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Former Trump aides head back to US as Netanyahu kicks off Likud campaign

Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie spent a month in Israel working on the campaign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party ahead of Israel’s March 2 elections.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a rally in his support in Jerusalem ahead of Likud Party primaries, Dec. 22, 2019. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a rally in his support in Jerusalem ahead of Likud Party primaries, Dec. 22, 2019. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Former Trump campaign aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie have left Israel after a month of working on the election campaign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

Lewandowski was U.S. President Donald Trump’s first campaign manager in the 2016 election, and remains a close confidant. Bossie was also involved in the 2016 Trump campaign.

Netanyahu had sought to bring in fresh blood and new ideas to his campaign staff, according to the Haaretz report. The two aides held meetings with the Likud team and built a campaign that focused on the prime minister’s achievements, avoided negative messaging and included lots of field work.

During the official launch of his Likud Party’s campaign ahead of Israel’s March 2 elections, Netanyahu took a page from Trump’s playbook, announcing that if elected, all illegal immigrants would be expelled from the country. Trump’s campaign in 2016 made illegal immigration a top issue.

“We built this fence, how many people get through?” said Netanyahu, according to i24 News.

“Zero. Zero. We blocked the entry of a million infiltrators. A third of those who came in we’ve already taken them out of the country, and we’ll get the other two-thirds out of the country as well.”

The U.S. president issued the warning as he prepared to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the conflict with Iran.
“I think one of the bedrocks of our city is protest,” the New York City mayor said when asked what Palestinian New Yorkers should do when the Israeli prime minister visits New York in September.
Gloria Romero, who is running for lieutenant governor of California, told JNS that after Oct. 7, anti-Israel demonstrations at UCLA cemented her party switch.
“As a Jewish leader and longtime resident of the state of Washington, it’s appalling that the state would permit that sort of incitement to violence against American Jews masquerading as political speech in a state publication,” Robert Spitzer of B’nai B’rith told JNS.
“Anyone who calls the State of Israel an apartheid state has no right to set foot in the State of Israel,” one justice said.
It would be the seventh round of direct dialogue between the two countries, following meetings held in the Italian capital last week.