Part 1 - Trump Era 2024: The Dissident Right, the New Right, the Zionist Right, and the Anti-Zionist Right
Part 1 - The Zionist Right
In early 2024, it seemed that the current split on the Right was no longer between the “Dissident Right” and the “mainstream Right” but rather between the pro-Zionist Right and the anti-Zionist Right.
This was a new paradigm. Although prior to 2016, there had always been a dissident part of the Right, exemplified by figures such as Patrick Buchanan, Jared Taylor, Peter Brimelow and others, they were strictly on the fringes and rarely seemed like a viable alternative to the mainstream. From the explosion of the Alt Right in 2016 and presidency of Donald Trump, to the split between the Wignats and Amnats in 2019, to the nationwide division over issues such as the Covid vaccine, the Dissident Right was a dynamic and influential force that was clearly distinguishable from the mainstream. This had been the basic geography of the Right Wing for the last decade or so. However, by early 2024, the “dissident” and “mainstream” had become virtually indistinguishable. One of the sole points of contention surrounded Israel. This issue was brought to the fore on October 7, 2023 and remained the major fault line and remained the major fault line for the first half of 2024.
But how did this shift occur?
The Dissident Right Dies
In late 2023 and early 2024, many commentators suggested that the term “Dissident Right” should be retired. This was because so many mainstream conservative commentators had adopted talking points of the Dissident Right that there was hardly any daylight between the two.
This happened for a number of reasons. Part of it came from events such as the “Groyper War” putting pressure on the mainstream Right, forcing them to move closer to their more dissident base. Another was the events of 2020, which radicalized many on the mainstream Right due to the Covid restrictions, BLM protests, the contested 2020 election, and increasing skepticism by conservatives towards mainstream media due to Covid censorship. Thus, the Right Wing became increasingly radicalized. Then, after the rise of Rumble, Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and the subsequent loosening of censorship after 2022, the penalties for expressing dissident views, such as being banned or demonetized, greatly diminished. This allowed these more radicalized views to be disseminated much more easily, as they were during the lead up to the Alt Right in 2013-2015.
Let’s use the list of bullet points from the earlier section “Etymology of the Alt Right” (https://rogerruinwriting.substack.com/i/137682112/etymology-of-the-alt-right) to illustrate this point.
Support for Trump
In 2016, wearing a MAGA hat and openly supporting Trump was edgy and provocative, even for conservatives. Most of the Republican establishment, such as Lindsey Graham, Trump’s future running mate JD Vance, and conservative commentators such as Ben Shapiro, were against Trump.
“I don’t think he’s a reliable Republican conservative,” Graham said, just hours before former 2016 rival Jeb Bush also declared he would not vote for Trump. “I don’t believe that Donald Trump has the temperament and judgment to be commander in chief. I think Donald Trump is going to places where very few people have gone and I’m not going with him.”
— CNN, May 6, 2016 “Lindsey Graham won’t vote for Trump or Clinton in 2016”, (https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/06/politics/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-not-vote/index.html)
In 2024, there was almost no one who was still anti-Trump in the Republican Party. The two became virtually synonymous. Some of the biggest Trump supporters in 2024 were “#NeverTrump” in 2016.
Political incorrectness
In 2016, the Republicans liked to present themselves as the “adults in the room” and act like the “bigger man.” They were the epitome of strict constitutionalism, and being crass and rude was left-coded. By 2024, nearly every Republican claimed to be “politically incorrect” and “canceled.” Mainstream news outlets such as Daily Wire produced shows such as“Mr. Birchum” which were marketed as being “too politically incorrect” for the mainstream.
Opposition to foreign wars such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan
In 2016, Republicans were still strongly associated with the “War on Terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2024, opposition to foreign wars, particularly to the war in Ukraine, had become popular among some Republicans.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance's opposition to more U.S. aid for Ukraine is stoking anxiety among Kyiv's supporters about sustained U.S. support and Ukraine's ability to fend off Vladimir Putin's invasion.
"I do not think that it is in America's interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine," Vance said during a speech in May, adding "we've done more than our fair share."
Although Vance's isolationist approach to foreign policy has even vexed members of his own party, he has candidly voiced his skepticism since the earliest days of the conflict.
"I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another," Vance said in February 2022, amid an explosion of bipartisan support for country in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion.
— ABC News, July 17, 2024, “Trump's VP pick Vance opposes US aid for Ukraine, intensifying fear for Kyiv's future” (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-vp-pick-vance-opposes-us-aid-ukraine/story?id=112036938)
[Some] Republicans have taken a markedly more hard-line approach to Ukraine funding, with some arguing that, on principle, that the assistance is misguided or wrong.
This position has been taken by a small but vocal minority of lawmakers from the hard right of the party, such as Representatives Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said Ukraine aid "puts America last" and means that "we're ignoring our own people's problems".
These members of a growing isolationist wing of the Republican party appear motivated by Donald Trump. The former president has repeatedly questioned aid to Ukraine and refused to commit to supporting Kyiv.
Instead, he has said that he would end the war "in 24 hours". He also called on Congress in July to withhold aid to Ukraine until the Justice Department and FBI "had over every scrap of evidence" about any alleged Biden family misdeeds.
— BBC News, Dec 7, 2023, “Why are some Republicans opposing more aid for Ukraine?” (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67649497)
However, they remained strong supporters of Israel, and thus hawkish on wars in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors.
Economic populism rather than emphasizing the “free market”
In 2016, Republicans were known for being the party of “Big Business,” favoring less regulation, lower taxes, and free trade. However, since 2016, many Republicans have had a more populist message, trying to appeal to the white working class in the Rust Belt, who the Republicans won in 2016 and 2024 under Trump. A “union boss,” Sean O’Brien, was one of the featured speakers at the 2024 Republican Convention. More restrictionist trade policies, such as tariffs, especially against our rival China, had become popular in both parties, but especially in the Republican party.
Historical revisionism
Historical revisionism, once a staple of 4chan culture, had become popular with mainstream right wingers such as Jack Posobiec and Tucker Carlson challenging neoliberal narratives about figures such as Francisco Franco and Winston Churchill.
Tucker Carlson may have reached a disturbingly new low when he hosted a two-hour podcast with Darryl Cooper, a Nazi apologist whom he called “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.”
