Dear President Trump,
Congratulations on your election as the 47th President of the United States – from someone who worked hard to convince American Jews to support the Democratic ticket.
I voted and encouraged others to vote for Kamala Harris because, as a naturalized American citizen from a non-democratic country, I was concerned about your open support for dictators and your own authoritarian tendencies, your isolationist “America-only” policies, and your lack of respect for the rule of law. I believed (and continue to believe) that your refusal to honor the time-honored tradition of peaceful transfer of power and your incitement of an insurrection in 2021 should have disqualified you from even being a candidate of your party.
As a Jew, I was concerned about the rhetoric of your campaign, your relationships with antisemites, your favorable comments about Hitler and his generals, and your most senior former advisors and defense officials describing you as a fascist. You exacerbated divisions among American Jews by saying that those who vote for Democrats should have their heads examined that they hate Israel and their religion. And you preemptively placed blame on Jewish voters if Harris won the election, knowing full well that this would put targets on their backs.
My concerns are shared by three-quarters of American Jews who voted for Harris, as well as a good number of those who voted for you. But as many others who opposed your candidacy, I sincerely hope for your success as our next president and wish that Trump the president will behave differently than Trump the candidate. This applies to many facets of the job you will assume on January 20, but the following ten action items are particularly important to American Jews:
Ten actions important to American Jews
1. Root out antisemitism in the Republican party, including calling out Tucker Carlson for giving a platform to Holocaust deniers and avoiding associating withavowed antisemites like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Don’t embrace white nationalists and don’t pardon neo-Nazis convicted in the January 6 insurrection.
2. While implementing tighter border security, renounce hatred toward immigrants and refugees. Ill-will toward minorities inevitably and historically harms Jews. Contrary to the populist message you delivered on the campaign trail, immigrants are not poisoning the blood of our country. They enrich our nation and communities and contribute to our economy and our culture.
3. Disavow Project 2025 and its call for creating a Christian Nationalist nation, which is threatening to Jews and all other religious minorities. Appoint senior officials based on competence and experience, not particular religious views.
4. Refrain from demonizing the media and journalists, a large percentage of whom are Jewish. The media is not “the enemy within.” The scourge of McCarthyism in the 1950s proved the toxicity of such claims and turned neighbor on neighbor. American journalists are not the enemy. Rather, anti-democratic nation-states and terrorists outside our country are.
5. Avoid blindly supporting the Netanyahu government. While Benjamin Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the State of Israel, he depends on ultra-nationalist and ultra-religious parties for his political survival, and his policies often do not represent the will of the much larger and more moderate segments of Israeli society. For example, the majority of Israelis believe that he has not done enough to end the war and bring the hostages home, and his firing of the highly respected defense minister Yoav Gallant caused large-scale protests earlier thisweek. Ensure that the next US Ambassador to Israel is capable of working with all major political factions in Israel to solidify American support for the nation, not an individual.
6. Don’t condition financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel. The United States’ backing of Israel must be consistent, predictable, and bipartisan. It must not be influenced by your mercurial personality, your many personal financial interests, or the state of your relationships with Netanyahu (or his successor), Vladimir Putin, or Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman.
7. Ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons without risking regional conflagration. Your unilateral withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018 resulted in reducing – from one year to less than two weeks – the amount of time Iran needs to develop a nuclear weapon. Use both diplomacy and military deterrence to prevent this from happening.
I am also not oblivious to the failings of the Biden/Harris administration when it comes to issues important to Jewish voters and Israel, including:
8. Ignoring antisemitism and pro-Hamas activities on college campuses. Your administration needs to pressure colleges and universities that refuse to crack down on antisemitic behavior and crimes by students and faculty.Peaceful protests against the policies of the Israeli government are not the same thing as calls for the abolition of the Jewish state, support of Hamas, or violence against Jewish students.
9. Failing to put sufficient pressure on the Qataris to secure the immediate release of hostages. The US is a major trading partner and security guarantor of Qatar. We have officially designated Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, enhancing the partnership between Doha and Washington and giving the Gulf country special economic and military privileges in its relationship with the US. Yet Qatar continues to bankroll Hamas and provide a safe haven to its leaders. This needs to end. The US must pressure Qatar to facilitate the immediate return of all hostages whilealso curtailing – or banning – its funding of anti-Israel programs at US universities and think tanks. (According to a 2022 study, Qatar contributed $4.7 billion to dozens of academic institutions across the United States between 2001and 2021. “Research” and “educational materials” produced by these institutions are predominantly anti-Israel).
10. De-emphasizing normalization of relations between Israel and other Sunni Arab states in favor of the peace process with the Palestinians. Expand on the successes you achieved with the Abraham Accords by including Saudi Arabia, Oman, and others. This would pave the way for a new Middle East with recognition of Israel and peace, security, and prosperity for all.
President Trump, I urge you to address these issues and take action to ensure that Israel remains strong and the dramatically rising tide of antisemitism is reversed. That would truly Make America Great Again.
Respectfully,
Stan Polovets
Chairman and Co-Founder, The Genesis Prize Foundation
The writer lives in New York and is a co-founder and chairman of The Genesis Prize Foundation. The views expressed in this article are his own. This year, the $1 million Genesis Prize was awarded to Israeli organizations and activists working to release and support hostages and their families.
