Trump, Harris spend election eve in battleground Pennsylvania

Normally, writing a column just before an election which will be published two days after, I should start by saying that by the time you read this you’ll already know whom the new President is, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. But I can say with certainty that by the time you read this you will not know whom the President is, even though you’ll have voted 48 hours before. It’s going to be days (weeks?), I predict, until we have some resolution on whom our new Chief Executive is. But one thing is certain: It will not be Joe Biden.

And as he leaves the world stage after a half-century in politics, it behoves me as an American Jew to recognize one undeniable truth: While Donald Trump as President 45 turned out to be the best friend Israel ever had in the Oval Office, Joe Biden came through when historically Israel needed it most. Biden overtakes even Harry Truman who recognized Israel just eleven minutes after its declaration, against the threats to resign of his legendary Secretary of State George Marshall, and Richard Nixon who armed Israel when it was almost destroyed in the Yom Kippur War, against the delaying tactics of his Jewish Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who died earlier this year. 

Against the wishes of at least half his own party, Biden stuck to the guns he sent Israel literally and armed the Jewish state while it’s been engaged in the greatest battle the Jewish people have ever fought since the destruction of the Second Temple 2,000 years ago.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said she would do everything she could to end the war in Gaza if she were elected as US president at a rally in Michigan on Sunday. 

"This year has been difficult given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza, and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon," she noted, adding, "It is devastating." 

Harris further stated, "As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination." 

In September, Harris called for an end to the Israel-Hamas War and for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

Calls to KeepOlim's emotional support hotline "Tikva Line" have increased in recent months in part due to calls from Olim, who are anxious about the upcoming US presidential elections, according to line director Susan Cohen.

Cohen, who also directs Tikva - KeepOlim's mental health services department - explained that the line is "getting calls regarding  the US elections and how stressed out the Olim are over this."

Olim have shared fears concerning who will win the election and fears for family and friends who still live in the US, Cohen said.

"Many Olim are experiencing a lot of anxiety and fear over the US elections and been very vocal, they are fearful for Israel and the Jewish population in the US," she said.

Cohen added that it is "interesting to see and hear how passionate [Olim] feel about the US even though they no longer live there."

The US presidential elections will at long last take place tomorrow. 

Opinion polls show the two candidates – Vice President Kamala Harris, and former president Donald Trump – running neck to neck. Opinion polls in Israel show that if these elections were held here, well over 60% would vote for Trump and just around 20% for Harris.

The common answer one gets from Israelis who support Trump when asked about their choice is that “Trump is better for Israel.”

On the surface this appears to be a perfectly logical reply. However, I think that the proposition that Trump is preferable for Israel requires more serious examination.

Donald Trump’s fans and critics alike have compared him to some of history’s most famous rulers: Cyrus the Great, Adolf Hitler, King David, and more. 

But on the eve of the election, a celebrity pastor named Jonathan Cahn wants his evangelical followers to think of the Republican candidate as a present-day manifestation of a far more obscure leader: the biblical king Jehu, who vanquished the morally corrupt house of Ahab to become the 10th ruler of the Kingdom of Israel. 

“President Trump, you were born into the world to be a trumpet of God, a vessel of the Lord in the hands of God. God called you to walk according to the template; He called you according to the template of Jehu, the warrior king,” Cahn told the hundreds of Christian leaders who gathered last week for the National Faith Summit outside Atlanta. He also shared a clip of his prophecy about Trump on his YouTube channel, which has more than a million followers. 

What Cahn means — and why at least one scholar of the Christian right says he is worried — requires some background. Cahn, 65, is the son of a Holocaust refugee and grew up in a Jewish household in New Jersey. When he was 20, he says he had a personal revelation that led him to Jesus, and he eventually became the head of a Messianic congregation, blending Jewish rituals with Christian worship and a focus on doomsday prophecies. 

Over the past year, discussions in Israeli hi-tech circles have covered an array of pressing issues: the domestic political climate, fundraising challenges, layoffs, ongoing military conflict, and employees being called to reserve duty – with hopes for the swift return of hostages. However, as the US presidential election draws near, a topic from thousands of miles away is emerging: who will be the next president of the United States and how this will impact Israeli startups and, perhaps most importantly, the timing and conditions for IPOs.

