Jewish leaders appeal for unity as political partisan rhetoric ramps over Israel conflict

In the face of escalating tensions in the Israel-Hamas conflict, Palm Beach County Jewish faith leaders are calling for a focus on political unity.

"Everybody in general has to come together and all be on the same page to offer support, offer prayers, offer financial support, offer military gear, whatever we can in support to our brothers and sisters of Israel," said Rabbi Yoel Gancz, with Chabad of West Palm Beach. "We also believe at the same time that the support from the United States, both its citizens and government, should be unequivocal."

The calls come after the initial reaction from political factions fractured in the wake of the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7. In the past two weeks, President Joe Biden's administration has come under caustic criticism from conservative media and Republican political leaders. That's a departure from previous international crises in which U.S. political camps rallied behind the White House regardless of partisan allegiances in the immediate aftermath.

That's not been entirely the case of the current war in Gaza.

Republicans outspoken for Israel, relentlessly critical of Biden

Among the denunciations from GOP circles is the claim that Biden's deal with Iran for a hostage release in September thawed $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that terrorist organizations used to finance the violence this month. That assertion has been made by congressional Republicans, including Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and former President Donald Trump.

The Biden campaign pushed back on the allegation, saying Trump, in particular, was "pushing dangerous misinformation about the crisis in Israel at a time when we should be standing together to support the country." A Biden campaign statement pointed to reports from Fox News that the $6 billion is in a secure bank account in Qatar and that the U.S. Treasury must validate "the bills of lading for the money" to be withdrawn, according to social media posts by a Fox News reporter on X, formerly Twitter.

Trump also left Israeli advocates among Republicans and Democrats befuddled on Oct. 11 when he revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed out of cooperating with U.S. forces in the January 2020 killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a disappointment he called a "terrible thing."

Trump, who also said the leaders of the Hezbollah terrorist organization "very smart," drew rebukes from within his own party and foreign policy circles over the Netanyahu claim.

"I won't comment on the particular candidate's comments only to say this is a time, even in Israel, where there has been quite divisive politics over the last couple of years, people are pulling together to deal with this tragedy," said Michael Froman, president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

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Jewish faith leaders: Threat to Israel, fate of hostages 'more pressing issues'

Gancz, with Chabad of West Palm Beach, said that national unity at this moment is "vitally important," and that war time is not the time for criticism of the president.

"There is no benefit to anybody dealing with what could have happened, what should have happened," Gancz said. "What we could do is support efforts in Israel."

What further troubles Jewish leaders, they said, is how a toxic political environment could lead to hateful rhetoric against the Jewish community at a time when the focus is on coming together, said Rabbi Michael Resnick at Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach.

He added: "We're just more concerned for the people who were taken hostage and what their fate is going to be. We want peace in the world. We don't want this violence, and hatred is exhausting after awhile."

To Rabbi Moshe Denburg of Boca Raton's Chabad, discussing Trump's comments is a "total waste of time." Like Resnick, Denburg called on the public to focus on the threat posed to Israel and the fate of those taken hostage rather than partisan politics or using the crisis to score political points.

"There are much more pressing issues now," Denburg said.

But Trump got a boost Tuesday when firebrand Republican state Rep,. Randy Fine, who is Jewish, endorsed the former president's White House campaign over Gov. Ron DeSantis' own GOP nomination quest. Fine noted Trump's decision as president to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and backing for Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.

"The past two weeks have made me realize our choice as Jews is simple. We can vote for the Governor who says all the right things, or we can vote for the President who actually does them," Fine said in a statement issued by Trump's Make America Great Again organization. "When it comes to action, Donald Trump has never let us down."

To be sure, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and officials have offered their support to Israel and its beleaguered citizenry.

On the day the attacks began, U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Palm Beach County, said he was "horrified and infuriated" by Hamas' violence and stated that "Israel has the right to defend itself." U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Stuart Republican, called Hamas "despicable terrorists" and vowed the United States would continue to stand with Israel.

Biden calls for unity: American leadership 'holds the world together'

The American political discourse stood with Tel Aviv but not so behind the commander-in-chief as Biden took almost immediate incoming fire from political rivals.

Biden sought to unify Americans during an Oval Office speech last week.

"American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with," Biden said. "To put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it’s just not worth it."

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County said that since the attacks on Israel, an emergency fund had raised $5 million as of Monday afternoon, said Michael Hoffman, the federation's president. The federation works with 40 organizations in Israel, including the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Israel Trauma Coalition.

The dollars support services such as trauma care; assistance to families who have been displaced and need financial support; food and aid for frontline workers and special needs families; laptops for kids who are now in virtual learning; and funds to rebuild and renovate bomb shelters.

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Hoffman echoed Biden's White House message.

"These are times when it's important for the community to come together and to unify around one cause," Hoffman said. "That's just what's most critical is that everybody's put aside their politics, they put aside their their beliefs, and everyone's coming together because we all are standing up to express our condemnation of the brutality that Hamas has exhibited on innocent people."

To be sure, some of the criticism from Republicans are on important policy decisions. One of those is providing aid to non-combatant Palestinians amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Scott, who serves on the Committee on Armed Services, said that he doesn't believe any money should go toward Gaza in the first place because, he said, Hamas would control it.

"I completely oppose giving money to Hamas. I completely oppose giving money to the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)," Scott said. "Hamas runs Gaza. Any aid that's going to go into Gaza will go to Hamas.

While he was critical of Trump's statements about Netanyahu, Denburg of Boca Raton's Chabad said that he doesn't believe it's possible to separate Hamas from Palestinian people in Gaza.

"When it comes to a foreign government that controls the life of a country that borders one country, and infiltrates it, and kills — and just doesn't go after military but kills and mutilates and burns children, parents and grandparents, relentlessly and without mercy," Denburg said, "if you're human and you're civil, everyone should be united in that."

In part, the rhetoric is also an appeal to potential voters on the eve of of the 2024 election year.

According to a 2020 study from Brandeis University's Steinhardt Social Research Institute, Florida ranks third in the number of Jewish voters, with more than 665,000, behind New York with 1.2 million and California with 930,000.

Brandeis also found that 65% are or lean Democrat and only 29% are or lean Republican. A more recent study from the Jewish Electorate Institute said that in a Biden-Trump rematch, about 72% preferred Biden.

Brandeis' study found that 59% of Florida's Jewish electorate identifies with or leans Democratic, and that the majority live in South Florida's Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jewish leaders appeal for unity after Trump, political rhetoric amp up