Foreign Policy - Israel

Pre-Campaign Relationships with Israel

Donald Trump had relatively little political engagement with Israel before launching his 2016 presidential bid. However, he has often attended or participated in events that were meant to express support for or promote interest in the Israeli state.

• 1987: Trump attended a ceremony in New York commemorating the 40th anniversary of Israel's founding, where he notably shook hands with his New York City Mayor Ed Koch. “Mayor Koch shaking hands with Donald J. Trump during ceremony celebrating Israel's 40th anniversary. The two have been feuding publicly and the handshake occurred ‘at the appropriate moment -when it was the thing to do,’ said the Mayor. Both declined to repeat the act for photographers.” (New York Times, October 6, 1987)
• 1994: Donald Trump was given artwork by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam as part of a promotional campaign for Israel Bonds. “When the '94 Israel Bonds campaign kicks off Jan. 31 at Manalapan's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, noted Israeli artist Yaacov Agam will be among the guests, who also include Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. On Saturday, Agam will present Donald Trump with artworks at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.” (Miami Herald, January 23, 1994)
• 1996: Donald Trump attended a luncheon featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised the gathering of American businessmen “you’ll make money in Israel.” “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to capitalism's world capital Thursday to deliver a message that Israel's socialist ways are over. From the frenzied floor of the New York Stock Exchange to an elegant lunch with business leaders, Netanyahu said he will make Israel ‘one of the richest countries of the world.’ […] Under a gilded ceiling in America's most powerful corporate dining room, Netanyahu told powerful Wall Street financiers, including Donald Trump, that ‘you'll make money in Israel.’ […] Trump said Israelis ‘really want to do business.’ Asked if he would put one of his signature buildings in Israel, he joked, ‘Get me the site!’” (USA Today, July 12, 1996)
• 2004: Donald Trump served as the grand marshal for a “Salute to Israel” parade promoting tourism to Isreal. “Donald Trump will be grand marshal of the 40th annual Salute to Israel Parade, taking place May 23 on New York's Fifth Avenue from 57th Street to 79th Street, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Judy Kaufthal, the parade president announced today. ‘Israel has gone through a lot and it's my honor,’ Trump said. […] The 2004 parade theme, ‘Israel, I care and I'm going ... Let's go to Israel now!’ is intended to encourage tourism to Israel. For one day, 100,000 costumed marchers with colorful props will transform Fifth Avenue into a living pageant of beautiful and inviting Israel,as close to I million spectators cheer the 40 parade floats, 16 marching bands and dozens of entertainers.” (Real Estate Weekly, May 12, 2004)

