Trump, Pence Reach Out to Absentee Voters in Israel

Although featured prominently in the primary phase of the presidential election cycle, the state of Israel has barely been mentioned as an issue in the final round by candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Nevertheless, with some 300,000 American expatriates eligible to vote in the November election of whom large numbers cast their absentee ballots in battleground states, the voters residing in Israel are of great importance to their respective parties, particularly in the event of a neck-and-neck race as was demonstrate in the 2000 Bush victory over Al Gore. On Wednesday, the Republicans Overseas Israel organization is holding a campaign event at a Jerusalem restaurant that will feature videotaped appearances by Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence. The theme of the event will be “Jerusalem” – the status of which is a perennial issue invoked by Republican candidates who routinely promise to reverse US policy which denies Israeli sovereignty over the city and usually includes as well a so-far unfulfilled promise to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.