The leader of the Republican Jewish Coalition said on Tuesday he interprets Donald Trump’s call for Israel to finish the war in Gaza as a “blank check” for Jerusalem.
Matt Brooks, RJC CEO, addressed reporters following his speech to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday evening in Milwaukee.
Asked about Trump’s calls for Israel to quickly wrap up its war against the Hamas terror group—interpreted by some as a pressure tactic to end the fighting without achieving Israel’s stated objectives—Brooks said that view was off base.
“Everybody misinterprets that statement. What he’s basically saying is, you have a blank check. You need to carpet bomb in the air? Do it. Just get it done, rip the band aid off, finish the job,” said Brooks. “Because Hamas needs to be destroyed. But this is just taking months and months.”
Brooks said Trump is correct in his assessment that “time is not Israel’s ally. The longer this continues, the more public support erodes, the more international support erodes. And Trump’s point was, do what you have to do, get it done and get out.”
Earlier during his speech, Brooks asked for the crowd to cheer if they support Israel, then contrasted that ovation with what he thought would be the result at the Democratic party convention, saying if someone asked for a cheer for Israel there, “they’d be booed off the stage.”
Reporters peppered Brooks with questions about the reliability of a Donald Trump/JD Vance administration.
Brooks said on Tuesday that after speaking with Vance late last week and looking at the content of his speeches, “he is going to be an absolute stalwart friend of Israel.”
Brooks said Vance would be “vice president to the most pro-Israel president in history. The president sets the foreign policy agenda, and I don’t think there’s any daylight between Donald Trump and JD Vance when it comes to Israel and making sure Israel is safe and secure.”
Asked by JNS whether that would remain true should the individual interests of Trump and Vance suddenly lie elsewhere, given what seems to be their transactional foreign affairs policies, Brooks countered that the party base would serve as a line of defense.
“As you heard in the room here today, this is a fundamentally pro-Israel party,” said Brooks, pointing to the intensity of the cheers for Israel and the enthusiasm for the bipartisan relationship at the grassroots level.
“When you have a strong base of support in the party, it means our elected leaders, by definition, follow the will of where the party is,” Brooks added.
Attempting to dispel notions of a rift between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Brooks said he had spoken separately with both men, and while declining to discuss the content of the conversations, added, “I can assure you that the two of them will have a very positive and productive working relationship.”
Trump provided Netanyahu with immense diplomatic firepower in moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing the holy city as Israel’s capital. Trump also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
But Trump was critical of Netanyahu for congratulating Biden on his 2020 election victory, and had some strong words for the premier and Israeli officials in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
Still, Brooks insisted on Tuesday that any daylight between the two still beats the alternative of a Democratic victory. He expressed dismay at the fact that American Jews still voted decidedly with Democrats, though in steadily dwindling numbers.
“There is literally not a day goes by where somebody doesn’t call me, whether they’re Jewish or not Jewish, or I have a conversation with somebody here at the convention, where somebody says, ‘I don’t understand the Jewish community. How can they continue to vote Democrat with all the stuff?’” said Brooks.
Citing the rise of left-wing antisemitism and the Democratic Party’s embrace of a hard-left anti-Israel wing, Brooks said the question people are asking of him is “the same question Donald Trump’s asking in a Trumpian way.”
“You sort of have to scratch your head,” at Democrats’ continued dominance of the American Jewish vote, he said.
In response to a question from JNS, Brooks said next Wednesday’s speech to a joint session of Congress by Netanyahu will hopefully reset the case for American support of Israel.
“This is not a war that Israel wanted. This is not a war that Israel started,” said Brooks. “Israel fighting against Hamas is the same fight that affects America and the West.”
Israel’s fight is America’s fight. America’s fight is Israel’s fight,” he added. “So, I hope that will be the takeaway” from Netanyahu’s speech.
