Joe Biden Vows Trump Administration Will Honor Committments to Israel
Joe Biden Image by getty images
— Vice President Joe Biden said the United States’ commitments to Israel will remain the same under President-elect Donald Trump.
“I stand here to tell you that I have no doubt, none whatsoever, that in the Trump administration there will be no diminution of support as a consequence of this transition,” Biden said Wednesday night during a speech to the World Jewish Congress. “Even if the new administration were inclined to reduce the commitment, which it is not, Congress would never let it happen, the American people would never let it happen.”
Biden called the run up to Tuesday’s election “one of the most divisive campaigns in modern American history.”
He praised the Obama administration for looking out for Israel’s interests, including the 10-year, $38 million dollar security aid deal. “No administration in U.S. history has done more to enhance Israel’s security than this administration,” Biden said.
He praised the American Jewish community, as well. “You measure your influence on how well you influence me, presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, senators, congressmen. But your influence on the American community at large has been profound,” Biden said.
During the program at New York’s Pierre Hotel, Biden received the World Jewish Congress’ annual Theodor Herzl Award, “which recognizes outstanding individuals who work to promote Herzl’s ideals for a safer, more tolerant world for the Jewish people,” according to the WJC.
At the same event, actor Kirk Douglas was recognized with the inaugural Teddy Kollek Award for the Advancement of Jewish Culture. Actor-director Michael Douglas accepted the award on behalf of his father.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