Courting Jewish Conservatives with Anti-Semitic and Bigoted Tropes

• December, 2015: Trump spoke to a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition and praised them for various stereotypes of Jews, including possessing great negotiating skills. “For a few minutes this afternoon, Donald J. Trump played the beltway like it was the Borscht Belt. ‘Obama, oy-yoy-yoy,’ he said at a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition here, where he took his turn among the party's other presidential candidates in addressing a theater full of influential Jewish donors. He tried to establish a link with his audience, through family connections as well as some stereotypical Jewish traits, quickly earning critical coverage in an Israeli newspaper. […] He flattered the audience, at one point insisting that he would have achieved a better deal with Iran than President Obama did because ‘look, I'm a negotiator, like you folks.’ […]Once again, he alluded to his negotiating prowess, something he said he shared with the Jewish donors in the room. ‘With us, we have a deal instinct, a lot of us, you walk into a room and you can tell almost like in two seconds whether or not you're going to make a deal,’ he said.” (New York Times, December 3, 2015)
• Trump also told the Republican Jewish Coalition that his father had been a big supporter of Israel, complained about how hard it was to reach his daughter on Saturdays since her conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and told the crowd that “as businesspeople” they would appreciate how much money his campaign had saved on advertising. “‘My father, Fred, was always a big supporter’ of Israel, he said. And his daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism, he noted. ‘The only bad news is I can't get her on Saturday,’ he said. ‘I call and call. I can't speak to my daughter anymore on Saturday!’ He boasted that he was ahead in the polls though he had spent precious little money on campaign advertisements, adding: ‘I think you, as businesspeople, will feel pretty good about this, and respect it.’”
• Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition that they would ultimately decide not to support his candidacy “because I don’t want your money.” “Mr. Trump's performance was not an unalloyed success. Perhaps sensing the room turning against him at one point, he abruptly asserted, ‘You're not going to support me, even though you know I'm the best thing that could ever happen to Israel. And I'll be that. And I know why that is: You're not going to support me because I don't want your money.’” (New York Times, December 3, 2015)
• A rabbi from Palm Springs attempted to organize a walkout during Trump’s speech to AIPAC in protest of Trump’s bigoted hate speech on the campaign trail. “Protesting what he calls Donald Trump's ‘rhetoric and hate,’ a Palm Beach Gardens rabbi is leading efforts to encourage a walkout on the GOP front-runner in his scheduled address today to the nation's largest pro-Israel lobbying group. ‘I hope it's a demonstration like nothing he's ever seen,’ Rabbi David Paskin told The Palm Beach Post from Washington, D.C., ahead of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting there. […] Paskin said he's not anti-Trump or even against Trump policies, but ‘I'm anti- his rhetoric and his hate.’” (Palm Beach Post, March 21, 2016)
• Organizers of the AIPAC protest claimed it was their intention to denounce Trump’s “bigotry, racism, xenophobia and misogyny.” “The protest effort says on a website that ‘we do not stand up to Donald Trump because of his party affiliation. We stand up because, as Jews, we must take a stand against hate. We denounce in the strongest possible terms the bigotry, racism, xenophobia, and misogyny expressed by Mr. Trump, and violence promoted by him, at various points throughout his campaign.’” (Palm Beach Post, March 21, 2016)
• Hundreds of attendees at AIPAC left during Trump's speech as a silent protest of his bigotry on the campaign trail. “GOP front-runner Donald Trump told the nation's largest pro-Israel lobbying group Monday evening they can count on him as a deal-maker. [...] Inside, thousands stood and clapped. Outside, a Palm Beach Gardens rabbi said hundreds removed themselves in what they called a peaceful protest against a rhetoric of hate in Trump's campaign against immigrants, minorities and others. ‘I think we began to get that message across,’ Rabbi David Paskin said.” (Palm Beach Post, March 22, 2016)
• The following day, a speech by Netanyahu was temporarily delayed so that AIPAC event organizers could formally apologize for Donald Trump's inappropriate conduct in his speech. “The prime minister's video-linked speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's conference was preceded by the unscheduled introduction of AIPAC President Lillian Pinkus and four other leaders. Choking back tears, Pinkus apologized for Monday night's speeches, implying that Donald Trump had violated a nonpartisan standard. ‘From the moment this conference began, until this moment, we have preached a message of unity,’ Pinkus said. ‘We have said, in every way we can think of: Come together. But last evening, something occurred which has the potential to drive us apart, to divide us. We say, unequivocally, that we do not countenance ad hominem attacks, and we take great offense to those that are levied against the president of the United States of America from our stage.’” (Washington Post, March 22, 2016)
• AIPAC specifically apologized for granting Trump a platform to launch into unwarranted attacks on President Obama. "AIPAC, already criticized for giving Trump an invitation, decided the rhetoric needed condemnation. ‘While we may have policy differences, we deeply respect the office of president of the United States and our president, Barack Obama,’ Pinkus said. ‘There were people in our AIPAC family who were deeply hurt last night, and for that we are deeply sorry. We are disappointed that so many people applauded the sentiment that we neither agree with or condone. Let us close this conference in recognition that when we say 'Come together,' we still have a lot to learn from each other, and we still have much work to do.’" (Washington Post, March 22, 2016)

