'Pro-Israel' Conspiracy Theorist Elise Stefanik Came to Israel to Court Trump - Haaretz Today - Haaretz.com
WASHINGTON — Top Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik on Sunday made a flash visit to Israel, where she lauded former U.S. President Donald Trump's record on Israel while assailing U.S. President Joe Biden.
"I have been clear at home and I will be clear here: There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel – aid that was duly passed by the Congress – or to ease sanctions on Iran, paying a $6 billion ransom to the world's leading state sponsor of terror, or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives. No excuse. full stop," she told the Knesset Caucus for Jewish and Pro-Israel Students on Campuses Around the World. The New York lawmaker, meanwhile, lauded Trump's "historic support for Israeli independence and security."
Stefanik's visit, revealed late Saturday night prior to her arrival Sunday, points to several matters worth noting. For one, the special invite from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to one of the most vocal and critical GOP critics of Biden comes at a time of highly delicate relations between the U.S. and Israel.
It only serves as a distraction from the same-day visit from senior U.S. officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is bringing a semi-final Saudi normalization draft for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's review. The stakes of this meeting – which could potentially create a path to the end of the Gaza war, normalization with Saudi Arabia, efforts toward a two-state solution and more regional implications – are much greater than Ohana and Stefanik's game.
Over the past five months, since her historic round of questioning at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, Stefanik has fashioned herself into a champion of combating anti-Jewish hatred. This has explicitly manifested, however, in her counting the scalps of university presidents that have resigned in disgrace.
Meanwhile, her record of platforming some of the most vile antisemitic conspiracy theories of the 21st century remains on her resume – even while Israel's right wing leans into her being their convenient champion of the day.
Stefanik's rhetoric and strategy are generally consistent with House Republicans' strategy to use support for Israel as a cudgel against Democrats, painting any sort of dissent toward right-wing Israeli policy as antisemitic.
Her efforts and subsequent support – both within Israel and among large swaths of the American Jewish community – surely are not lost on Trump, who is in the later stages of considering his potential running mate.
Like Stefanik, the vast majority of the names publicly floated as potential candidates have leaned into full-throated support for Israel's war while attacking Palestinians and their advocates – whether that be in Gaza or on American college campuses or in the halls of Congress.
This race to the fringe will undoubtedly help potential running mates make their case to Trump, who has made the nationwide campus protest movements among his leading attack points against Biden. Whether or not this bears out in official policy, however, remains to be seen, considering Trump opts to criticize Israel's military strategy and Netanyahu personally whenever he goes off-script.
Read more about the Israel-Hamas war:
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■ No to military governing of Gaza
■ This Nakba Day marks the continued collapse of freedom of _expression_ in Israel
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