Cooper’s audacious claims that Winston Churchill, not Adolf Hitler, was the “chief villain of the Second World War” and that the Holocaust was essentially an accident prompted widespread indignation on the establishment right.
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Carlson’s decision to wade into such murky waters shouldn’t be a total shock. Over the past few years, Carlson, like others on the right, have embraced a populist-nationalist streak that has courted some of the darkest forces in American politics. This interview comes only a few months after top MAGA influencer Candace Owens declared that Israel was supplying arms for a “Christian Holocaust”
— Politico, Sep 14, 2024, “The Right Is Defending the Nazis — Again” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/14/tucker-carlson-conservatives-nazis-00179091)
Previously, this did exist to some extent. Patrick Buchanan wrote similar things about Churchill in his book Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War" back in 2008. But Buchanan was not representative of conservative politics as a whole, which was dominated by neocons.
Conspiracy theories in general, once a mainstay of Internet culture, had become a mainstay of the mainstream Right. Their popularity exploded after 2020 and the various conspiracy theories surrounding Covid. Some of these Covid-related conspiracies—such as the “lab leak theory”—were vindicated, while others—such as the predicted mass adoption of Covid passports and an overt, totalitarian Covid police state—were not. Some of these theories continued in the tradition of the “pics or it didn’t happen” 4chan school of conspiracy theories—complete with elaborate infographics—but much more popular were the Q-Anon “Boomer conspiracy theories” that were less scrupulous. (The “lab leak theory” began to appear on 4chan almost instantly after Covid began to spread, before moving to Twitter).
Criticism of the central tenants of liberalism (ie race realism over “colorblindness”)
One of the most controversial aspects of the Alt Right concerned its politically incorrect attitudes regarding race—ie “race realism” and “white identity.” In 2016, belief in a “colorblind society” was unchallenged Republican orthodoxy. Promulgating the belief that the different races had genetic differences came with significant consequences, or sometimes even the idea that there was such a thing as “white people,” was seen as “racist” and totally taboo.
This is perhaps the area in which the Dissident Right was the most successful in changing public opinion. By early 2024, it became a more acceptable position to say that white people were being discriminated against and demographically replaced. Mainstream figures such as Charlie Kirk, Dinesh D’Souza, Matt Walsh, and Tucker Carlson all touched on this issue to varying degrees.
Whiteness is great. Be proud of who you are.
— Charlie Kirk, Aug 23 2023
(https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1694386955143020768)
Virtually every IQ study over the past half century shows that blacks, who are the rock-solid base of the Democratic Party, have the lowest IQ of any ethnic group, one standard deviation below whites and Asian Americans.
— Dinesh D’Souza, May 29 2023 (https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1663216798764875779)
The most powerful forces in our culture have been demonizing white people openly and explicitly for years now. The Nashville shooter was not the first person radicalized by this agenda and she won't be the last. That's why the covered it up.
— Matt Walsh, Nov 6 2023 (https://x.com/mattwalshblog/status/1721609705775084010)
Why would you want to watch the people whose ancestors built the country die, mock them as they die, and then replace them? You have to think that this is genocidal intent. Why are we putting up with it?
— Tucker Carlson, July 16 2024
Even Elon Musk spoke out against anti-white discrimination and the genocide of white people in South Africa.
Saying only white people can be racist is obviously a racist definition of racist 😂
— Elon Musk, Nov 21 2023 (https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1727218111588524351)
They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa. @CyrilRamaphosa, why do you say nothing?”
—Elon Musk, July 31 2023 (https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1686037774510497792)
By early 2024, it seemed that the one sacred cow still remaining on the Right as “dissident” was criticizing Israel. However, even this was beginning to change, as some, such as Candace Owens, questioned this narrative (a subject we will return to later).
October 7 Attacks Shift Israeli Politics to the Right
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian groups invaded Israel from the Gaza strip during “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” killing 1139 people and taking 250 as hostages. As a result, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a counter-attack that same day.
The attacks created an abrupt shift to the Right in Israeli politics.
According to polls conducted in the two months since Oct. 7, Israelis have moved decidedly to the right on a number of political issues, including support for settlers in the West Bank, endorsements for far-right politicians, and even the re-establishment of a military occupation of Gaza.
“The trauma of what happened on Oct. 7 shifted Israeli society. It made them question the most basic tenets of whether they were safe in their homes,” said Tal Schneider, a political columnist for The Times of Israel. “They are calling now for more — more military, more protection, more hard-line policies.”
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Polls conducted in Israel since Oct. 7 show the extent of the political shift. A survey by Israel’s Channel 12, one of the country’s most popular broadcasters, found that roughly one third of Israelis described themselves as “moving to the right” in the month after the Oct. 7 attacks, while far fewer reported that their politics had shifted more to the left.
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In another poll, Israel’s Tel Aviv University found in November the share of Israelis in favor of a two-state solution was down from just a month earlier, falling below one third of respondents.
— The New York Times, Dec 19 2023 “Israelis Abandon Political Left Over Security Concerns After Oct. 7” (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/world/middleeast/israel-oct-7-left-wing-peace.html)
Because of Israel’s deep ties to the United States, this created a ripple effect in American politics.
Republican Zionist donors such as Mariam Adelson saw Israel’s situation as dire after October 7. They became determined to put the GOP back in power. The GOP had always been hawkish in the Middle East. After all, it was George W Bush who was responsible for the War on Terror. Trump was seen as a reliable supporter of Israel who had moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and negotiated the Abraham Accords which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and many of its Muslim neighbors.
In contrast, the Left was split between a Zionist faction and a faction sympathetic to the Palestinians.
The Dissident Right had supported Trump, the politically incorrect figure that had galvanized their movement, since 2016. While he was not without his faults, he was still their only representative with any amount of political power. Meanwhile, Trump had slowly won the support of most of the mainstream right as well, and was increasingly gaining powerful allies in the establishment. So the dissident and mainstream Right eventually became united in Trump 2024. Much of the Dissident Right, while they had once been critical of Zionist and the influence of Jewish political groups such as the ADL and AIPAC, were willing to overlook this in order to secure a victory for Trump.
