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Saturday, 23 November 2024

This is the U.S. campaign, on Israeli streets

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This is the U.S. campaign, on Israeli streets
This is the U.S. campaign, on Israeli streets

"You have to thank Trump" posters in Hebrew suddenly started appearing on minibuses in Tel Aviv this week, as Republican ads brought the race for the White House onto the streets of Israel.

Democrats are also targeting American-Israelis.

They arranged a 40% discount with the courier service DHL for voters whose home states require overseas ballots to be sent by mail.

Emer McCarthy reports.

Billboards!

Campaign buses!

Plastered with pictures of Donald Trump.

With just weeks until Election Day this is could be anywhere in the United States- But this isn't Tampa, it's Tel Aviv.

Both Democrats and Republicans are targeting Israeli American voters.

There's may be hundreds of thousands of them here, with enough to even swing states.

Those votes are precious.

There are no reliable statistics on American-Israelis' political leanings, but Marc Zell, the chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, estimated there were between 25,000-30,000 eligible Florida voters here alone.

''if Donald Trump and Mike Pence continue, in office, we are going to see more of these amazing things, I mean we were enjoying the benefits of this administration, in the very first four years, I expect that those achievements will spread around the world.'' Democrats, meanwhile, have arranged a 40% discount with the courier service DHL for voters whose home states require overseas ballots to be sent by mail.

Hezi Kugler is a Democratic activist here.

''Joe Biden actually will contribute to restoring America to its previous position of strength and leadership in the world which is critical of the security of the state of Israel." Back in 2017 Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy on and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The U.S. also brokered a deal earlier this year to normalise ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Although the election is most visible in Israel, there are also many Palestinians eligible to vote.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has encouraged voting by both sides, hosting Facebook live events with Arabic subtitles.

But some activists say Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza face multiple barriers to sending votes abroad, including unreliable postal services.

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