Negotiating Peace in the Middle East

• Trump claimed that he would negotiate peace in the Middle East within six months of taking office, unless Israel did not want to make concessions in exchange for peace. “Trump has said that as president he would know in six months whether he could broker a deal to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ‘I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it,’ Trump said in an interview with the Associated Press last week. ‘A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal - whether or not Israel's willing to sacrifice certain things,’ Trump said. ‘They may not be, and I understand that, and I'm okay with that. But then you're just not going to have a deal.’” (Washington Post, December 10, 2015)
• Trump was unable to provide details for his plan to negotiate peace in the Middle East and was evasive in his answers on questions relating to it, demonstrating no clear familiarity with the subject matter. "Trump's speech to the RJC followed in that theme. Trump drew loud applause when criticizing Secretary of State John Kerry (‘the worst negotiator’) or the Obama administration in general (‘the worst thing that's happened to Israel’). But even a specific follow-up question about what Israel might need to give up at the negotiating table was met with a cannonade of non-answers. ‘It's perhaps the hardest deal in history to put together,’ said Trump, asked specifically if Israel should return to pre-1967 borders. ‘I don't know that Israel has the commitment to make it. I don't know that the other side has the commitment to make it. With that being said, I have a good chance.’" (Washington Post, December 3, 2015)
• March, 2016: Trump was seen as “friendly to Israel” by 61% of Israelis, despite his failure to articulate a clear plan during his campaign for approaching Israel and the Middle East. “Sixty-one percent of Israelis see Trump as "moderately" or "very" friendly to Israel, according to an Israel Democracy Institute study released this month. Thirty-four percent said that a Republican candidate would be pro-Israel, as opposed to 28% who said the same about a Democratic candidate. […] But although Trump has said he would ‘bomb the hell’ out of Islamic State, he has said little about his foreign policy plans for Israel -- only that he would be neutral in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.” (Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2016)
• Trump’s presidential campaign was supported in Israel by an Adelson-backed newspaper, Israel Hayom. “Israel's most widely read newspaper, Israel Hayom, backed by American GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, is already throwing its weight behind Trump. The conservative tabloid ran multiple front-page stories this week touting Trump's victories and presenting him as a friend of Israel. ‘My win is great news for Israel,’ Trump told Boaz Bismuth, the paper's foreign editor who is covering Trump in Florida. ‘Your friend is leading the primaries. I've always been your friend, even in the most difficult moments, and that's not about to change.’” (Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2016)
• March, 2016: Trump's policy proposals for Israel had been marked by ambiguity throughout the early stages of his presidential campaign. “As America's leading pro-Israel group prepares to hear from nearly all the presidential candidates, most eyes in the audience of thousands will be on GOP front-runner Donald Trump. He's the wild card whose previous comments about Israel have created some anxiety among many who will attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference this week in Washington. […] Unlike the other candidates slated to speak Monday, Trump has been far from clear on how he would approach matters of deep concern to pro-Israel voters. ‘Trump has said a lot of things about Israel over the years, most of it favorable but some of it more ambiguous,’ said Josh Block, a former AIPAC official who now heads The Israel Project. ‘This will be an opportunity to address the ambiguity.’” (Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2016)

Moving US Embassy to Jersusalem

• December, 2015: Donald Trump was booed in an appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition after saying he would refuse to take a position on moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until after he'd gotten instructions from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Donald Trump drew a few rare boos toward the end of his appearance at Thursday's Republican Jewish Coalition candidate forum, after refusing to say that Jerusalem should be the undivided and recognized capital of Israel. ‘You know what I want to do? I want to wait until I meet with Bibi,’ said Trump. ‘You know, I'm leaving for Israel in a very short while.’ The rest of his answer, about a planned post-Christmas trip to Israel, was interrupted by scattered jeering. Trump turned to a heckler near the front of the Ronald Reagan Building's ballroom whom he could hear clearly. ‘Who's the wise guy?’ asked Trump. ‘Just relax. You'll like me very much, believe me.’" (Washington Post, December 3, 2015)
• March, 2016: Trump had still not endorsed proposals to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, unlike his rival Ted Cruz, and his campaign website had no policy positions related to Israel. “Unlike Cruz, Trump has not said he would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a perennial Republican campaign promise, and, unlike Cruz, he has said he will be neutral as a negotiator in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cruz's campaign website features an entire section on Israel; Trump's does not address it at all. He has also put off calls to clarify his position on the status of Jerusalem.” (Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2016)

