Donald Trump and the Republican Party are trying to win over 300,000 people living in Israel with U.S. voting rights, targeting large expatriate clusters in Jerusalem and several other areas.
Campaign workers there are going door-to-door, handing out information in shopping malls and reaching potential voters via social networks, according to the Al-Monitor website. They’re using the slogan “Trump: The Israeli Interest” in an effort to convince Jewish voters he would be their best advocate, and have set up a Hebrew-language website.
Tzvika Brot, who is directing the Trump campaign in Israel, argued that 80 percent of Americans in Israel support the GOP because many of them are religious or traditional, even though in the U.S. a majority of Jewish voters tend to side with Democrats.
Brot said he feels Jewish voters choose their candidate “only according to the extent of the candidate’s affinity toward Israel.” “There’s no doubt that Trump is best for Israel,” he told Al-Monitor.
But Trump has faced criticisms from some leading Republicans over not appearing sufficiently supportive of Israel. Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said last month that Trump has been inconsistent in how he’s discussed the nation and its interests.
“He has been very inconsistent in many of the things that he has said,” Cantor told the Jerusalem Post. “I want to see that clarity as far as Israel is concerned — an America that has its back and is leading. I want to see him say that.”