However, a small group of Right Wingers—some of them old Alt Righters such as Richard Spencer, others previous Trump defenders such as the Groypers—were unwilling to make this compromise. They insisted on making no exceptions when it came to an “America first” foreign policy, and considered American involvement in the Middle East as being beneficial for the Israelis to the detriment of the United States. They saw Trump’s newfound support in the establishment Right as suspicious. According to them, Trump’s message in 2016 had been that both the Republicans and Democrats had been compromised by “donors and special interests” and that he, as a millionaire who self-financed his campaign, was the only one who could fix this corrupt system. His newfound reliance on donors such as the Adelsons, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk, meant that he had simply become assimilated into the GOP, beholden to his own set of donors and special interests just like every other politician who had come before—a betrayal of the original message of Trumpism.
Thus, while during the “Culture War Era” of 2014-2023, the split had been between the “dissident” and “mainstream” Right, the split in early 2024 seemed to be transforming into one between the pro- and anti- Zionist Right.
Gaza Campus Protests Split the American Left
Many on the Left were sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, with Congresswoman Cori Bush calling for “ending U.S government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations began to break out almost immediately in large liberal cities such as New York City.
A pro-Palestinian rally Sunday in Times Square endorsed by the city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America ensnared prominent party members amid widespread condemnation of the event.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and other leading Democrats blasted the rally as “abhorrent and morally repugnant” and drew a dividing line with far-left members of the party — including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, who denounced the attacks and called for a ceasefire but didn’t take a stand on the rally.
— Politico, Oct 8 2023, “NYC pro-Palestine rally splits Democrats over Israel” (https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/08/nyc-palestine-rally-democrats-israel-00120533)
As Israel began to invade Gaza, causing widespread civilian casualties (which some UN agencies and other NGOs consider to have risen to level of genocide) these demonstrations made their way to college campuses. The protests began at Columbia University on April 17, where protesters set up an encampment.
Pro-Palestinian students established an encampment of approximately 50 tents on the university campus, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and demanded the university divest from Israel.
The first encampment was dismantled when university president Minouche Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter the campus on April 18 and conduct mass arrests. A new encampment was built the next day. The administration then entered into negotiations with protesters, which failed on April 29 and resulted in the suspension of student protesters. The next day, protesters broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall, leading to a second NYPD raid, the arrest of more than 100 protesters, and the full dismantling of the camp. The arrests marked the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. On May 31, a third campus encampment was briefly established in response to an alumni reunion.
As a result of the protests, Columbia University switched to hybrid learning (incorporating more online learning) for the rest of the semester.
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On May 6, the school administration canceled the university-wide graduation ceremony scheduled for May 15. Shafik announced her resignation from the presidency on August 14.
— Wikipedia, “2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian Campus Occupations” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Columbia_University_pro-Palestinian_campus_occupations)
The protests soon spread to other campuses across the country, including New York University, Yale University, Emerson College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Art Institute of Chicago, University of California San Diego, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, University of California Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis and many others, totaling almost 140 US campuses across 45 states.
On 40 of these campuses, the protesters occupied the campus, just as they had done at Columbia. Protests were attended by faculty, as well as students. At UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UCLA they included strikes by academic workers.
Protesters were eventually detained by police on several campuses, including Emerson College, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, Washington University, Northeastern University, Arizona State, Indiana University Bloomington, Emory University, Washington University St. Louis, and UCLA. In some cases, protesters were attacked by pro-Israel counter protesters.
Due to these protests, a number of university presidents were forced to resign after “not doing enough” to “crack down” on these protests, which were accused by some of being “anti-Semitic.” The most notable of these was Harvard President Claudine Gay.
On December 5 2023, Minouche Shafik, Harvard President Claudine Gay, and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, appeared before a United States House Committee, where they were grilled about the school’s policies related to “anti-Semitism.” The media, especially conservative media, lambasted their responses.
Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led the hearing on December 5, and noted that the rise of antisemitism on college campuses is disturbing and threatening to Jewish students, faculty, and staff. The presidents were each asked whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" violated their rules of bullying and harassment. During the hearing when Kornbluth, who is Jewish, said she had not heard any calls for genocide, Rep. Elise Stefanik claimed that chants of "Intifada" (Arabic) may be considered a "call for the genocide" of Jewish people. Each president replied that the answer at their institution depended on context.
In a specific exchange, Stefanik asked Harvard president Gay: "At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?", Gay answered, "It can be, depending on the context."
— Wikipedia, “2023 United States Congress Hearing on Antisemitism” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_United_States_Congress_hearing_on_antisemitism)
The university leader’s responses seemed to attempt to balance their concerns over the student’s right to free speech with Jewish student’s concerns that they no longer felt welcomed on campus. However, they were unable to present themselves in a sympathetic light—especially to a conservative media that was already hostile to academia, viewing it as a captured institution of Leftist indoctrination.
Dr Gay landed in hot water in December for her participation in a congressional hearing panel about antisemitism on college campuses. The tepid, bureaucratic answers by the panellists, including Dr Gay, on how to deal with calls for Jewish genocide prompted the resignation of University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill.
— BBC, Jan 2 2024, “Departure of Harvard's Claudine Gay plays into campus culture wars” (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67869624)
It was not only conservative media that criticized this hearing. It was also parodied by the Left-leaning Saturday Night Life, and criticized by some establishment Leftist media. Joe Biden himself criticized the protests. However, the Left was divided on the issue, while the Right was almost unanimously against the protesters and the university faculty.
Claudine Gay, due to her infamous statement about “context,” bore the brunt of the criticism. As a black female liberal, she was accused of being a “DEI hire” by conservative media. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a set of affirmative action policies intended to increase the amount of “historically marginalized groups”—such as black people and women—in various societal institutions. Conveniently, a plagiarism scandal was brought to light shortly after the hearing, placing more pressure on Gay to resign.
Soon after the December congressional hearing, Gay was accused of plagiarism by conservative activist Christopher Rufo and journalist Aaron Sibarium, and by an anonymous complaint. As summarized by The New York Times, the allegations concerned "using material from other sources without proper attribution... [ranging] from brief snippets of technical definitions to paragraphs summing up other scholars' research that are only lightly paraphrased, and in some cases lack any direct citation of the other scholars." The allegations totaled almost 50 instances spanning eight of Gay's academic works, including her dissertation and five of her 11 published articles.
