Farley Weiss is the past President of The National Council of Young Israel and an intellectual property attorney for the law firm of Weiss & Moy.
Turning Point USA did a poll at its America Fest Conference in Phoenix and asked its over 30,000 attendees whether they see Israel as either an ally, top ally or not an ally. Virtually all attendees answered this question with 53.4% viewing Israel as an ally, 33.3% viewing Israel as America’s top ally and - despite a speech at the conference by Tucker Carlson - only 13.3% of the attendees did not see Israel as an ally.
President Trump’s first term and now second term have been consistent in his pro Israel and activist foreign policy approach. In his first term, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he recognized the Golan Heights under Israel’s sovereignty, he tore up the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and among other things he assassinated leading Iranian General Solemani.
In his second term, Trump ended the Biden Administration suspension of arms and armed Israel and supported Israel’s war in Gaza, including going into Gaza city in order to get the hostages out. For the first time in Israel’s history the U.S. militarily supported a war Israel was fighting when it bombed the Iranian nuclear facilities.
President Trump has repeatedly said that his campaign slogan of Make America Great Again is represented by his policies and being pro Israel is a major part of these policies. These policies are also consensus policies of the current Republican party and that consensus was reflected in the Turning Point poll.
The claim of the rise of antisemitism on the right, presupposes that those making the antisemitic comments represent the part of the right wing Maga viewpoint. It does not.
Former KKK leader David Duke endorsed far left Green Party candidate Jill Stein for President in the last election. People refer to Nick Fuentes as being on the right but Fuentes did not support Trump in 2024. He further celebrates the birthday and is a big fan of the most notorious Communist leader in history Joseph Stalin. Candace Owens was once a conservative and Pro Israel before that she was an Obama supporter and now she has changed her views again and is a virulent antisemite and does not in any way share President Trump’s pro Israel foreign policy. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene were both close to President Trump and were pro Israel in their Congressional votes but Gaetz has now changed his views on television and Greene has changed her voting record and statements in which both have also become antisemites. Trump said he would support a primary opponent of Greene before she dropped out and he said her views now are similar to those on the far left.
To say that Tucker Carlson was not a fan of President Trump at the end of his first term would be an understatement. In a litigation his private texts were produced in which Carlson on January 4, 2021 said about Trump that “I hate him passionately”. In another text Carlson said “there really isn’t an upside to Trump”. It is noteworthy that these texts came at the end of Trump’s first term at a time when some of Carlson’s supporters are criticizing comments others made before Trump ever became President and yet those commentators were huge supporters of Trump at the end of his first term and have been supporters ever since.
Carlson has been probably the biggest critic of Trump’s attack on Iran and absurdly claimed that his attacking Iran would lead to WWIII when instead it led to the hostages release and with Israel in control of all the borders of Gaza. In other words, these people who are listed as being on the right, are not currently espousing right or MAGA views as it relates to foreign policy, which is based upon a peace through strength approach in both of Trump’s terms. Instead, the views they are espousing are similar to left wing Hamas supporting antisemitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s when it comes to Israel and foreign policy.
Megyn Kelly was a strong supporter of Israel until recently when her views started to change. She ridiculously asserted on her show when Israel was preparing to go into Gaza city with the support of President Trump that instead Israel should end the war and give up on getting the hostages back. The fact that she had no alternative strategy for Israel to get the hostages back and that in her view Israel should not be able to do what any other country has the right to do is to take whatever military action is necessary to get hostages back shows that she had stopped being a strong supporter of Israel.
Kelly also publicly discussed how recently she has become much closer to Candace Owens at a time that Owens accuses the Jews of pretty much all ills in the world. Kelly also now says she is no longer a friend of Ben Shapiro as she clearly could not take the criticism Shapiro leveled at Kelly for her friendship with Owens.
President Trump has followed the Reagan policy of peace through strength in foreign policy and in both terms he has been the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House. President Trump has also taken the strongest action of any U.S. President to fight antisemitism, especially on College campuses. Antisemitism is rising among those who may at one time have been on the right, but who have now adopted views that oppose Trump’s foreign policy and therefore they no longer should be characterized as being on the right as their current foreign policy views are indistinguishable to those on the far left.
The Amfest poll shows that the right wing conservative viewpoint is solidly pro Israel and pro Jewish.