Presidential Debate Fails To Address Key Concerns for Jewish Voters
Jewish Americans are frustrated by the omission of critical issues like antisemitism and hostages during the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump
They gathered in living rooms and bars, in synagogue social halls, and—where the weather permitted—backyards. Whether watching alone or with others, American Jews who are increasingly skittish about rising antisemitism and the relentless war between Hamas and Israel tuned into last night’s presidential debate, eager for some insight as to who would best serve their interests.
The nearly two-hour event highlighted the stark differences between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump, most notably in temperament. The morning after the debate, the question is whether American Jewish voters feel more clarity about their choice of nominee.
If this election is a referendum on policy, Trump will win. If the election is whether or not Haitian migrants are eating America’s pets, Trump will lose.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard graduate, is a political and Jewish activist. He has recently gone public about changing his vote after being a registered Democrat since the age of 18. “If this election is a referendum on policy, Trump will win. If the election is whether or not Haitian migrants are eating America’s pets, Trump will lose. Many Jewish Americans are concerned about rising antisemitism, the release of the American hostages, and the bilateral US-Israel relationship. None of these topics were treated in any serious way,” he told The Media Line shortly after the debate.
Kestenbaum was not the only one disappointed by the debate’s failure to address critical issues.
I was angry that the moderators waited nearly an hour to talk about the American Israeli hostages being held by Hamas
E.J. Kimball is a national security foreign affairs expert and consultant at EJK Strategies in Washington, DC.
“I was angry that the moderators waited nearly an hour to talk about the American Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, never mentioning Hersh Goldberg-Polin and the five other Israelis that were executed less than two weeks ago by Hamas and never asking a follow-up question to either candidate about getting our citizens back,” he told The Media Line immediately after the debate, which he watched in his backyard.
Prior to the debate, Kimball had been especially hopeful that the plight of the American Israeli hostages would be raised. “This is not a Jewish Issue; it is an American issue. Every American citizen should be outraged that a foreign entity is holding our citizens,” he said.
Kimball felt that it was essential to hear the candidates discuss their plan to deal with “an Iranian regime exerting its influence throughout the region.” It was critical to hear “their vision for the future. Trump showed his vision with the Abraham Accords, and I’d like to hear what is vision is for the next four years. And for VP Harris, what would she do differently than the current administration? What is her vision for a future Palestinian society?” he asked.
For Kimball, as for many others, the omission of this conversation during the debate was especially frustrating.
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For anyone on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, there were a variety of options in terms of watching the debate from Bodega 88 on Columbus Avenue where the Young Jewish Conservatives arranged to meet, to private apartments. David Brotsky—a lawyer who has been organizing social, cultural, and political events for the past 15 years—hosted a watch party in his living room at West 95th Street.
Brotsky goes to great lengths to make the atmosphere welcoming to friends on both sides of the political spectrum. “We have to find ways to bridge the gap,” he told the Media Line.
Regarding the actual debate, “nothing surprised me,” he said. “The former president has a tendency to go off on tangents [and while Harris] wasn’t always responsive to each question, she hit the marks that she wanted. He missed chances for himself,” he said, noting that his closing statement contained his strongest talking points, which he failed to deliver in the course of the debate itself.
Brotsky’s Jewish friends vary in their regard of Harris with some who “feel she’s in the right spot” while others “feel she hasn’t condemned Hamas more.” Pointing out the overwhelmingly Democratic demographic of the Upper West Side, Brotsky said that conservative friends often don’t express themselves openly, as they are in the minority. Rather than watch the debate alone, he invites people in so that “honest discussions” can be had, even with those whose support for Trump is what he terms “visceral and tribal.”
Michael Nixon attended Brotsky’s watch party. He lives on the Upper West Side and works as a credit analyst and business development officer at the Bronx Economic Development Corp. A supporter of Kamala Harris, he was shocked by Trump’s proclamation that the vice president “hates Israel.”
“I’m not Jewish but found it very offensive,” he told The Media Line. “I think it is completely baseless. I do think the tactic could sway folks who are strong supporters of Israel and who are on the fence. I think that’s possible. It’s beyond ridiculous but potentially hurtful in a very, very close election.”
Keith Sanders, a transportation engineer who also attended Brotsky’s watch party, had a different reaction, choosing to regard the debate as entertainment. “Living in New York City, my vote doesn’t really matter. If I lived in a swing state I’d feel differently,” he told The Media Line.
Disappointment at the failure of the candidates to address issues core to American Jews was a common reaction.
“I kept waiting and waiting for the portion that had to do with Israel and the Jewish people,” Howard Lovy told The Media Line. The topic finally came through with a question from the moderator, but it was a “loaded question,” he said. The number of Palestinian casualties was cited as 40,000 but Lovy questions that, asserting that many of that number are terrorists. “The media has been reporting this number as if it is fact.”
[Harris] stated Israel’s right to defend itself. She answered in a presidential way. What I heard from Trump was some unhinged rattling.
Lovy is a writer and Jewish advocate who is active on social media. Though he has concerns about her commitment to Israel, Lovy felt that Harris answered “like a level-headed statesman. She stated Israel’s right to defend itself. She answered in a presidential way. What I heard from Trump was some unhinged rattling.”
Lovy was especially put off by Trump’s “outrageous claim that Israel won’t even exist two years from now. The only thing he got right—in the spirit of a broken clock being right twice a day—was about Iran and its sponsorship of these proxy groups, but then made it about himself.”
The most egregious omission, from Lovy’s point of view, was rising American antisemitism. “What wasn’t mentioned—and I wished it was—was the rise in violent antisemitism and threat to Jews on college campuses. That is as important to me as Gaza,” he said.
The fact that this contentious debate took place on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the attacks of September 11 was not lost on the Republican Jewish Coalition, whose leaders wasted no time drawing a parallel between that infamous day and the current global situation. In a statement they released before the debate, they said it is “absolutely terrifying to see terrorist sympathizers proudly and loudly harassing, intimidating, and attacking Jewish Americans on our streets and college campuses,” in the body of an email they sent to supporters.
“Even more horrifying is that they are being appeased and enabled by leading Democrats like Kamala Harris. … Tonight, millions of Americans will watch Vice President Kamala Harris attempt to run away from her radically liberal positions and failures.”
But many American Jews were ebullient after the debate and would scoff at the description of Harris as “radically liberal.”
Ann Lewis is the former White House communications chief for President Bill Clinton and an active member of Jewish Women for Kamala. “I thought [Harris] would do well, but she was even better than I had anticipated,” she told The Media Line.
Lewis was pleased that the vice president raised all the issues important for her group. “These include Israel, antisemitism, and reproductive rights,” she said. “American Jews are sensitive to what is happening in Israel. She didn’t just rattle off the party line. She addressed the murder and rape of Israelis on October 7 and affirmed Israel’s right to defend herself.”
Importantly, said Lewis, she blamed Hamas for instigating the attack against Israel on October 7.
Lewis was especially put off by Trump’s extreme language, believing that his behavior, demeanor, and rhetoric would appeal only to “the ugliest fringes” of American society. She detailed the support that Harris has among Jewish women on the West Coast, where she built her career. “She has close Jewish friends; she is very well-known there. Many Jewish women on the East Coast are just getting to know Kamala Harris,” she said.