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In response, Gay said she stood behind the integrity of her work and requested an outside review of it. The Harvard Corporation reported that the review found "a few instances of inadequate citation" and "duplicative language without appropriate attribution" in her work, but "no violation of Harvard's standards for research misconduct." Analyses by The Harvard Crimson and CNN contested Harvard's statement, finding that Gay had likely violated the university's policies on plagiarism and academic integrity. Gay requested seven corrections to add citations and quotation marks to her dissertation and two of her articles. Academic Joseph Reagle opined that media reports that Gay "plagiarized", implied that she had stolen the central ideas in her work, saying "I don't think this is the case" but that the work "contain plagiarized prose. This is a lesser but still significant infraction." Others later described the events as "an attempt not at promoting truth but at grinding a political ax."
In response to the allegations, the congressional committee that held the hearing on antisemitism said it would examine Gay's work, and asked the university to produce related communications and documentation. The following month, Gay resigned from the university's presidency.
— Wikipedia, “Claudine Gay” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Gay#Plagiarism_investigations)
University of Pennsylvania President Magill resigned four days after the hearing.
Congressman Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, posted on X, formerly Twitter, "two down, one to go" in a reference to the three college presidents who testified on Capitol Hill.
— BBC, Jan 2 2024, “Claudine Gay resigns as Harvard University president” (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67868280)
The incident created a new political dichotomy: the Left was divided on the war in Gaza between establishment Democrats such as Joe Biden who were firmly pro-Israel, and progressives such as Cori Bush, Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Palestinian Congresswoman Rashida Talib, and the progressive base, who were sympathetic to the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the Right was almost uniformly pro-Israel. And those that were neutral about the issue were not sympathetic to the other side. They saw far-left protesters with blue hair and sometimes LGBT regalia setting up encampments reminiscent of Occupy Wallstreet or BLM. They saw a progressive leftist university leader, Claudine Gay, who the media told them was a DEI hire and spoke in a smarmy bureaucratic vernacular. Thus, they naturally took the opposite position of whatever it was these Leftists believed in—if they were anti-Israel, then obviously the conservative position must be to be pro-Israel.
Thus, the war in Gaza spilled over into the domestic politics of the United States, with a de facto pro-Israel party—the Republicans, and a de facto pro-Palestine party—the Democrats.
Trump’s Connections to the Israeli Right
The Right Wing in the US has traditionally been avowedly Zionist, not only due to Zionist Evangelical Christianity, but also due to personal ties between Netanyahu’s Likud party in Israel and conservative influencers and politicians in the United States.
“There’s not much daylight between Netanyahu and Republicans, at least Republican elected leaders,” said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Brooks’ counterpart, Jeremy Ben-Ami of the Democratically aligned group J Street, agreed but in harsher terms.
“Netanyahu is essentially an Israeli Republican,” said Ben-Ami, who believes the political relationship is bad for U.S.-Israel policy, while Brooks believes the opposite.
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The close relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has intensified ever since Trump became the first U.S. president to honor a pledge made by nearly every other presidential nominee to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Netanyahu, in turn, personally dedicated the groundbreaking for a new community called “Trump Heights” in the disputed territory of the Golan Heights.
But Netanyahu’s close working relationship with Republicans precedes Trump. Netanyahu’s top adviser, Miami Beach-born Ron Dermer — who has been referred to as “Bibi’s Brain” — was known as a U.S. Republican operative before his full-time involvement in Israeli politics.
— Politico, Aug 15 2019, “‘Netanyahu is essentially an Israeli Republican’" (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/15/israel-trump-netanyahu-1465917)
Among Trump’s largest donors is Mariam Adelson, and prior to her Sheldon Adelson, her late husband.
There are Republican megadonors, and then there was Sheldon Adelson.
The casino magnate, who died Monday at 87, and his wife Miriam together accounted for an enormous share of GOP political spending over the last decade, making him a Republican kingmaker.
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The Adelsons made $218 million in federal donations in 2019 and 2020 — over three times more than the next-biggest GOP donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. They accounted for more than one-quarter of all Republican outside spending on President Donald Trump’s behalf in this election: $90 million out of $353 million in total, per CRP.
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“Sheldon Adelson was the GOP megadonor of GOP megadonors,” said Ken Spain, a former spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “He was a deciding factor for dozens, if not hundreds, of races over the last decade.
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In 2016, the Adelsons doled out tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC. The couple was rewarded for their support with seats at the dais for Trump’s inauguration, and Trump later awarded Miriam, a physician, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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Unlike many major donors motivated by a diverse array of interests, Adelson was largely driven by a single concern: Israel. The 87-year-old mogul helped to fund organizations like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America. He was an outspoken supporter of Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and a major backer of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party.
— Politico, Jan 1 2021, “Sheldon Adelson’s super PAC spending spree shaped GOP politics” (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/adelson-super-pac-gop-458380)
According to OpenSecrets.org, Mariam Adelson was the third largest donor in the 2024 election, donating $136 million to Trump (https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors/).
Mariam and Sheldon Adelson have significant ties to Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2007, Adelson founded Israel Hayom, a free daily newspaper in Israel that quickly became the country's most widely circulated paper.
Within a couple of years, Israel Hayom surpassed the left-wing Yediot Ahronoth as Israel’s leader in daily and weekend circulation. The fact that Israel Hayom was the first paper to give Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud and the Israeli right significant space, and a fair hearing, is a major reason why Netanyahu and the Likud have maintained their political power since 2009, despite local and global efforts at delegitimizing them.
—Mishpacha.com, Jan 13 2021, “Sheldon Adelson: How He Changed Israeli Politics Forever" (https://mishpacha.com/sheldon-adelson-how-he-changed-israeli-politics-forever/)
This newspaper was known for its strong support of Netanyahu and the Likud party. While direct foreign donations to Israeli political parties are illegal, Adelson's creation of Israel Hayom was seen as exploiting a loophole in these rules, effectively providing Netanyahu and Likud with significant media support.
Israel's campaign-funding laws are at the far pole from America's. "Israel adopted all the possible restrictions," says Hebrew University economist Momi Dahan, co-author of an Israel Democracy Institute study on election financing and corruption. Only individuals may contribute, and the maximum a person can give a particular candidate or party is about $600 in an election year. Anonymous donations are illegal. Corporations aren't people, and are barred from giving. So, for that matter, are unions and other organizations. And only Israeli citizens may make campaign donations. That rule makes sense. A small country is particularly vulnerable to attempts by wealthy foreigners to influence its elections. To make up for the restrictions, the state funds campaigns generously.
