Businessman and pro-Israel activist Joe Zevuloni is in Israel to congratulate the new Israeli government on their big win.
“It's a great reason to come here,” says Zevoloni who is a longtime Netanyahu supporter.
Speaking about the main goals of the new government, he says:
“I think it's about time that Israel reforms the judicial system. Israel was formed in 1948 as a state on the basis of English law. What does Israel have to do with England. If anything you can compare Israel more to the United States than you can to England. The United States is the most vibrant democracy in the world, that’s who we should take after, that's what we should try to mimic, not England.”
On the matter of the left’s protest and their claim that if the judicial reforms go through, the world won’t accept Israel as a democracy, he says it’s a “bunch of nonsense.”
“If you go to an American and say from now on judges are going to be picked by judges, they're going to look at you like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Mentioning the system for choosing judges in the US, in which local judges are elected by the people, and higher level judges are chosen by governors, with federal level judges chosen by the president, he says that judicial reforms in Israel will be a vast improvement.
“I think Israel is okay anyway, but what I'm saying is it's even more democratic to change it to what it's going to be,” he says.
Asked about the US-Israel relationship under the Biden administration, he says:
“The relationship between between the two countries is much larger than any two figures. It's larger than the prime minister of Israel and it's larger than the the president of the the United States. Yes, we had better presidents for Israel in America – Trump was great for Israel. Biden reinstated the support to the Palestinian Authority, same support by the way that finances terrorist families. Biden reinstated that after Trump actually abolished it.”
He adds that the same problem exists with administration when it comes to the UN.
“Now Israel has to worry about whether or not they have support of the US government at the UN and in the International Criminal Court. Several years ago Trump declined all the visas to the prosecutors that were looking to prosecute both US soldiers and Israeli soldiers.”
As a Floridian, when asked who is better for Israel, DeSantis or Trump, he replies that he loves both.
“First of all, there is no doubt President Trump was the best president Israel could ever wish for, America could ever wish for. I think he was a phenomenal president in many, many ways domestically, but speaking of Israel, he's the first one that actually delivered on his promise to adopt the US policy that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel period, and obviously the Golan Heights, he canceled American support to the Palestinian Authority that goes to terrorists and gave unwavering support to Israel at the UN, the international criminal court.”
He calls Trump “probably the best friend Israel ever had in history.”
“If DeSantis decides to run, I'm just going to hide in my shell and wait and see what happens, and I'll support the winner for sure,” he says.
He calls DeSantis a big supporter of Israel.
“Absolutely, I've seen it firsthand. He led the biggest fights against BDS, he fought antisemitism in a way that no other governor has. The economy in Florida became the capital of the world, thanks to his leadership. So other than just Florida-Israel or US-Israel relationship, I see what he does for the people, he's a governor for the people, he stands up for the people, he fights for the people, and he doesn't care about any lobbyists… He’s there because he believes in what he preaches. He's there for Israel like no other governor has been. He’s the first governor who formed a delegation to Israel [in 2019] to support and flourish the Florida-Israel relationship.”