Trump Plays Jerusalem Card, Cautiously

Donald Trump's real estate and bankruptcy lawyers who double as his Israel policy advisors published an article this week saying if the real estate mogul becomes president he will move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, "the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state."

Nothing new there. Virtually ever other candidate, Republican and Democrat, has made the same pledge for years. George W. Bush went so far to say he'd make the move on his first day in office, but he never got around to it over the next eight years.  Trump's guys apparently learned from that and are being wisely cautious by not setting a moving date.

Here's the emmes, the truth: those promises collide with reality once in office.  The candidates know in advance that nothing can or will be done until Jerusalem's status is agreed to in negotiations between the two parties. Don't take my word for it; aske George W.

Early voting in Israel shows American ex-pats going for Trump, but back home pollsters are predicting a huge Jewish landslide for Clinton.

She got some big name endorsements this week in a video distributed yesterday by Yuval Rabin, son of the late Israeli prime minister. Not technically endorsements but certainly high praise from people Shimon Peres, Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni, and Henry Kissinger.

Even Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the 2008 GOP presidential candidates, has some good words for Clinton, obviously made long before his own campaign this year in which he vowed to block all of her Supreme Court nominations if both of them win next week.

The Rabin video was sent to nearly 50,000 Jewish households in Florida, a key battleground state where Clinton and Trump are in a virtual tie.

The video was produced by the National Jewish Democratic Council and its super PAC Jews for Progress, which said it is also going to Jewish voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada.

It follows an earlier endorsement video by former Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who knows a thing or two about close votes in the Sunshine State. Lieberman was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, switched to Independent in 2006, and endorsed Republican John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008.  Now, campaigning for Clinton in Florida, where his video is getting special distribution to Jewish voters, he said he  "feels like I'm home again."