On the campaign trail in New Hampshire: How does Israel fare?

As the cold and snow finds its way to New Hampshire, so does the heat of the nation’s first presidential primary.

Because of the outsized attention New Hampshire draws, it seems worth checking on how Israel is doing there as an issue.  

The news is both promising and tentative. Promising because each of the more than a dozen Republicans and Democrats still in the race has pledged to support Israel. Tentative because Israel hasn’t gotten enough public discussion so far to see how the candidates’ positions stand up to scrutiny. Israel has been raised only in passing in some of the debates and, according to all reports, it hasn’t been raised often in the intense retail politicking around the state that sets New Hampshire apart.

In a reporting trip through New Hampshire last week, the subject of Israel never came up in large public events held by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But it was brought up at a small gathering for John Kasich.

Near the end of the question period in a session with about 30 business people at a Manchester law firm, a woman asked Kasich what he would do about Israeli settlements on the West Bank.  Kasich started by saying that he wouldn’t tell Israel what to do, “especially with a TV camera around,” suggesting President Obama has been too public with sensitive comments about Israel. He went on to say he would strongly support Israel and any criticisms would be made in private. 

The reasons for the relative quiet about Israel in New Hampshire are varied, but the largest is that almost all foreign policy concern this year is being focused on a different set of terrorism issues, especially after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Those twin tragedies have raised the profile of national security in the campaign, including in New Hampshire. There is clearly a connection between Israel and terrorism – for instance, a number of candidates, including Ted Cruz, are critical of the Iran deal for potentially strengthening a terrorist state that threatens Israel, while others, including Hillary Clinton, say the deal would not increase the danger to Israel. But the core issues of terrorism that are being discussed and debated in New Hampshire and elsewhere are largely those involving radical Islam and are not being tied to Israel.

Another reason for the lack of discussion of Israel in New Hampshire is the small Jewish population – there are an estimated 10,000 Jews in the state, less than 1 percent of the overall population. While non-Jews certainly have an interest in Israel, greater discussion of Israel has typically come in primary states with larger numbers of Jews.

When Israel has come up in New Hampshire, the rhetoric among Republicans has been muscular. Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Israel for building a wall to keep out Palestinians, and he has adopted it as a model for how to keep non-citizens out of the United States. He says, “All you have to do is go to Israel and say ‘how is your wall working?’ Walls work.” A number of candidates, including Cruz and Marco Rubio, say they would act on moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton points to her long record of support for Israel, including as Secretary of State. Bernie Sanders has been supportive of Israel, though he also has been critical at times during his career.

As the campaign continues in New Hampshire and beyond, the press, as well as other people like that woman in Manchester, need to ask many more questions of candidates about Israel. The real distinctions that can help voters decide are in the details. It will take quite a bit of asking and digging to truly find out what the candidates intend to do on behalf of Israel.

NOEL RUBINTON is a consultant and writer based in Providence.