TEL AVIV – Registration for American voters in Israel has undergone a 60% increase since 2012 as a result of a Republican-led campaign urging dual citizens to register.
120,000 U.S. citizens in Israel have registered to vote in November’s presidential elections – up from 75,000 in 2012 – some of whom already cast their ballots, party statistics show.
For the GOP, this figure heralds victory since the party predicts that American voters in Israel will support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
Senior Trump campaign staffers arrived in Israel over the past few days to meet with local campaign leaders.
A GOP rally is slated to take place on Wednesday with both Trump and running mate Mike Pence scheduled to give addresses via satellite.
The rally will take place near the Temple Mount, in an apparent affront to the controversial UNESCO resolution which ignores Jewish and Christian connections to the holy site.
Trump slammed the resolution, saying it was “further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the UN.”
Trump reaffirmed his promise to regard Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital if elected: “Jerusalem is the enduring capital of the Jewish People and the overwhelming majority of Congress has voted to recognize Jerusalem as just that.”
Following the release of lewd audio tape comments made by the GOP candidate earlier this month, Israel director of Republicans Overseas Marc Zell said the majority of eligible U.S. voters in Israel will still vote for Trump.
“The public wants Trump, with all of his shortcomings, over Clinton with her failures, her corruption, her lies,” he said.