United States and Israel prevented 300 missiles, UAVs, and rockets fired by Iran and its proxies from reaching their targets, the Vice President stood with the President and his national security team while coordinating the response, She has never wavered. She has consistently pledged that she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.
To be clear, antisemitism is also being normalized in progressive movements in the Democratic coalition, where Jews are posited as the root of all evil. In their post-colonial, post-nationalist fight against oppression, they somehow view Jews and their homeland as the world’s worst colonizers and nationalists, the ultimate oppressors. And only one liberation movement, Zionism, is branded as the embodiment of hate itself. This has real-world consequences for a lot of Jewish people facing exclusion, discrimination and intimidation. It’s especially painful for a community that has, in large part, made its home on the political left in America.
We need leaders like Vice President Harris to recognize and challenge anti-Jewish bigotry – no matter where it comes from. Harris’s record as Vice President and as the Democratic nominee gives me confidence. In the face of intense political pressure to feature a critique of Israel at the Democratic National Convention, Harris and the Democratic Party stood firm in their unequivocal support for Israel and the plight of the hostages.
While some world leaders are clamoring to call for a cease-fire following Israel’s retaliation against Hezbollah and the killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Vice President Harris made sure to call Nasrallah what he was: “a terrorist with American blood on his hands” whose death is a “measure of justice” for Hezbollah’s countless innocent victims. In stark contrast, last October, Trump inexplicably praised Hezbollah’s leaders as “very smart.”
I also take seriously a longtime friend of Israel and Trump’s former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, who has warned that “Trump’s support for Israel in the first term is not guaranteed in the second term, because Trump’s positions are made on the basis of what’s good for Donald Trump, not on some coherent theory of national Security.”
I know that the former president promotes his staunch support for Israel. And I applauded his moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. But his support often comes in tandem with the invocation of offensive stereotypes about Jews and dual loyalty charges. He continues to insult the millions of Jewish Americans who choose to vote for the opposing candidate or who simply don’t support him as being “ignorant,” “fools,” or “disloyal.” In doing so, Trump has also set up Jews to be blamed if he loses the election. Trump has also said that Jewish leaders “should be ashamed of themselves” for calling him out for dining with antisemitic figures like Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Fuentes previously said “perfidious Jews” should be executed.
Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon used to say that Israel’s existence rests on two pillars: a strong Israel Defense Force and a strong United States of America and that even the former is dependent on the latter. With Israel in more peril than most Jews have experienced in their lifetimes, we need an American president who leads with a steady hand and who demonstrates a deep and abiding commitment to democratic norms and the rule of law. All the evidence makes clear that only one candidate, Kamala Harris, can be the leader Israel needs.
*Abraham Foxman was national director of the Anti-Defamation League for 28 years. He is a Holocaust survivor.