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When Adelson established Israel Hayom in 2007, he made an end-run around those rules. It's a full-sized paper, aimed at matching other national dailies. But it's free. In Israel, the small advertising market can't produce enough revenue to allow a profit-seeking publisher to forfeit income from readers.
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Since the newspaper is privately owned, it need not make its balance sheet public. In a 2011 deposition in a suit against Adelson in Israeli court, a former business partner stated, "It is no secret that the free paper Israel Hayom loses $3 million a month, and cannot be profitable."
— The American Prospect, Dec 17 2014, “The Uniquely Awful Role of Sheldon Adelson in the Israeli Election” (https://prospect.org/power/uniquely-awful-role-sheldon-adelson-israeli-election/)
The Trump family, particularly his son-in-law Jared Kushner also support Chabad-Lubavitch, the followers of an important Jewish rabbi who some to believe to be the Messiah, Rabbi Schneerson. Jared Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law, and served as Senior Advisor to the President during Trump’s Presidency. He is best known for the “Abraham Accords” which normalized Israel’s relations with its Muslim neighbors.
“Today, President Trump will commemorate the first anniversary of October 7 with a visit to Ohel Chabad Lubavitch, the final resting place of Rabbi Schneerson in New York
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The first person to greet him was Ben Shapiro, the renowned conservative political pundit and NYT bestselling author. An Orthodox Jew, Shapiro has close ties to Chabad and the Republican Party.
Trump met with Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch-Chabad in Washington, DC; his son Rabbi Menachem Shemtov, Director of Chabad at Georgetown University; Rabbi David Katz, Executive Director of the Israel Heritage Foundation.
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Noticeably missing was David Friedman, a former attorney for the Trump Organization who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration. Friedman is a known admirer of the Rebbe and is close to Chabad of the Five Towns on Long Island, nearby.
— Collive, Oct 7 2024, “Former President Trump Visits the Rebbe’s Ohel in New York” (https://collive.com/live-updates-trump-visits-the-rebbes-ohel-in-new-york/)
It might seem odd for a Modern Orthodox Jewish family to join a Chabad synagogue. But Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are already quite invested in the ultra-Orthodox outreach movement – or to be more precise, their parents are.
A Haaretz examination has revealed that Charles and Seryl Kushner have been major benefactors of Chabad over the years. Between 2003 and 2013, their family foundation donated a total of $342,500 to various institutions and projects associated with the movement, their tax records show.
Chabad has benefited not only from Kushner’s side of the family. It turns out that President-elect Donald Trump has also contributed to the movement – even before his daughter, who converted to Judaism, was married. Altogether, the Donald J. Trump Foundation has donated $11,550 to three Chabad institutions.
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The Trump charitable foundation has made numerous donations to Jewish causes over the years. In 2003, for instance, it handed over a check for $10,000 to Friends of Beit El Institutions, the American fundraising arm of one of the oldest and more radical West Bank settlements. David Friedman, the bankruptcy lawyer who is Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, serves as the organization’s president; Trump made the donation in Friedman’s honor. Beit El has its own Chabad envoy who heads a small congregation in the settlement.
In 1996, when Benjamin Netanyahu was running for his first term as prime minister, the Chabad movement rallied behind him with an aggressive and well-funded campaign. “Netanyahu. It’s good for the Jews” was its controversial slogan. The campaign was financed by Josef Gutnick, a wealthy Australian businessman with close ties to the late Lubavitcher rebbe and a major supporter of the settlement movement.
— The Forward, Jan 9 2017, “Kushner Foundation Gives $342K to Chabad — Still Surprised About Jared and Ivanka’s Synagogue?” (https://forward.com/news/359482/kushner-foundation-gives-342k-to-chabad-still-surprised-about-jared-and-iva/)
Thus, Trump and his family are deeply aligned with the Israeli Right through both money, family, and to some extent religion.
So it is no coincidence that so far his administration is shaping up to be one of the most pro-Zionist in American history.
President-elect Donald Trump began shaping his cabinet this week, rolling out nominations that feature people deeply connected to the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, including Mike Huckabee, Steve Witkoff, and Marco Rubio.
His first national security picks are die-hard Israel supporters, some of whom have denied the existence of the Palestinian people and back the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
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Marco Rubio, secretary of state… likened the Israeli ground operation in Rafah, which was opposed by the Biden administration, to the Allies’ pursuit of Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust.
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Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense…a Fox News host, provided favorable coverage of Israel on the network and said that his time in the U.S. Army turned him into a supporter of the Jewish state. He interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March and said, “Israel needs our support.” He also ran a three-part series on Fox Nation, “Battle in the Holy Land: Israel at War,” that focused on the war in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “There’s no doubt this is a fight that Israel needs to finish,” Hegseth said, echoing Trump’s call for Israel to finish the job and eliminate Hamas.
Hegseth called for U.S. military action against Iran back in 2020. “I don’t want boots on the ground, I don’t want occupation, I don’t want endless war,” he said on Fox News. “But Iran has been in endless war with us for 40 years. Either we put up and shut up now and stop it, or we kind of wait, go back to the table, and let them dither while they attempt to continue to develop the capabilities to do precisely what they said they want to do.”
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Mike Waltz, national security adviser…even before the war in Gaza…said the U.S. should allow Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear program. Last month, Waltz recommended that Israel strike Kharg Island, a crucial hub for Iran’s oil exports, and its nuclear facilities at Natanz.
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Elise Stefanik, US ambassador to the UN…brings her national security experience and a combative, unapologetic style to the United Nations at a critical juncture for Israel and the Middle East. With tensions expected to rise around Iran’s nuclear ambitions and increasing global pressure on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Stefanik could position herself as a formidable ally to Israel. Stefanik recently called to cut off aid for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, the main supplier of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
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Stefanik gained popularity in the Jewish and pro-Israel community after challenging the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania on whether calls for the genocide of Jews violate their campus codes of conduct.
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Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel…enjoys the trust of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Huckabee, a Baptist minister, has been traveling to Israel since 1973 and says he’s taken more than 100 trips there. A MAGA loyalist, Huckabee is a seasoned advocate for Israeli interests.
