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Analysis: Trump uses Israel to fuel partisan fires

By MATTHEW LEE and ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press
Published: August 15, 2019, 9:28pm

President Donald Trump’s encouragement and support of Israel’s decision to ban two Democratic lawmakers may play well to his political base, but it could endanger the foundations of the U.S.-Israel relationship in the longer term.

The move to bar Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from Israel fueled a partisan fire over the Jewish state that has been raging in the United States, with Trump eagerly fanning the flames.

Trump celebrated Israel’s decision on Twitter and framed the issue in decidedly political terms: “Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!”

Shortly before the decision was announced, Trump offered a not-so-subtle nudge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeting that “it would show great weakness” if Israel allowed the women to visit.

Bipartisan support from Congress has been a bedrock of the U.S.-Israel relationship since Israel’s founding, and critics of Thursday’s decision said they worried that Trump and Netanyahu were exploiting the situation for short-term political gain.

Netanyahu faces an election next month, and Trump next year.

Tlaib and Omar, two newly elected Muslim members of Congress, are outspoken critics of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. They had planned to visit Jerusalem and the West Bank on a tour organized by a Palestinian organization aimed at highlighting the plight of the Palestinians.

Israel cited their support for the so-called “boycott, divestment, sanctions” movement, or BDS, in support of the Palestinians. Israel, and many pro-Israel U.S. politicians, believe BDS is anti-Semitic and seeks the destruction of the Jewish state, something its proponents deny.

Although there has been partisan friction between the U.S. and Israel in the past, Trump has sought to exploit it unlike any of his predecessors. The seeds were planted during the contentious debate and negotiations over President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Netanyahu vociferously opposed. Netanyahu spoke at length against the deal at every opportunity he had, including on numerous occasions in the United States while at the White House, before a joint session of Congress and at the United Nations.

Republican lawmakers overwhelmingly opposed the deal, agreeing with Netanyahu’s argument that it opened, rather than closed, Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon because many of its most onerous restrictions expired over time. Then-candidate Trump seized on the issue, campaigning on an unabashedly pro-Israel platform that had withdrawing from the nuclear deal as a top goal.

As president, Trump decided against the advice of former top aides and over the objections of Democrats to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, move the embassy there from Tel Aviv, recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and slash assistance to the Palestinians. Trump has tried to silence his critics and opponents of his decisions by accusing them of anti-Semitism and of being insufficiently pro-Israel.

In recent months, Trump has tried to elevate the two Democratic women of color to the fore of the nation’s political debate, believing they will repel Democratic voters, according to Trump allies.

It’s part of a Trump strategy that has placed racial animus at the forefront of his re-election campaign in an effort that his aides say is designed to activate his base of conservative voters and those who fear cultural changes across America. The aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss campaign strategy, also say Trump is banking that his loud support for Israel will attract more Jewish and evangelical Christian supporters.

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