‘Tis the Season to Reach Out to Jewish Voters

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1. Biden’s Last High Holiday Call with Rabbis

In what has become an annual tradition, the president, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, gathers hundreds of Jewish leaders and rabbis on a conference call (which in recent years has become a Zoom call) for his High Holiday greetings.

This year, Biden almost missed the deadline. The call was planned for October 1, but news of the Iranian missile attack on Israel sent Biden to the Situation Room to monitor events and forced the White House to postpone the call.

But better late than never. Biden held the virtual meeting last week with approximately 5,000 rabbis and Jewish leaders in attendance. It was Biden’s last call with the group as president, and in the first few minutes, Biden sounded somewhat confused and struggled to find his words. “He used to talk about how we wouldn’t let the—that one ship land and—and—with the Jewish refugees on it at the time, during—during the—Hitler’s era,” Biden said of his father’s message to his children regarding the tragic voyage of the St. Louis carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. 

“[Biden] is likely to be the last Democratic politician to call himself a Zionist and the last president to adopt a pro-Israel stance not only because of its geostrategic advantage, but because he feels it in his kishkes.”

Biden later seemed more concentrated and delivered his hallmark “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist” line.

The president touched on all topics on the minds of Jewish Americans. He repeated his commitment to Israel’s security, as demonstrated by the recent joint Israeli-American effort to block Iran’s missile attack, while stressing the need for peace. “Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year’s conflict,” he said. Biden spoke at length about his administration’s work to combat antisemitism and ended with a nuanced message to Jewish Americans at the end of this difficult year: “From my perspective, Jewish people have embodied this duality of pain and joy for generations.  It’s your strength,” Biden said. “Thank you for continuing to find joy in the darkness and shine your light on the nation and on the world.”

One could not help but feel the emotional burden on Biden and many of his Jewish listeners, as he brought to a close five decades of cooperation with the community in public life. Jewish Americans have been Biden’s strongest support group on the national level, and the Jewish community in Delaware was always there for him as a senator from a small state with an even smaller Jewish community.

For Jewish Americans, leaders like Biden are a dying breed. He is likely to be the last Democratic politician to call himself a Zionist and the last president to adopt a pro-Israel stance not only because of its geostrategic advantage, but because he feels it in his kishkes.  

2. Harris Is on the Line

High Holiday calls from the vice president to Jewish leaders are less common. But Kamala Harris is not only the veep, she is also the Democratic presidential nominee.  And with less than a month until Election Day she spent some time on the eve of Yom Kippur talking to members of the community in a call organized by her campaign.

Harris, introduced by her husband Doug Emhoff, stuck to her prepared remarks and was on message, stressing her friendship to Israel and her commitment to provide Israel with full military support. 

But veteran Middle East watchers noticed one important line in Harris’s otherwise boilerplate presentation.

“Make no mistake,” she said. “As president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists, and I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.” So far, pretty standard. But here comes the punchline: “Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end, but all options are on the table.”

This term, “all options are on the table,” is what many pro-Israel activists want to hear from their Democratic candidates. Barack Obama was harassed endlessly during his campaign and presidency on whether he would consider military action against Iran, until he came up with the “all options on the table” formulation, intended to signal to supporters at home and to adversaries in Tehran that he meant business. Harris, accused by Trump and Republicans of being weak on Iran, has now pulled out the same line.  

Does this mean Harris wants to wage war against Iran? Clearly not. But it does make clear that if needed, she would not hesitate. And for Jewish pro-Israel voters, this checks an important box.

3. Trump’s All-Out October 7 Memorial

Marking the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel at the height of election season proved to be somewhat of a challenge. President Biden, no longer in the race, provided the needed somber tone to this day of remembrance by hosting a short and intimate yahrzeit candle lighting ceremony at the White House. Vice President Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff marked the day by planting a pomegranate tree at the official VP residence, as “a symbol of hope and righteousness.” 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump chose a different path. The former president started his day in New York City at the “Ohel,” the burial place of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, where he paid respect to the memory of the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. (He later got mocked by critics after being caught on tape offering to autograph a Jewish prayer book that had been handed to him.) Later that day, Trump’s campaign hosted an October 7 memorial event at one of the former president’s golf resorts in Florida.

In his speech, Trump, who was introduced by GOP mega-donor Miriam Adelson, blurred the line between a memorial service and a campaign event. “The bond between the United States and Israel is strong and enduring,” Trump said, adding, “If and when I’m president of the United States, it will, once again, be stronger and closer than it ever was before. We have to win this election. If we don’t win this election, there’s tremendous consequences for everything.” The former president also used the platform to accuse his rivals of espousing antisemitic views. “The anti-Jewish hatred has returned even here in America, in our streets, our media and our college campuses and within the ranks of the Democrat Party, in particular, not in the Republican Party,” Trump said.

4. The Republicans for Kamala Angle

Historically, Jewish Republican voters were seen as moderates within the GOP landscape. Many were either business owners who liked the Republican aversion to taxing the rich or Orthodox Jews who aligned with the party’s support for Likud and pro-settler policies in Israel. 

Now, most seem comfortable with the MAGA direction the GOP has embarked on. But 

Jewish Democrats are trying to seize on this shift and win over Jewish voters who may have felt at home in Reagan or Bush’s Republican Party but can’t find their place in the Trump-led GOP.

Echoing the greater “Republicans for Harris” theme, which the Harris-Walz campaign is working hard to promote, the Jewish Democratic Council of America is highlighting several prominent former Republican Jews who have crossed the lines and now back Harris. These include two Jewish never-Trumpers: Eliot Cohen, who served in the George W. Bush administration, and conservative columnist Bill Kristol, who was chief of staff to VP Dan Quayle.

It’s hard to see this turning into a massive trend of Jewish conservatives leaving Trump, but if Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney could do so, why not moderate Republican Jewish voters?

5. Is the Needle Moving?

At the end of the day, the millions of dollars and endless hours of work put in by both sides to convince Jewish voters seem to be doing very little to move the needle. According to a poll commissioned by Jewish Democrats, Jewish voters in the seven swing states are still strongly behind Kamala Harris, with 71 percent saying they will vote for her and only 26 percent  saying they intend to vote for Trump. 

Does this mean Democrats can stop worrying about the Jewish vote?

Probably not. If the election is determined by several thousand voters in Michigan or Pennsylvania, every Jewish vote will matter for either side, so moving a handful of Jewish voters (most Jews, we should note, don’t reside in the seven swing states) from one side to the other could prove crucial.

Top image: President Joe Biden holds a High Holidays call from the White House with Jewish leaders and rabbis (Credit: President Joe Biden via Facebook).