Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council (JDC)
It seems like support for Israel is becoming a partisan issue. What is your take?

“Well, we did see questions of Israel arise in this election, and there were three Democratic candidates with whom JDC did not agree on their views on Israel, and we made our view on that public. We came out and specifically expressed concern with regard to the positions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib when it comes to Israel.”

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
Do you think Netanyahu has any reason to be worried about the upcoming peace plan?

“I haven’t seen what the final proposals are... Ultimately, I’m someone who believes that piece should be negotiated on the ground in Israel. I also fear that right now you don’t have a partner to peace on the other side of the table in any position, in good faith, to be able to negotiate long-term piece. It’s possible that if someone representing the Palestinians were to sign a long-term solution, they could be assassinated within days. And on top of that, it’s an unfortunate reality that many others just wouldn’t accept the terms. So it’s not even like they can make an agreement on behalf of all of their people. They can only make an agreement on behalf of some of the people.”

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, former Democratic National Committee chairwoman
Are you worried that there is a big divide between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to support of Israel?

“There is not a big divide when it coming to support for Israel from the Democratic Party’s perspective, particularly when it comes to the membership in Congress that puts votes on the board to make sure that we consistently maintain support for Israel’s security, for the strong US-Israel relationship and maintaining Israel as the Jewish and democratic state.”
(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 740)