SURFSIDE, Fla. — On a recent balmy night in South Florida, dozens of people gathered in a synagogue along a palm-lined avenue to talk about the war being waged thousands of miles away.
The Shul of Bal Harbor is located just north of Miami Beach, in the heart of South Florida’s Jewish community. Its rabbi is a known supporter of Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, a Republican who has long supported conservative priorities on Israel and spoke at the Shul.
But in potentially hostile territory for Democrats, several people at the meeting said they were pleased with President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“I think it sent a strong message and that’s very important,” said Georg Lippstein, a member of the church. “Israel will do the right thing.”
This South Florida area was a Democratic stronghold but has shifted to the right, helping former President Donald Trump win the state in 2020 and the DeSantis Coast in a landslide victory last year and flipping Miami-Dade County, key to Democratic power. in the State. If Florida is to regain its status as a perennial contender state, how Jewish voters perceive Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war will be critical.
The October 7 attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israeli civilians caused feelings of deep disappointment, sadness and anger among American Jews.
“The comfort and determination that he showed was really critical at a time when people are really desperate,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Biden surrogate who represents suburbs south of Fort Lauderdale. “I have never seen in my 30 years of public service this amount of pain, shock and anger burning in the hearts of all Jews.”
In 2016, Democrats had about 327,000 more registered voters in the state. The GOP now has about 626,000 more registered voters.
In South Florida, rabbis and community leaders are pushing their congregations to call their lawmakers and insist they support Israel as it steps up its attack. In Michigan, another swing state, many Arab-American and Muslim communities are outraged by the Biden administration’s response, as Israel’s offensive has led to thousands of Palestinian deaths. And some Democrats worry about younger voters who polls show are more sympathetic to Palestinian concerns than the party’s older, more centrist voters.
The administration must strike “a delicate balance of showing support for Israel rhetorically and militarily, but trying to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from spiraling out of control,” said Eric Lobb, a professor at Florida International University and a non-resident scholar at the Tank. think tank Middle East Institute based in Washington.
About 43 percent of Florida Jewish voters supported Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 30 percent of Jewish voters nationally, according to AP VoteCast. Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis won 45% of Jewish voters in his re-election bid when he flipped traditionally Democratic Miami-Dade County, while also winning a majority of Latino voters statewide.
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An estimated 525,000 Jews live in the Miami metropolitan area, which includes Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, according to the American Jewish Population Program at Brandeis University.
Jacob Solomon, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Miami, said South Florida has a large Orthodox community along with immigrants from Central and South America for whom English is not a first language. South Florida’s Jewish population includes Cubans and Venezuelans who closely monitor U.S. relations with their home countries and generally support Republicans.
“We are among the most pro-Israel Zionist communities in North America,” he said, adding that he believes it is the community with the strongest connection to Israel in the US.
On her trips to Israel, Lauren Book, the top Democrat in the Florida Senate, uses an app that warns Israelis of incoming rockets from Hamas. But even back in Florida, the alarm still goes off, sometimes waking her 6-year-old twins.
“I keep it going, just so I know what’s going on and so my kids understand that if we were in Israel, you can’t afford to turn it off,” she said in an interview.
Elected to the state Senate in 2016, Book is a staunch opponent of DeSandis on most issues and was arrested near the state Capitol earlier this year in a protest against the abortion ban six weeks after he finally signed it. But he told The Associated Press last week that he was grateful to send chartered planes to Israel to transport people seeking evacuation.
“We’re all deeply, deeply connected, and only a degree or two separates us from all the things that have happened there,” Book said.
Rabbis and community leaders hold Zoom calls with survivors of the Hamas attack.
Many leaders oppose the ceasefire. Israel has launched a total blockade of Gaza. airstrikes have leveled buildings and houses, killing civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate as it prepares for a possible ground invasion, vowing to destroy Hamas.
Rabbi Andrew Jacobs, who leads a Fort Lauderdale synagogue, Ramat Shalom, says he encourages congregation members to reach out to leaders and thank them for standing with Israel. He said he was warning colleagues to be ready to change voices “when the ugliness of war comes out” as Israel, backed by the United States, continues to bomb Gaza.
“We have to be alert to all the calls and cries for a ceasefire or to blame Israel right now because this work must be done once and for all to bring peace to this region,” Jacobs said. . “President Biden has expressed very strong support for Israel, and those of us who support the Jewish state will continue to expect him to continue to do the same.”
Many worry that anti-Israel sentiment is on the rise, particularly in universities. In California, an incident was reported at Stanford University in which a lecturer singled out Jewish students in an undergraduate class by asking them to stand in a corner and told the room that this is what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. In New York, threatening statements about Jews were shared on an Internet message board at Cornell University, prompting officials to send police to guard a Jewish center and a kosher dining hall.
At the University of Miami, vigils and rallies have been held by both students who mourn the loss of Israelis and demand the return of the hostages as well as those who mourn the loss of Palestinians in the war. The university’s president, Julio Frank, issued a statement of solidarity with Israel.
A student from Miami, 20-year-old Nicole Segal, says she hopes for continued support from the administration, but has been disappointed by what she sees as a lack of support from other progressive groups.
“It is very shocking that there are not enough non-Jews standing up for Israel. I feel like when there were other political issues, they stood up,” he said. “It’s upsetting.”
By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press