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In 2008, Huckabee said, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.” During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Huckabee said he saw the occupied West Bank as an “integral part” of Israel. In 2017, he said, “There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement.”
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Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East…attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July, and found it moving
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Howard Lutnick, secretary of commerce…accompanied Trump to the Ohel, where Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, is buried; it’s a frequent stop for candidates trying to show respect to the Orthodox Jewish community.
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John Ratcliffe, CIA director…criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for promoting “a false narrative” that portrayed Israel as targeting innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
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In an interview with Fox News this year, Ratcliffe praised Israeli strikes on Iran, describing them as an example of the “Trump doctrine” of maximum pressure. He suggested that the U.S. should assist Israel in such military actions.
— The Forward, Nov 13 2024, “Your complete guide to Trump’s Jewish advisers and pro-Israel cabinet” (https://forward.com/news/674101/trump-cabinet-israel-rubio-huckabee-jewish/)
Of course, Trump is not alone in his support for the Israeli right.
The GOP’s Connections to the Israeli Right
In 2012, the election directly preceding Trump’s victory in 2016, the Republican candidate had been Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney was a close personal friend of Bibi.
In 1976, the lives of Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu intersected, briefly but indelibly, in the 16th-floor offices of the Boston Consulting Group, where both had been recruited as corporate advisers. At the most formative time of their careers, they sized each other up during the firm’s weekly brainstorming sessions, absorbing the same profoundly analytical view of the world.
That shared experience decades ago led to a warm friendship, little known to outsiders, that is now rich with political intrigue. Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, is making the case for military action against Iran as Mr. Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, is attacking the Obama administration for not supporting Mr. Netanyahu more robustly.
In a telling exchange during a debate in December, Mr. Romney criticized Mr. Gingrich for making a disparaging remark about Palestinians, declaring: “Before I made a statement of that nature, I’d get on the phone to my friend Bibi Netanyahu and say: ‘Would it help if I say this? What would you like me to do?’”
Martin S. Indyk, a United States ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration, said that whether intentional or not, Mr. Romney’s statement implied that he would “subcontract Middle East policy to Israel.”
— Politico, May 8 2012, “The Mitt-Bibi Connection” (https://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/04/the-mitt-bibi-connection-119933)
Other allies of Bibi include former Republican Speakers of the House John Boehner and Mike Johnson.
Right now, a mainstay of that U.S.-Israel operating system is the Republican Party. Let’s be crystal clear. Netanyahu would not have been invited to Washington had it not been for the GOP—the veritable Israel-can-do-no-wrong party. And if the GOP has now become the party of Trump, it has for some time been the preferred party of Netanyahu.
— ForeignPolicy.com, Jul 25 2024, “What Netanyahu Got From His Speech in Congress” (https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/25/netanyahu-congress-speech-biden-israel-trump-republicans-democrats/)
In his first major initiative as GOP House speaker, Mike Johnson pushed through a bill to provide $14 billion in military assistance to Israel. “Israel doesn’t need a cease-fire,” he declared before the vote. “It needs its allies to…deliver support now.” As the legislation heads to the Senate, it’s an appropriate moment to look back at a 2020 trip Johnson took to Israel, where he hobnobbed with far-right extremists.
In February of that year, Johnson traveled to Israel with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The sponsor for this trip was the New York-based 12Tribe Films Foundation, a small outfit that that describes itself as “online warriors for truth about Israel and the Jewish people.” The organization spent $34,520—about one-quarter of its revenue that year—to fly the two lawmakers and their wives to Israel and host them for the week-long trip. The itinerary included visits to the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, and Hebron, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as meetings with Israeli military officials, business owners, and political leaders—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the right-wing Likud Party. The two congressmen also received a briefing from the Kohelet Policy Forum, a far-right Israeli think tank that would later help cook up the Netanyahu administration’s controversial plan to weaken the country’s judiciary. At the Golan Heights, the pair posed and smiled in front of a sign for Trump Heights, a new Israeli settlement in occupied territory claimed by Israel but that is widely considered to violate international law.
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Along for this ride was Avi Abelow, the director of 12Tribe Films Foundations. A New York-born Jew who lives in Jerusalem, Abelov is an arch-Zionist and a zealously religious supporter of Israel. He’s also a Temple Mount activist who has called for Jewish control of Haram-al-Sharif in the Israeli-occupied Old City of Jerusalem—the third holiest Islamic site in the world and the home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
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During a visit to the Temple Mount in 2018, while Abelow was escorting another GOP congressional delegation, Jean Tipton, the wife of Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), suggested that Jews seize the Temple Mount and proclaim, “It’s ours. Always was, and it is again.” Abelow told her she was “correct,” but he noted that such a move was opposed by the Israeli government, which feared the tremendous trouble that would cause.
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Abelow recently decried the massive protests in Israel against Netanyahu and his effort to weaken the Israeli judiciary, calling this movement a phony campaign orchestrated by “a tiny elite that hates their fellow, proud, traditional and religious Jews.” He added, “[T]oo many Jews today, on the political left, hate their fellow Jews more than they hate our actual enemies…They are doing everything they can to turn the public against the religious, and the ‘settlers.'”
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This visit to Israel—Johnson’s second—seems to have influenced the future speaker’s views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the end of the visit, he and Jordan recorded a podcast with Abelow. Johnson gushed that he saw the trip “as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy—that we’re here at this time.” He said nothing about the problems faced by Palestinians.
— Mother Jones, Nov 3 2024, “During a Trip to Israel, Mike Johnson Connected With Far-Right Extremists” (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/mike-johnson-israel-extremists/)
Bibi and the Republicans even swap staff from time to time, such as political consultant Arthur Finkelstein, who served as a consultant for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan before leading Netanyahu to his very first victory in 1996 (https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20210323-bibi-whisperers-republican-strategists-bolster-netanyahu-s-grip-on-israeli-politics). More recently, Aaron Klein, a protégé of Trump strategist Steve Bannon, became such an influential part of Netanyahu’s entourage that he was dubbed “the Bibi whisperer” by Israeli media.
A former Jerusalem bureau chief for Bannon’s alt-right media outlet Breitbart…Bannon credited Klein with hatching a plan to destabilise Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during a presidential debate by inviting women who had accused her husband – former president Bill Clinton – of sexual assault.
