The Never Trump faction of Republicans, which includes many people known for their former strong defenses of the U.S.-Israel alliance, has been largely silent in recent days as Israel has been bombarded with Palestinian rockets.
Bill Kristol, for example, who launched the Emergency Committee for Israel during the Obama administration, has been silent about Israel on Twitter recently — and every other policy issue, including fuel shortages in the eastern U.S. as the result of a cyberattack — tweeting almost exclusively about Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)’s political fight within the Republican Party.
Never Trump stalwart Max Boot, a foreign policy hawk-turned-cable news pundit, has also been almost exclusively focused on the Cheney fight on Twitter.
The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin, once a stalwart defender of Israel, has said little about the conflict, but did publish a column lamenting that President Joe Biden had to be “dragged” into the fray. She blamed Netanyahu for provoking the violence and urged the Biden administration to intervene: “Quick and decisive intervention is essential,” she wrote.
One exception has been David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, who has been vocal in defense of Israel. However, he has also tried to find a way to attack Trump:
Trump, of course, has been out of office for four months. During his term, Israel enjoyed unusual quiet on the Palestinian front, and negotiated peace deals with several Arab states.
For some in Never Trump, the close identification of Trump with the pro-Israel cause may have prompted them to abandon it.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, We Told You So!: The First 100 Days of Joe Biden’s Radical Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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