We, the undersigned, have all heard the question from our Republican friends: “why do Jews, in such large percentages, insist on voting for Democrats when two things are clear: first, that the Democratic Party has abandoned its side of the bipartisan support for Israel and second, that the radical Left that has hijacked today’s Democratic Party uses its power to undercut the institutions that Jews believe in and helped to build: businesses, universities, the U.S.-Israel relationship, and even the law itself?”
Our response to these Republican friends was laid bare on October 7, 2023. We found ourselves answering, “we have no idea why they tend to vote for the Democrats, but we’re going to do our level best to ensure that they know the costs of doing so this election.”
The world was caught by surprise and aghast on October 7, 2023. The most brutal attack against Jews (and non-Jews) since the Nazi Holocaust of World War Two was carried out in one day with thousands of terrorists and civilians invading southern Israel from the Gaza Strip intent on wanton slaughter, gang rape, kidnapping, theft, and destruction.
The barbarism that unfolded on terrorists’ go-pro cameras that filled social media within minutes shattered the illusion of peaceful coexistence, and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on the Hamas terrorists who run Gaza. American Jews were shocked into a new reality that unfolded quickly. In the first few days there was sympathy from friends. Solidarity from leaders within religious communities. President Joe Biden even traveled to Israel to demonstrate his support for Israel. But this was all short lived.
Seemingly in the blink of an eye, Israel lost the bipartisan support in the U.S. that seemed ironclad. It lost support in European countries. And more shockingly, Hamas became the underdog, the sympathy vote, the victim, amongst too many Democrats and across too many “elite” and progressive circles. These were circles that Jews worked hard to access and became accustomed to participating in and contributing to. Suddenly their opinions were no longer requested, although their financial contributions were still wildly sought.
Then some Jewish Democrats, particularly large donors to elite institutions, got smart. They saw what was happening and decided to act. Jews on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, and in major law firms across the country began to take action in a way they never thought they needed to before. They started to call upon their alma maters to stand up to anti-Semitic and anti-Israel campus protesters and encampments. They penned sharp letters to university presidents at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and others. They expressed their utter bewilderment that the academy was letting the inmates run the asylums to which they and their forebearers had so generously donated.
Alas, nothing changed. University presidents turned deaf ears to their complaints and their threats to withhold donations, self-assured that surely Jewish donors would change their minds given the vital role the alma maters play in society and in ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion provide needed opportunities for all students,even for the agitators who, after all, were simply exercising their rights to free expression.
Meanwhile, Jews around the world, most particularly in Israel, were being labeled and smeared. Jews went from being outsiders who made their way successfully in the world to being turned into colonizers, of a piece with the very European countries that had expelled them, murdered them, or chased them out through pogroms. College campuses became the stomping grounds of vicious anti-Semites masquerading under a new term, anti-Zionists.
Who stood up for the Jews and Israel? Who fought back against progressives who demonized Israeli professors and students as baby killers? Who demanded action when Jewish kids were told to “go back to Poland?”
Republicans stood up for the Jews. Reps. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) and Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) held hearings in the House of Representatives demanding accountability from university presidents from Harvard, Columbia, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. Three of those four presidents were forced to resign. Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) demanded that military aid for Israel that was held up by the White House, not be slow-walked overseas.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) referred to Israel’s existential battles against Iran’s proxies as a “righteous” and “just” war. They decried actions on college campuses and demanded accountability from administrators. And there are dozens more examples of Republican elected representatives, many of whom have few or no Jews in their districts, standing beside America’s most important democratic ally in the Middle East. They post pictures of hostages in their offices. They proudly post signs outside their office doors saying, “I stand with Israel.” Their moral clarity has been exemplary and extraordinary.
Who didn’t stand up for the Jews and for Israel? The radical left in the U.S. Congress and Senate. The entire Democratic Party, with the exceptions of Jewish members and their allies Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.), turned on Israel. Almost immediately they clamored for a ceasefire and demanded a massive Berlin Airlift equivalent of aid be dispatched to civilians in Gaza. The “Squad” and the progressive caucus all shrieked that Israel was committing a “genocide” in Gaza. They displayed Palestinian flags outside their offices. And dozens of representatives and senators boycotted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress.
The shameful behavior of those whom Jewish Democrats considered their longstanding allies was made all the more egregious by some rejecting the warm embrace offered, genuinely, by Republicans. It is time for Jewish Americans to wake up and to understand fully where their base of support lies. It lies in the Republican Party and they should vote accordingly on November 5th.
Bonnie Glick is the former Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Joining Bonnie Glick in supporting this op-ed are:
- Ann Schockett, Past President National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW)
- Jacob Helberg, Senior Advisor to the CEO, Palantir Technologies
- Jeff Bartos, 2018 Republican Nominee for Lt Governor of Pennsylvania and 2022 US Senate Candidate for Pennsylvania
- Simone Ledeen, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
- Honorable Mitchell Silk, Former Assistant Secretary of Treasury
- Honorable Ezra Cohen, Former Under Secretary of Defense
- Ellie Cohanim, Former Deputy Envoy to Counter Antisemitism
- Matt Brooks, CEO, Republican Jewish Coalition
- Jeff Miller, CEO, Miller Strategies
- Josh Hammer, Syndicated Host “The Josh Hammer Show”
- Julie Harris, NFRW President, Arkansas
- Deborah Bodlander, NFRW
- Robert Chernin, Host, “Of the People” Podcast
- Barbara Ledeen, Retired Senate Judiciary Committee Senior Professional Staff Member
- Michael Ledeen, Retired Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
- Julie Strauss, Attorney
- Valerie Abony, Texas
- Louise Abroms, Alabama
- Nancy Almasi, Virginia
- Irene Alter, New York
- Becky Berger, Texas
- Carter Clews, Pennsylvania
- Vicki Paris Goodman, Arizona
- Paula Johnson, New Hampshire
- Lisa Luray, Maryland
- Judith Lynn, Washington
- Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, New York
- Debbie Mayer, New York
- Tracey Miller, Texas
- Paula Mullis, Maryland
- Kristi Nichols, Missouri
- Penny Payne, Mississippi
- Barb Price, Florida
- Emanuela Prister, North Carolina
- Melissa Toomim, California
- Merrill Gaines Schwartz, South Carolina
- Linda Thompson, Arizona
- Sara Springer, Florida
- Sally Zelikovsky, New Jersey
- Melissa Beaudoin, Florida
- Andrea Bandle, California
- Sharon Glick, Illinois
- Kathleen Brugger, California
- Marylin Harris, Colorado
- Myrna Lieberman, Arizona