https://www.jpost.com/author/ruthie-blum
To justify their backing of Joe Biden, beyond their aversion to US President Donald Trump’s tweets and demeanor, liberal American Jews and left-wing Israelis have been highlighting the Democratic candidate’s lifelong support for Israel.
With most pre-election polls indicating that a blue wave was about to wash away the past four years of a Trump-led White House and Republican-dominated Senate, media outlets the world over rallied to help that happen. In Israel, the three main Israeli TV channels prepared fawning features on Biden to air on the night of November 3, while those Americans who hadn’t voted early or by mail were still in the process of lining up to perform their civic duty in person.
What these pieces of “objective” journalism had in common was the absence of aspersions on the man’s life, political career or devotion to the Jewish state. Nor was mention made of the documents revealed on October 14 by the New York Post – suppressed by Twitter and mainstream media outlets – pointing to serious corruption on his part.
The thrill of Israeli members of the press and punditocracy at the near-certainty of a Trump-free universe was surpassed only by that of their counterparts in the US. That the polls turned out to be wrong about what promised to be a slam-dunk Biden victory elicited many a disappointed sigh and nervous furrow of the brow.