Israeli startups on standby

After a two-year drought in IPOs, many Israeli startups are now on standby, poised for the anticipated reopening of the IPO window next year. The signs are promising. According to IVC data, Israeli hi-tech companies raised $2.9 billion in the second quarter, signaling an easing in the decline of investment flow. This marks the first quarter since early 2022 without a year-on-year decline. The macroeconomic environment is gradually improving, and trends in mergers and acquisitions reveal that companies are focusing on profitability and bolstering their value propositions.

The end of the ongoing war, which we all hope will come soon, would add greater certainty to the market, likely unlocking investments and initiatives that have been delayed during this turbulent period. As company valuations stabilize, and firms pursue profitability, founders are revisiting IPO plans with a more cautious, measured approach. This creates favorable conditions for exits and public offerings. The postponement of the Wiz deal [a $23bn takeover offer from Alphabet], aimed toward an IPO, serves as a prime example of this readiness in the market.

Just days out from the presidential election, Shalva Perlman doesn’t know for sure how she will cast her ballot.

The two issues on her mind: protecting abortion rights and supporting Israel.

The issue that she expects to prioritize in the voting booth: Israel.

“I’m having difficulty voting at all,” Perlman said. “I’ve been a registered Democrat for a while, but I don’t know. It’s difficult to vote Democrat with everything happening in the Middle East right now.”

Perlman is a junior at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University, the flagship Orthodox educational institution. And as an Orthodox Jew, she is part of a constituency that has moved to the right and toward Trump in recent years, driven in large part by attitudes on Israel.

Each US presidential candidate offers a contrasting economic approach, with “key differences that could have a direct global market impact and sizable implications for many investors worldwide,” according to Edmond de Rothschild Bank’s Global Investment Research team and Edmond de Rothschild (Israel) Ltd. CEO Nir Yeshaya.

An example of these contrasting approaches is the candidates’ takes on corporate taxation, according to the research team. Vice President Kamala Harris proposes raising corporate tax, which would likely impact high-margin, US-focused sectors such as communications, technology, and energy, said the team.

This could impact consumers reliant on US household spending by causing a decrease in spending by more “affluent consumers,” the bank said.

“On the other hand, targeted tax cuts for low- to middle-income households, combined with support for homebuyers and renters, could benefit basic-goods and low-cost consumer sectors,” it added.

Former president Donald Trump’s approach to corporate tax, however, could include extending tax cuts from 2018 and a possible additional 15% cut to the corporate tax rate for US-based manufacturers, the bank said.

Last month, clergy from 15 faith communities in Northern Virginia — Jewish, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant and Muslim — gathered at a local park to plant an elm tree. It was an optimistic gesture (they called it “Growing Hope in Democracy”) inspired by the anxiety all of their congregations were feeling about the upcoming election — not just the outcome, but the violence, polarization and discord that has surrounded the entire campaign.

“If God forbid things go sideways after the election, look around at your neighbors,” Rabbi Michael Holzman, of Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, recalled saying at the event. “We are going to be the people that hold together our local community.”

A sapling might not strike you as the boldest response to an election that some are calling the most divisive in American history, but Holzman, 50, said that interfaith gatherings like the one in Northern Virginia “create a moral ballast that holds the ship of state upright.”

Holzman is committed to using faith as an antidote to political polarization. At NVHC, a Reform synagogue, he helped create the award-winning Rebuilding Democracy Project to bring Jewish values and texts to bear on creating constructive civic and communal dialogue. A national, nonsectarian version, the American Scripture Project, launched in 2022.

President Trump is the fighter American Jews "desperately need" to stand up to the evil being perpetrated in the world right now, Republican National Committee National Spokeswoman Elizabeth Pipko said to The Jerusalem Post in a statement on Sunday in a final appeal to Jewish voters in the battleground states. 

Pipko said for many American Jews like herself, October 7 and the year that followed will "forever remind us of the threats we face around the world, and in our own country," as to this day, she knows people in major cities across the US who are afraid to leave their homes appearing visibly Jewish. 

"It is not difficult for most to recognize that the leadership of Kamala Harris failed when it came to our protection and that the Democrat party of our parents and grandparents no longer exists," Pipko said. "This election should come down to the safety and protection of our loved ones. Because nothing else can matter when that is at risk."

Pipko said in his first term, Trump "unequivocally stood by Israel, our greatest ally, and always stood strong in the face of evil terrorism and those who wanted to cause harm to the American people."