At a time when President Joe Biden and allied Democrats appear to be moderating their previously full-throated support for Israel, a prominent Jewish group has handed a significant honor to former President Donald Trump for his enduring commitment to the longstanding U.S. ally, as Breitbart reports.
At the end of February, a delegation headed by officials from the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF) traveled to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to present him with a commemorative menorah in an expression of gratitude for the work he has done on behalf of the Jewish state and the solidarity he has shown with the organization's cause.
As the Jewish News Syndicate explained, the honor was presented to Trump by IHF executive director Rabbi David Katz, who was accompanied by the group's executive vice president, Joseph Frager, its executive president Stephen Soloway, executive chairman Sam Nahmias, as well as Lewis Topper and Harley Lippman.
A press release issued by IHF explained that the purpose of the event was to further the foundation's “outreach towards those who support the Jewish people, advocate for Israel and combat antisemitism.”
The award itself took the form of a silver menorah that included an attached declaration in Hebrew that, when translated, says, “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.”
In articulating the various ways in which Trump has demonstrated his allegiance to Israel over the years, the group cited his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, his official recognition of the Golan Heights as a territory under Israeli sovereignty, as well as the promulgation of the Abraham Accords.
Recounting the overall tone of the Florida event, Rabbi Katz declared that Trump “was very happy to see everybody; he was in a very good mood.”
Speaking to Israel National News, Katz added, “He remembered me from July, when we gave him the crown of Jerusalem for moving the embassy to Jerusalem.”
Katz went on, saying that the former president was “very worried about the situation in Israel. He is very much in favor of Israel having to win the war, destroy Hamas” and adding that the group discussed “a little about antisemitism as well.”
Notably, the IHF does not offer endorsements to political candidates, and according to those in attendance, political discussions were not a formal part of the Mar-a-Lago meeting. However, Katz mentioned that Trump did comment on his sense that Orthodox Jews in the U.S. and in Israel support his candidacy by a wide margin.
That assertion is in line with recent findings from a February Siena College poll suggesting that a majority of New York Jews plan to vote for Trump in the November presidential contest.
According to Sam Markstein of the Republican Jewish Coalition, events such as the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and a rise in antisemitism here at home have spurred something of a political shift within the Jewish electorate.
Despite leveling a degree of criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last fall, Trump has continued to claim that while in office he “fought for Israel like no president ever before,” presumably signaling his likely stance should he reclaim the Oval Office.
While Jewish voters in America have had a clear historical tendency to align with Democrats at the ballot box, the coming election could well see a noteworthy course correction if more members of this important voting bloc start to believe, as former Trump administration official Richard Goldberg once said, that when it comes to Israel, the former president really “is a dream come true.”
