As a Jew, Where Does That Leave Me?
It has become increasingly apparent that Vice President J.D. Vance is taking on a more prominent role on both the national and international stages, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to be receding into the background. The obvious inference is that Vance is being positioned as a potential Republican presidential nominee in 2028.
My Democrat friends have asked me how I could vote for Vance, given that he has not disavowed his friendship with Tucker Carlson, whose antipathy toward Israel, Zionism and Jews is often cloaked in jargon that would not seem out of place in Der Stürmer, Nazi Germany’s notorious antisemitic publication—albeit updated for an audience more familiar with The Guardian, Haaretz and The New York Times.
When I consider the potential nominees, the Democrats are blithely tossing around, I am left with a series of fundamental questions. And please, do not bring up Josh Shapiro. Given the influence of figures such as the Squad members and other voices within the Democratic Party who have expressed hostility toward Israel, it is difficult to imagine the party nominating a Jewish candidate who is openly pro-Israel—particularly at a time when antisemitism has gone mainstream.
So, where does that leave Jews who are pro-Israel, staunch Zionists and proud to be Jewish?
Where does that leave Jews who reject the characterization of Israel as a genocidal or apartheid state?
Where does it leave Jews who believe the interests and security of Israelis deserve to be protected, rather than routinely subordinated to the demands of Palestinian Arab leadership?
Where does it leave Jews who reject the simplistic racial framework that casts Israelis as members of an “oppressor” white class and Arabs as inherently “oppressed” people of color?
Where does it leave Jews who are unapologetically Zionist and believe the Jewish people have the same right to sovereignty in their ancestral homeland that other people’s claim for themselves?
Where does it leave Jews who recognize that violence committed by Jewish settlers is rightly subject to scrutiny, but who also ask why comparable scrutiny is not applied when violence is committed by groups motivated by radical Islamism?
Where does it leave Jews who support helping Israel maintain a qualitative military edge over any other country, entity, or dictatorship in the region?
Where does it leave Jews who do not support BDS?
Where does it leave Jews who are neither ashamed nor fearful of supporting Israel?
Where does it leave Jews who refuse to be labeled Islamophobic simply because they oppose Islamist efforts to eliminate Jewish sovereignty in Israel?
Where does it leave Jews who do not regard Netanyahu as a mini-Trump—and who therefore do not believe that opposing every policy, action, or statement of his is a prerequisite for political virtue?
Where does it leave Jews who believe there should be at least one Jewish state in the world, just as numerous other nations maintain states with an official religion or a distinct religious and national identity?
All of which brings me back to Vice President J.D. Vance.
If Vance becomes the Republican nominee, the Democratic alternatives being discussed thus far appear less compatible with these priorities. And when it comes to the two major political parties, the Republican Party has demonstrated greater support for Israel on several central issues, including military assistance and opposition to efforts to isolate the Jewish state.
Our Democratic friends will argue that their party’s policies are better for Israel because Democrats would rein in Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition partners. But they rarely explain which specific policies they would change, how those changes would improve Israel’s security, or how they would implement a two-state solution when the principal Arab and Muslim actors have yet to agree to one. Indeed, some of those same actors continue to endorse violence and reject Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist.
For Jews who believe Israel has a right to exist, defend itself and remain secure as the national home of the Jewish people, these are not peripheral questions; they go to the heart of our political choices.