Israeli Opposition to American Nuclear Deal with Iran

• Donald Trump claimed that the Obama Administration's treaty freezing the development of Iran's nuclear program would lead to a "holocaust" in Israel. “Trump has said that a nuclear deal reached with Iran in July could led to another ‘Holocaust.’ Netanyahu has said that the nuclear deal intensifies an existential threat to Israel from Iran, whose leaders have called for the dissolution of the Jewish state. ‘Israel was sold out by Kerry and Obama,’ Trump said in August, referring to Secretary of State John F. Kerry, the chief U.S. negotiator in the talks. ‘You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You can't have it. When they march down the street saying 'Death to Israel. Death to the United States.' You can't let that happen.” (Washington Post, December 10, 2015)
• March, 2016: Trump told AIPAC that his number one priority as President would be repudiation of the American treaty preventing Iranian development of nuclear weapons. “Gone was the word ‘neutral,’ or any hesitation to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. GOP front-runner Donald Trump told the nation's largest pro-Israel lobbying group Monday evening they can count on him as a deal-maker. Or the breaker of a bad deal. ‘My No. 1 priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran,’ Trump said about the Iranian nuclear agreement while addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C. ‘I have been in business a long time. I know deal-making. Let me tell you, this deal is catastrophic, for America, for Israel and the whole Middle East.’” (Palm Beach Post, March 22, 2016)

2016 Campaign Relations with Netanyahu

• December 3, 2015: Trump boasted that he would schedule a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2016 presidential campaign. “Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to visit Israel soon to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ‘I love Israel’ Trump said, during a campaign rally at the Prince William County Fairground. ‘Israel is our great partner.’ Trump, who plans to meet with top Jewish Republicans in Washington on Thursday, sought at times to strike a more presidential tone before a standing-room-only crowd that alternately cheered for the billionaire developer and filmed him with their cellphones.” (Washington Post, December 3, 2015)
• Netanyahu confirmed that he intended to meet with Donald Trump while Trump was on a scheduled campaign visit to Israel. "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Donald Trump when the Republican presidential front-runner arrives in Israel later this month, Israeli officials said Wednesday. The officials said the prime minister's Dec. 28 meeting with Trump was scheduled two weeks ago - before the billionaire developer called for banning all Muslims from entering the United States. […]An Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the prime minister's schedule, said Wednesday that Netanyahu ‘will meet with any candidate from any party who will be arriving in Israel and requests a meeting.’"
• Netanyahu declared that he would meet with Trump despite bigoted comments that Trump had made about Muslims which largely echoed similar comments Netanyahu had made during his own reelection campaign. "Netanyahu said late Wednesday that he would go ahead with the Trump meeting, although he tweeted that he ‘rejects Donald Trump's latest comments about Muslims.’ On the eve of his historic election to a fourth term as prime minister in March, Netanyahu rallied supporters by warning darkly that ‘the rule of the right is in danger’ because ‘Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls’ and being ‘bused to the polling stations by left-wing NGOs.’" (Washington Post, December 10, 2015)
• Israeli Arabs, the Anti-Defamation League, and the newspaper Ha'aretz all called upon Netanyahu to refuse a meeting with Trump due to his bigoted remarks about Muslims and his call for a ban on entry to the United States that would affect all Muslims. "Arab Israeli lawmakers called on the government Wednesday to block Trump's visit to Israel. ‘He is not only a racist, but a danger to the free world,’ said Issawi Frej, a member of parliament. ‘He is a man who incites against 20 percent of Israel's population, a man who wants to fan the flames of hatred everywhere he visits.’ Jewish groups also widely condemned Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. The leader of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, warned that such a ban would be ‘unacceptable and antithetical to American values.’ He said American Jews ‘know all too well what can happen when a particular religious group is singled out for stereotyping and scapegoating.’ The Israeli newspaper Haaretz noted that ‘as a matter of policy, Israeli officials do not meet with racist and radical politicians who are shunned by their local Jewish communities.’" (Washington Post, December 10, 2015)
• December 11, 2015: Trump canceled his plan to travel to Israel and meet with Netanyahur during the 2016 election campaign. “Donald Trump canceled plans Thursday to visit Israel, a trip for which even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- widely seen as an ally of the Republican Party -- had shown little enthusiasm. Trump announced his decision on Twitter, saying he would reschedule ‘at a later date after I become President of the U.S.’ Trump unleashed an uproar this week when he called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.” (Chicago Tribune, December 11, 2015)