Sheldon Schorer, former chair of the Democratic party in Israel, spoke with Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, as part of the Arutz Sheva and Israel365 coverage of the US election.
“I see that people are generally unhappy and if people are generally unhappy, then they like to throw out whoever is in charge. So Mr. Trump came in originally by saying that he's new and fresh and that he will save the country, and he's not part of the swamp that is Washington. Of course, he later became the swamp that is Washington, but people are unhappy,” Schorer says.
“Trump,” he adds, “Did a good job in telling people that they are unhappy, by saying things like ‘the economy is terrible,’ although that's not true. The economy is terrific, unemployment is low, the stock market is high, and inflation has been curbed, but he puts himself forth as ‘it's terrible and he's the Messiah.' He can save the country and you got to elect him. People bought it. What can I say?”
It seems that in Israel, based on a Channel 12 News poll, 66% of Israelis preferred Donald Trump to Kamala Harris as a stronger candidate for Israel's interests. Schorer says: “Now that he's the President, I truly hope so. I have several challenges for him, such as that he said that if he were the President, October 7th never would have happened. I don't think the Arabs and Hamas look to him to get their cues, but he said it, so I would like to see him do something about the current situation.
“Will he bring an end to the war? Will he bring back all the hostages? Will he ensure that Israel will be secure and not have to face a threat like this? I'd also like to know what he plans to do about the Iranian nuclear threat, which existed at the time that he was a president and he fumbled it terribly.
“We had a nuclear agreement which said that Iran is unable to develop a nuclear weapon for 15 years. It also gives America the right to inspect and they were holding to that. They were keeping to that and he threw out that agreement, saying that America no longer has the right to inspect, that Iran is no longer limited to a 15-year ban on development,” says Schorer.
“Without any Plan B, there was no other thing in place. He didn't put any further sanctions, he didn't open any negotiations and he didn't undertake any military action. So I want to know, what is he going to do about the Iranian threat, which he said time and time again that he will not allow Iran to have. What do you mean he won’t allow? I don't believe him, because when he was president last time, he did allow.”
Following a headline in the Israeli Haaretz daily which stated "US expected to increase pressure on Israel to end Gaza war after election," Schorer says that both Biden and Kamala have said they would like to see an end to the war and they would like to stop the suffering of Palestinian Arabs, which is one of the reasons. But, at the same time, the hostages must all be returned and Israel’s safety and security must be observed.”
Schorer asks, “Will there be a return of live hostages? I think that is a requirement. Will Hamas and Hezbollah be ready to stop all of the bombing, etc.? I don't know, but if the United States is going to put pressure on either side, they'd be more effective dealing with Israel, putting pressure on Israel and that worries me. It worries me also that Mr. Trump might do exactly the same thing, putting pressure on Israel.”
Schorer thinks that Trump is "basically an isolationist and does not get involved in foreign affairs to any extent. One piece of evidence is that the last time he was President, he gave Netanyahu a free hand to deal with negotiations with the Palestinians and was very quiet about it. As a result, there were no negotiations and no advancement of any sort of peace process, especially since the Palestinians were suspicious of Trump and didn't think that he had the Palestinians’ interest at heart.”
“So,” he questions, “will Mr. Trump, just because he's quite impetuous, say ‘all right, I'm settling this thing. I'm finished. There'll be a two-state solution and that's that,’ and Israel has to accept it, whether or not the agreement of a two-state solution involves security for Israel by not having a hostile terrorist nation, whose charter says ‘we want to eliminate the state of Israel’ at its side. Is he capable of doing that? Yes. So I'm worried again.”
On the other hand, Schorer says, “I truly hope that I'm wrong on this. I really do and I'm rooting for him. He is now my president as well and I hope that he will act properly. It's just that his previous actions and his previous administration give me reason to pause.”