Settler leader, Palestinian ex-terrorist urge Americans to vote for Trump

A hardline settler leader and a Palestinian former terrorist have released a joint video calling on Americans to vote for Donald Trump in the US presidential elections.

The clip, posted online Sunday, features Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan alongside Mohammed Massad, who served seven years in an Israeli prison for attacks committed during the First Intifada in the late 1980s before becoming a peace activist and a fierce critic of the Palestinian Authority.

“During the Obama-Biden administration, our region was filled with chaos,” Dagan says in the video. “Two hundred and four citizens of Israel were murdered as a result of terrorist activities.”

“The administration of US President Donald Trump stopped the support for the Palestinian leadership and scaled down the severity of the hostilities,” says Massad.

“For the sake of our lives, for the sake of our future, vote for President Trump,” both men conclude.

Massad changed his views dramatically after serving a prison term for his terror activities as part of the Fatah armed wing, and wrote a book arguing that suicide attacks go against the Quran.

Last year, Massad, who is also a businessman, was slated to take part in a landmark US-organized peace workshop in Bahrain, a precursor to the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan unveiled in January.

Massad withdrew from that trip days before takeoff, after receiving intense criticism, including reported death threats. He told The Times of Israel at the time that his withdrawal was not because of the criticism.

Before attending the workshop, Massad met none other than Dagan, and the friendship between the two has been featured in multiple news stories over the past two years.

Dagan himself previously expressed scathing criticism of Trump, even launching a campaign against his “poisoned” peace plan, which includes a green light for the annexation of the settlements and the Jordan Valley, alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state and the creation of isolated settlement “enclaves” in the West Bank.

“The prime minister can and must apply sovereignty in a manner in which Israeli interests are maintained,” Dagan said in May. “[Benjamin] Netanyahu is a great leader and he can and must apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria on the State of Israel’s terms, with or without American agreement.”

After Netanyahu abandoned his annexation plan in August and instead signed a normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates, Dagan was furious at the premier, accusing him of “a stab in the back” and saying he was “disappointed, hurt and angry.”

At the time, Netanyahu retorted, during an Army Radio interview, that “the same people who now tell me to apply sovereignty [in the West Bank] told me several months ago that we must not apply sovereignty because it will lead to a Palestinian state.”

Dagan then replied that Netanyahu “is adding insult to injury and adopting the rhetoric of the extreme left by blaming the settler movement for everything.”

On Monday a group of settler leaders gathered outside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron for a special prayer session during which they thanked Trump for his support of the settlement movement and wished him success in Tuesday’s elections.

While Jews in the United States — except for the Orthodox — are expected to vote overwhelmingly for Democrat Joe Biden, Trump is a popular figure in Israel.

A poll published by Channel 12 news Friday showed 54% percent of Israelis favor Trump, compared to 21% who favor Biden and 25% who were undecided or did not know.

Settlers in particular have been outspoken supporters of Trump for his policies that appear to support Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank. In addition, he has earned accolades for his administration’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.