BBC / Joe McNallyThe last time Donald Trump was president, Israel’s prime minister was so happy to name a community after him.
Trump Heights is a cluster of prefabricated houses isolated in the rocky, mine-strewn landscape of the Golan Heights, with a towering statue of an eagle and menorah guarding the entrance gate. Mauve peaks jut out into the azure sky on the horizon.
It upended half a century of U.S. policy and broad international consensus by recognizing Israel’s claims to the Golan Islands, which were seized from Syria in the 1967 war and later unilaterally annexed. It was President Trump’s reward for
For residents there — 24 families and several soldiers — the question is what impact Republican candidate Trump or Democratic rival Kamala Harris might now have on Israel’s interests in the region. The question is whether there is.
Eric Goldberg and his wife Hodaya moved to Trump Heights with their four children to keep their small rural community safe.
Since the attack on Hamas in southern Israel on October 7 last year, they have watched the war between Israel and Hamas’ ally Hezbollah escalate along its northern border with Lebanon, 16 miles away.
“For the past year, there has been a lot of smoke in our beautiful green square, and our beautiful view is of the rockets that Hezbollah sends at us,” Eric said. "This is a war zone and we don’t know when it’s going to end.”
Eric told me that he wants the new U.S. administration to “do the right thing.” When asked what that means, he replies, “I support Israel.”
“Support good people and have common sense between right and wrong,” he says.
BBC / Joe McNally
Eric Goldberg and wife Hodaya
This is the language commonly heard in Israel. It’s also the kind of language President Trump understands.
During his last term as U.S. president, he scrapped the Iran nuclear deal, which Israel opposed, brokered historic normalization deals with several Arab countries, and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. , which won the support of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in opposition to decades of U.S. policy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once called him “Israel’s best friend in the White House.”
As America prepares to vote, Israel’s leader has made no secret of his appreciation for the Republican candidate, and polls suggest he is not alone.
According to a recent poll, about two-thirds of Israelis want Trump to return to the White House.
It appears less than 20% want Kamala Harris to win. Among Netanyahu’s own supporters, that number drops to just 1%, according to one poll.
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Gil Shmuelewicz, 24, who was shopping at Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, said that when Harris appeared to agree with participants in a rally condemning Israel’s genocide, she said: I showed it to you,” he said. “What he’s saying is true,” the vice president said.
She later clarified that she did not believe that Israel was committing genocide.
Rybka, who was shopping nearby, said she was “100% for Donald Trump.”
“He cares more about Israel. He is stronger and less afraid of our enemies,” she said. “I know people don’t love him, but I don’t need to love him. I need him to be a good ally for Israel.”
BBC / Joe McNally
Rybka says Trump will be a stronger leader and ally
For many people here, a good ally never pressures, criticizes, or constrains. The war in Gaza helped drive a wedge between Israel and its ally the United States.
Harris has been more outspoken in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and has placed more emphasis on humanitarian issues.
After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in July, she said she would “not be silent” on the situation in Gaza and expressed to him “grave concern about the scale of the human suffering and the deaths of innocent civilians.” He said he did.
Trump has framed the end of the war in terms of Israel’s “victory” and has opposed an immediate ceasefire in the past, reportedly telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do what you have to do.”
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Palestinian children in Gaza refugee camp receive food aid
But many Palestinians have little hope for either candidate.
Mustafa Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian analyst and politician in the occupied West Bank, said: “The overall estimate is that the Democrats are bad, but it will be even worse if Trump is elected.” Ta.
“The main difference is that Kamala Harris will be more responsive to changes in American public opinion, meaning she will be more in favor of a ceasefire.”
The war in Gaza has increased pressure from U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia to move forward with a Palestinian state.
However, neither candidate has put the establishment of a Palestinian state at the forefront of their agenda.
When asked during the presidential debate whether he supported Trump, he replied, “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Many Palestinians have abandoned the promise of a Palestinian state and, more generally, U.S. support.
Mustafa Barghouti said: “The general feeling is that the United States has grossly failed to uphold international law, failed the Palestinians more than once, and sided with a total bias against Israel.” said.
“The question of Palestinian statehood is nothing more than a slogan.”
Both candidates have historically taken different approaches on broader regional issues such as Iran, with President Trump recently advising Israel to “hit the nuke first and worry about the rest later.” did.
He was speaking before Israel attacked Iran in retaliation for Iran’s missile attack earlier this month.
Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said, “Trump would probably take a harder line, and the Iranians would be more hesitant if he were president,” but he doesn’t exaggerate the differences between the two candidates. Says it’s easy.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump are currently discussing a new deal to stop Iran on its path to nuclear weapons, and they hope to extend normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia. There is.
What’s different is their approach.
“With Kamala Harris[in the White House]I think the direction will be from the bottom up,” Danny Ayalon said, adding that he will focus on Gaza and other issues before turning to bigger issues like Iran and new regional alliances. This means that a ceasefire in Lebanon will come first. .
In Trump’s case, “the direction is going to be top-down. He’s going to go straight to Tehran and from there he’s going to try to sort out all the different factions and theaters across the Middle East,” he says.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu and Prime Minister Harris met in July.
Israeli and U.S. political insiders see Kamala Harris as closer to traditional U.S. bipartisan positions on Middle East foreign policy, and Donald Trump is unpredictable and more likely to lead the U.S. to foreign countries. It appears that they are reluctant to get involved in disputes and tend to engage in haphazard transactions.
But Ambassador Ayalon believes that it is not only policy that influences the mood of Israelis.
“Biden supported Israel all year long,” he said. “But we didn’t get him recognized because we didn’t invite him to the White House and so on. This is more of an optical issue than a real issue.”
When it comes to U.S.-Israel relations, public gestures and emotions matter, he says.
“A lot of it is personal. (Common) interests are natural, but personality is important.”
Between now and the US presidential election on 5 November, BBC correspondents around the world will be looking to find out how the result will affect where they are and what people around the world are thinking about the White House election. We are investigating.