In November 2019, as Netanyahu’s legal troubles worsened, Axios news site said Klein had volunteered to help the prime minister fight his corruption indictments. Months later, Netanyahu publicly thanked Klein, then his chief strategist, for his “clever” advice ahead of Israel’s 2020 election. He promoted him to campaign manager for the 2021 vote.
Netanyahu is not the only Israeli politician to have tapped US strategists. One of his main rivals on the right, former Likud heavyweight Gideon Saar, briefly recruited consultants from the Lincoln Group of anti-Trump Republicans – in what some described as an Israeli extension of the rivalry inside the GOP.
— France 24, Mar 23 2021, “'Bibi whisperers': Republican strategists tighten Netanyahu's grip on Israeli politics” (https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20210323-bibi-whisperers-republican-strategists-bolster-netanyahu-s-grip-on-israeli-politics)
How pervasive are the connections between Israel and the Republican Party? According to Republican congressman Thomas Massie, during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, every Republican has an “AIPAC person” who acts as their “babysitter.”
Massie: "Everybody but me has an AIPAC person."
Carlson: "What does that mean, an AIPAC person?"
Massie: "It's like your babysitter, your AIPAC babysitter. . . ."
Carlson: "Every member has someone like this?"
Massie: "I don't know how it works on the Democrat side, but that's how it works on the Republican side. And when they come to D.C., you go have lunch with them. And they've got your cell number."
— The Tucker Carlson Show, Jun 7 2024, “Rep. Thomas Massie Reveals Deep State Secrets and Teaches You How to Live Off-Grid” (https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=omBSEuFTYEo&t=1668s)
Needless to say, this is only scratching the surface. This article is not intended to be a rigorous study on the connections between the American and Israeli conservative parties. However, this is hopefully enough to demonstrate that some such connection exists.
It is worth noting that in contrast to the Republicans, many Democrats (even those who support Israel) have been critical of Benjamin Netanyahu and the ruling Likud party.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, virtually addressed Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday, days after the chamber’s majority leader, the Democrat Chuck Schumer, called him an impediment to peace in an unsparing floor speech.
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Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, McConnell said Democrats “don’t have an anti-Bibi problem. They have an anti-Israel problem.
“It’s absurd enough for American senators to masquerade as duly elected members of the Knesset – as if their views should have any bearing on how Israel conducts its domestic politics,” McConnell said in a Wednesday floor speech.
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Israel has long enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress. But in recent years, Democrats have become increasingly critical of Netanyahu, who has, over the course of several US presidencies, aligned himself closely with Republicans.
Tensions between Netanyahu and Joe Biden over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza have burst into public view, with Biden endorsing Schumer’s speech and warning against a full-scale invasion of the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s surviving population is sheltering. Yet Netanyahu has pledged to move ahead with the offensive, in defiance of Biden’s “red line”.
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Several top Democratic lawmakers and their supporters are urging the president to use more leverage to pressure Israel to change course.
— The Guardian, Mar 20 2024, “Netanyahu addresses Senate Republicans days after Schumer calls for his ouster” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/20/netanyahu-republican-senators-update-israel-gaza-war)
Republican Media’s Connections to the Israeli Right
Rupert Murdoch is the owner of some of the largest conservative media outlets in the United States, including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post. He also owns many other conservative publications across the world including The Sun, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun, and Sky News Australia. He also owns HarperCollins, a major publishing house that has released books by many conservative authors.
Fox News is the most popular television news network in America, consistently outperforming CNN and MSNBC. Here are a few facts that illustrate just how great its reach truly is:
In August 2024, Fox News averaged 1.4 million total day viewers, compared to just over one million for MSNBC and 615,000 for CNN.
Fox News also leads in the crucial 25-54 age demographic, which is important for advertisers. In August 2024, Fox News averaged 190,000 total day viewers in this demographic, compared to 123,000 for CNN and 121,000 for MSNBC.
In 2024, Fox News was the third most visited news website in the U.S., with approximately 293 million monthly visits.
And some similar stats for Murdoch’s other properties:
As of March 2023, The Wall Street Journal had the highest print circulation among U.S. newspapers at 609,654. This is about twice the circulation of the second-place New York Times, which had a print circulation of only 296,329.
In March 2023, the New York Post ranked 4th among U.S. newspapers by print circulation, with 135,983 copies.
This makes Rupert Murdoch the owner of not only some of the most important conservative media outlets, but some of the most important news outlets period.
Rupert Murdoch also, like most of conservative media, has ties to the Israeli Right. In 2010, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published a leaked list compiled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of whom he considered his best sources of campaign contributions. Murdoch’s name appears on the list alongside the designation of number two, meaning Netanyahu considered him a close ally.
[The] prime minister's foreign legion revealed: Benjamin Netanyahu's list of potential donors, which was prepared ahead of the 2007 primary elections, was published Friday by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
One of the documents, which includes comments in Netanyahu's handwriting, provides a peek into his fundraising industry in the United States. The then-opposition leader erased from the list people he believed would not give him money for the Likud primary elections. He divided the others into four categories according to whether contacting them is "worth the effort."
The first group includes the foreigners worthwhile of contacting, and only one name – of a person who does not donate to the Right – was erased by Netanyahu. The numbers 3 and 4 were marked next to the names of millionaires with a small chance of donating.
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According to estimates, 98% of the funds donated to Netanyahu came from abroad.
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The Prime Minister's Office said in response to the Yedioth inquiry, "Netanyahu makes his decisions in accordance with what is good for the State, not according to the opinions of donors…As can be seen in the list of donors, they hold diverse opinions and do not all belong to one camp. His approach is that funds should be raised abroad so as not to put anyone in a potential conflict of interests, and this is the reason he prefers donations from abroad."
—Ynet, Oct 22 201, “Netanyahu's ‘list of millionaires’” (https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3973366,00.html)
Note also that at the very top of the list is Sheldon Adelson. Trump himself is listed in “Group 4,” indicating some level of support from Trump years prior to him running for president.
In 2007, Murdoch’s News Corp donated to the Jerusalem Foundation, a group that builds illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank (https://jerusalemfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/JF-Annual-Report-2007.pdf).
His support for the state of Israel also earned him an award from the ADL.
In remarks at a dinner where he was honored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for his stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism, media magnate K. Rupert Murdoch described in stark terms what he sees as an "ongoing war against the Jews" and efforts to isolate the Jewish State through "a soft war" of delegitimization and isolation.
