‘He’s Finished’: Israelis React to Presidential Debate

Jerusalem, 28 June, 2024 (TPS) -- Reacting to the US Presidenial debate, Israelis on Friday said President Joe Biden was  “finished” while remaning  unimpressed with Donald Trump’s demeanor.

“The Middle East is safer and peace is more likely when the US is seen as strong on the world stage. Even before the debate, the US did not appear to be strong on the world stage. Because of Biden’s lackluster performance, it’s unlikely that China, Iran or Russia will feel that the US has the resolve to counter their designs in the Middle East,” Asher Fredman, a managing fellow at the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem told The Press Service of Israel.

“And that’s not good for Israel’s security,” added Fredman, a dual US-Israeli citizen.

Israeli headlines were unequivocal in their verdict.

“He’s finished,” said the Yediot Aharonot daily. Maariv and the Kan public broadcaster cited calls for Biden’s retirement by prominent New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

“Any second I’m about to fall asleep but I tell myself if Biden stays awake then so can I,” tweeted Yevgeny Zarubinski during the debate.

But Israelis didn’t label Trump as the debate’s winner.

“If you have to rate one over the other, I don’t think there’s a doubt that Trump wins only but largely because of Biden,” former Knesset member Rabbi Dov Lipman told TPS-IL. “There were many sentences which were hard to understand what Biden was saying. He fumbled on numbers. And that’s hard to watch.”

Born in the US, Lipman renounced his American citizenship when he joined the Knesset in 2013. He is the founder and CEO of Yad L’Olim, a non-profit organization providing support and advocacy for immigrants.

“Trump did many, many things to hurt himself, actually, in terms of focusing on issues that actually hurt him and not focusing on things that could have helped him. He could have been stronger, in my opinion, about his record and attacking Biden’s record, and instead allowed himself to get caught up in a lot of the minutiae of stories and anecdotes and things that aren’t ultimately super significant.”

Israeli Esti Weiss tweeted, “I sit with a glass and wait for Trump to say a word of truth to make a chaser. It hasn’t happened yet.”

With two more presidential debates scheduled, Lipman said he hopes the candidates “focus more on the issues, not get caught up in the mudslinging and the name-calling.”

But he added, “As an Israeli, I wish we could have these kinds of debates here. I know it’s a little bit more complicated here because it’s not a head-to-head for a prime minister and it’s a parliamentary system, but I do feel like it’s really important for people to have to be on stage, to have to answer questions.”

Roughly 600,000 Americans living in Israel are eligible to vote in the presidential elections.