1) Israeli settlers are MASSIVE Trump fans.
I spent this morning wandering around an illegal Israeli settlement on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Hebron, asking people a simple question: Trump, or Clinton? The results were overwhelming: a clear majority were Trump supporters, and the rest either didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t speak English, hated journalists, or were Alex Jones fans. Well, there was only one Alex Jones fan. But it was a bit odd to hear anti-Semitic conspiracy theories from a guy in an Israeli settlement. There was also one person who vaguely hoped Clinton won, though he seemed to imply he wasn’t from the settlement.
There were basically two reasons people gave for their enthusiasm for the Republican candidate: he is “good for Israel” (or “good for the Jews” as about half of them put it), and they like him. One young man said that Hillary is “too politically correct” while Trump is “a straight talker, and this region needs straight talkers.” Another young guy – an Israeli soldier – told me that he hoped Trump won “because he is a strong man and Hillary is a girl”. Another said that “The Democrats prefer Arabs.” Others were more nuanced: “he is mad, but Hillary supports Palestine more.”
Trump’s support wasn’t universal there, though another man – probably in his early thirties – said “they are both bad for Israel. And Israel’s not supposed to depend on them anyway!”