He said attacks against Israel have evolved over the years from conventional warfare to terrorism and international isolation.
"Now the war has entered a new phase," Mr. Murdoch said. "This is the soft war that seeks to isolate Israel by delegitimizing it. The battle ground is everywhere – the media, multinational organizations, NGOs. In this war, the aim is to make Israel a pariah."
Mr. Murdoch was presented with the ADL International Leadership Award last night at a dinner in New York City, where he was feted by film producer Harvey Weinstein, Fox News President Roger Ailes, ADL National Chair Robert G. Sugarman and ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman, among other dignitaries.
Mr. Foxman recalled how his first introduction to Mr. Murdoch was in a private setting, "away from the media spotlight."
"I have come to know the man, not his image," Mr. Foxman said in presenting the award to Mr. Murdoch. "I learned that he cared deeply about the safety and security of Israel. I learned that he was as distressed as I was about efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state, to hold it to a double standard, and to seek its demise by some."
— ADL, Oct 14 2010, “Media Magnate Rupert Murdoch, Accepting ADL Award, Calls For An End Of Efforts To Isolate Israel” (https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/media-magnate-rupert-murdoch-accepting-adl-award-calls-end-efforts-isolate)
Recently Murdoch’s companies have been passed down to his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who has continued in his father’s footsteps.
Lachlan Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul who took over as chief executive of both Fox and News Corp. last fall, will travel to Israel and meet with top leaders in the country amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
Murdoch is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and a number of other leaders, including National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, during the previously unannounced visit.
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Netanyahu has had a relationship with the Murdoch family for years, the Times of Israel reported, noting a 2016 effort by a former top Netanyahu aide to get the family to invest in a right-wing television channel in Israel modeled after Fox.
— The Hill, Jan 29 2024, “Lachlan Murdoch travels to Israel to meet with Netanyahu” (https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4436219-lachlan-murdoch-israel-netanyahu/)
Murdoch’s properties are not alone in their support for Zionism and their ties to the Israeli right. This connection is a feature of virtually all conservative media, including Breitbart—where one-time Trump 2016 campaign manager Steve Bannon once served as executive chairman.
A lot of people don’t realize this but Breitbart News Network really got its start in Jerusalem. It was the summer of 2007, and Andrew had been invited to tour Israel as part of a media junket. I agreed to tag along as his lawyer and best friend. What neither of us knew at the time was that the trip would change our lives and give us the inspiration for Breitbart News Network.
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One thing we specifically discussed that night was our desire to start a site that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel. We were sick of the anti- Israel bias of the mainstream media and J-Street.
— Breitbart, Nov 17 2015, “Breitbart News Network: Born In The USA, Conceived In Israel” (https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2015/11/17/breitbart-news-network-born-in-the-usa-conceived-in-israel/)
In 2015, due to Steve Bannon’s support for Trump at the height of the Great Meme War, Breitbart became one of the most well-known conservative media platforms online.
Another prominent conservative platform online is The Daily Wire, founded in 2015 by Ben Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew and avowed Zionist. It is among the most popular sources for news online and on social media.
[In the year 2021,] The Daily Wire, received more likes, shares and comments on Facebook than any other news publisher by a wide margin. Even legacy news organizations that have broken major stories or produced groundbreaking investigative work don't come anywhere close.
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In May, The Daily Wire generated more Facebook engagement on its articles than The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and CNN combined.
— NPR, Jul 19, 2021 “Outrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire” (https://www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1013793067/outrage-as-a-business-model-how-ben-shapiro-is-using-facebook-to-build-an-empire)
In 2008, Shapiro wrote an article in Townhall titled “The Case for Israeli Settlements” in which he frames the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory as something akin to America’s “Manifest Destiny” spreading “freedom” to the Palestinian savages.
Israel is a single candle in a pitch-black room. Its rays are the settlements. As the candle burns more brightly, so too does its rays. The free world's true interest lies not in a truce between the darkness and the candle -- such a standoff means merely that the oxygen will eventually run out, extinguishing the flame -- but in providing energy for the candle, allowing it to continue shining forth.
That means recognizing the right of liberty to overtake tyranny. It means acknowledging that the supposed right to self-determination must take a back seat to civilized behavior. It means supporting the right of free peoples to spread freedom.
— Townhall, Jun 4 2008, “The Case for Israeli Settlements” (https://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2008/06/04/the-case-for-israeli-settlements-n1059155#google_vignette
In 2010, Shapiro tweeted "Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue. #settlementsrock" (https://x.com/benshapiro/status/25712847277).
Given their politics, it is no surprise that Ben Shapiro has been a defender of Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration and their actions in Gaza.
In a segment on The Daily Wire, Shapiro called the Israeli judiciary a “dictatorship,” and argued in favor of the reforms proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud).
“Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from the Left for pursuing a plan to democratize the Supreme Court of Israel,” Shapiro said.
“The media are so hypocritical about this stuff…particularly in the United States. The media in the United States keeps saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is some sort of fascist, that the newly-elected Knesset majority in Israel is some sort of fascist organization for seeking to…change the procedures for Supreme Court’s nominees… so that they are nominated by the Knesset or nominated by the Prime Minister and then confirmed by the Knesset, which sounds very much like the American system.”
— Israel National News, Jan 24 2023, “Ben Shapiro Defends Netanyahu: 'Israeli courts are a self-selected dictatorship” (https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366367)
In an October 2024 appearance co-sponsored by The Daily Wire and the Young American's Foundation at the University of California, Los Angeles, when asked whether or not he'd condone the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces and Netanyahu-led Israeli government amidst the deaths of over 40,000 people in and near the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, including the killing of children, Shapiro stated he "doesn't just condone [their] actions, I celebrate and laud them".
— Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Shapiro) & twitter @jordanUhl (https://x.com/JordanUhl/status/1848553470195880272)
This is a small sampling of the pro-Zionist media influencers of the mainstream right wing ecosystem. This is nothing new. It has been a feature of the conservative landscape since the neocons began to enter and eventually control the party.
What is new is that this pro-Zionist stance has also become a consensus on much of what was once called the “Dissident Right,” but after the death of the Dissident Right should now probably be called the “New Right.”
In the next part of this series, we will examine this “New Right” in further detail.