Israeli diplomats from consulates across the country are attending the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee to focus on Israel’s relationship with the United States at a critical juncture in the two countries’ alliance. Opinion on how to navigate the increasingly tense relationship differs vastly along party lines.Yinam Cohen, Counsel General of Israel to the Midwest, spoke with The Jerusalem Post from Milwaukee in between sessions of the convention, focusing on the conversations he has had this week with policymakers and elected officials.
He was quick to highlight that the Israeli diplomats will also be attending the Democratic National Convention next month, and having the same conversations.
But in Milwaukee, with a potential Republican administration returning to the Oval Office in 2025, there’s a lot for Cohen and the other diplomats to understand about the party’s platform, which is vague in its mentioning of specific Israel policy.Donald Trump, the now-official Republican nominee, has long maintained that October 7 and what followed wouldn’t have happened if he had been president.
Cohen did not go into detail about specific policies
Cohen wouldn’t go into detail about the specific policies he’s interested in engaging lawmakers in, though he said the diplomats aren’t pushing for any policies in particular.“We’re just here to listen, to understand, to engage, and to share our point of view about things that have to do with our region,” he said.Cohen highlighted events happening alongside the convention as significant and relevant for policy discussions.“It’s a great opportunity to really discuss in a very intimate way, the positions and the needs for how we bring stability to our region and how we strengthen the partnership with the United States,” he said.The convention will be followed next week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to a splintered Congress over support for Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas and growing concern over hostilities in Northern Israel with Hezbollah.The DNC comes just several weeks later.“The very strategic and friendly dialog that we have with the Republican party, we have the same friendship and dialog with the Democratic party,” Cohen told the Post. “ The United States is our most important partner in the world, and it’s only natural that we are engaging very closely with both major parties.”