In Knesset, guise of neutrality on election remains (mostly) intact
Morning after Trump’s shock win, Israeli lawmakers largely shy away from criticism or cheering; are split on whether it spells end of 2-state solution
Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
The morning after the shock win of Donald Trump in the US election race, Israel’s famously outspoken politicians were being uncharacteristically diplomatic.
As the election results were declared on Wednesday morning, Israel’s prime minister and president, justice, defense, culture, education, housing, finance, and energy ministers, and its Knesset speaker issued congratulations to Trump for the victory and hailed the strong alliance between Washington and Jerusalem. Some also expressed hope he would make good on his campaign pledge to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
From the opposition, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said he “looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and building on the incredibly strong ties which bind our two nations together. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the Zionist Union, extended “warm congratulations to the president of the strongest and most powerful nation in the world: Donald J. Trump.”
Many other Knesset members on Wednesday insisted that throughout the turbulent 18-month campaign, they had no particular preference for the new US commander-in-chief.
But others were less willing to hold their tongues.
From the coalition, Deputy Minister for Regional Affairs Ayoub Kara was among the few lawmakers to announce his personal leanings. The deputy minister said he had supported Trump for the US presidency, but kept quiet because the prime minister told him to.
“I had the honor to be among the only ones, apart from the prime minister, to visit the Trump headquarters in NY, and I was afraid — like many others — to identify and publicly support him, so as not to hurt the government,” said the Druze lawmaker, who is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Kara said the PM “told us unequivocally not to comment on either candidate, and asked us not to respond until after the elections, and I’m happy that we complied with his request. We didn’t comment and we didn’t get involved… It’s no secret that everyone had a preference, and I think that most of the Israeli public wanted Trump and most of the Jewish population in the US… wanted Clinton.”
There were some other exceptions to the stoic response, including Meretz party leader Zehava Galon who said in a statement that “Trump’s campaign worked because hatred works,” but added: “I believe American democracy will survive even Donald Trump’s presidency”; Zionist Union MK Merav Michaeli who said “this is not the morning we were hoping for,” and Likud MK Oren Hazan, who maintained that “throughout I believed in and said that the next president of the United States will be Donald Trump.”
The relatively tempered responses extended to Israeli Arab lawmakers, who displayed no immediate or considerable outrage, despite the Republican candidate’s frequent call for a temporary ban on Muslim entry to the US.
“The positions expressed by both candidates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were almost identical, and I don’t think the identity of the president elect will change the the unfair mediation policies of the US in our region and its automatic support for Israel,” said Joint (Arab) List MK Yousef Jabareen in a statement. “I hope that Trump as a president will disconnect from the racist and violent discourse that accompanied his election campaign, particularly toward minorities and women.”
His fellow party member Dov Khenin termed the results “worrisome,” adding: “But it is important to remember that a politics of true change doesn’t begin and doesn’t end with the election.”
Meanwhile, some right-wing lawmakers, while circumspect, nonetheless got their satisfaction across.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett hailed the “opportunity” presented by Trump’s election. And Jewish Home MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli described it as a “golden opportunity” to legalize various outposts in the West Bank, notably Amona, which is slated for demolition in December.
“From my perspective, there is a golden opportunity to pass the regulation law, to go ahead with regulating the settlements in Judea and Samaria, with a tailwind from the new administration,” she says.
The Jewish Home lawmaker was referring to her proposed legislation, which is set to come to a ministerial vote next week, that would recognize illegal construction in the West Bank, if the building had government backing.
She congratulated Trump and also welcomed “the decision to remove from the Republican Party platform the two state solution.”
“I think it reflects an understanding that the US government is going to a different place in terms of Judea and Samaria,” she said, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “I believe the close ties, the shared values, the strategy of fighting terror — which is shared by Israel and the US — will only improve.”
But as members of the Jewish Home party rang the death knell for the two-state solution, not all lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — were convinced.
Likud MK Anat Berko, who is a member of the high-level Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was one of them.
“I think the solution will be led by our prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and we will do it based on the Israeli interest for security. The security needs will determine the solution,” she says. “There will be a solution in the end, and the prime minister is committed to it.”
From the opposition, Zionist Union Hilik Bar — who heads the Knesset lobby for the two-state solution — said he believes “Trump will understand that for Jews in Israel, it’s important to separate from the Palestinians.”
“I believe that Trump will understand that what [Jewish Home MK] Smotrich said is fundamentally wrong and the two-state solution is the only solution that will ensure a safe, democratic life for the Jewish people, with a Jewish majority in Israel.”
Both Berko and Bar insisted they had no personal preference for US president, with the former praising both candidates as being pro-Israel. And Bar said he didn’t support a certain candidate, because “just as I don’t like it when others intervene in our elections, I don’t think it’s the role of any Israeli to meddle with the political or democratic process in the US.”
“We have to give him a chance,” said Bar of Trump.
Similarly, Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria stressed the importance of remaining neutral on the subject.
“I think the main thing we’ve learned is that we in Israel cannot intervene or be too involved in elections in other countries. This is part of democracy,” she said. “The people have spoken.”
