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Jewish Organizations Congratulate Trump on Presidential Election Win
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump points to his ear as he speaks at the Economic Club of New York in New York City, Sept. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Prominent Jewish organizations were quick to issue statements on Wednesday congratulating Donald Trump for his victory in the US presidential election the previous night, promising to work with the president-elect on supporting Israel and combating antisemitism when he officially returns to the White house in January.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that fights antisemitism and discrimination more broadly, said the ADL looked forward to working with the incoming administration and all elected US officials “in pursuit of our 111-year-old mission — to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
“We remain steadfastly committed to that timeless mission as we fight the torrent of antisemitism sweeping our society along with all forms of hate and extremism — offline and online, on campuses and in schools, in the US and around the world,” Greenblatt added in a statement congratulating Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also congratulated Trump, with CEO Ted Deutch saying his organization “looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and his administration on the domestic and foreign policy concerns that are AJC’s advocacy priorities.”
Noting Iran’s ongoing war against Israel, primarily through its terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, Deutch said strong US leadership is needed to bring about peace and stability.
“The conflicts we are currently seeing around the world reflect a dangerous collusion among anti-democratic regimes and non-state actors. The US must exert clear global leadership and be a stabilizing power as the world contends with these many threats,” he said.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, said that it would eagerly “work with the new administration and Congress” to help defend Israel against Iran and its proxies.
“We look forward to working together with the new administration and Republicans and Democrats in Congress to strengthen and expand the US-Israel relationship,” AIPAC wrote. “Despite the current profound political polarization, there remains a resolute bipartisan commitment to the US-Israel alliance. The US-Israel relationship is a mutually beneficial alliance based on shared values and interests.”
The Jewish Federations of North America congratulated Trump and Vance on their victory.
“Jewish Federations will always work tirelessly to ensure that our Jewish communities flourish. At this challenging moment in our history, we look forward to working with the new administration and Congress to promote our values, fight antisemitism, secure our community, and maintain steadfast support for Israel,” the organization said in a statement. “After a divisive election, we are working to unite our community at our Stand Together event in Washington, DC this Sunday, and set the Jewish communal agenda for the coming year at our General Assembly immediately after.”
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations wished Trump and Vance “the best as the transition process begins and the two prepare to assume office on Jan. 20, 2025. We trust that the new administration will work diligently to combat antisemitism and advance the bilateral US-Israel relationship by building on accomplishments from President Trump’s first term including the historic Abraham Accords.”
Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO respectively of the umbrella group, also congratulated Trump’s election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, “on a hard fought and spirited campaign and we wish her the very best.”
The leadership of the Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, said in a statement that, “with campaigning now over, we look forward to working with all Americans to mend the divisions in our society and bring the country together to overcome the current challenges we face.”
The organization congratulated all candidates who were elected to the Congress and said it “looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and his incoming administration on matters of critical importance to our community, including effectively combating the surge of antisemitism in America, further strengthening the US-Israel relationship, and defeating Hamas and Hezbollah, thwarting Iran’s malign activities, expanding educational opportunity and choice for all American children, and defending America’s ‘first freedom’ of religious liberty.”
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, which represents more than 2,500 Orthodox rabbis, also congratulated Trump.
“We applaud the efforts of both candidates to reach out to our community, and note that Mr. Trump garnered record Jewish support, not only from Orthodox Jews, who supported him by an overwhelming margin, but from most voters who, when surveyed, placed concern for Israel and rising antisemitism in the US high on their list of priorities,” Schonfeld said. “We hope that Mr. Trump will further his previous steps to fight antisemitism on campus and in American society, and continue his visionary efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.”
The Union for Reform Judaism also released a statement on Trump’s victory.
“We hope and pray that he will be a president for all Americans, advancing the principles of democracy, justice, and commitment to rule of law that have been sources of strength for our nation throughout its history,” the organization said in a statement.
“We stand ready to join with the new administration and Congress on any efforts to protect ‘the orphan, the widow, and the stranger,’” the union added. “We will be allies to any serious effort to combat antisemitism. We will champion a strong US-Israel relationship that fosters democracy and security for the Jewish state while upholding the rights and well-being of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The organization also criticized Trump for some of his policies and rhetoric.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
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