WASHINGTON -- The Israel- Hamas war has thrust Israel and Palestinians back on the front-burner of U.S. policy, and abruptly injected some longstanding divisive issues into the 2024 presidential race.Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump express baseline support for Israel, but they diverge significantly on a two-state solution, settlements and other key questions.Here’s a comparison of their positions and track records:IsraelBiden has generally continued what had for decades been a bipartisan approach to Israel: strong support but always with varying degrees of inclusion and assistance for the Palestinians. Biden has used U.S. power on occasion to attempt to influence Israeli behavior, such as in its conduct of the current war or in resisting controversial changes to Israel’s judiciary, which many saw as undemocratic.He has not gone as far as President Barack Obama, for example, who insisted Israel freeze construction of settlements in areas claimed by the Palestinians.But when push comes to shove, Biden has sided with Israel, declining to significantly hold back military aid and vetoing United Nations measures opposed by Israel, including a recent one to formally recognize a Palestinian state.Even so, Biden — like most past U.S. leaders — has sought to maintain some balance and support for Palestinians and to present the United States as a potential mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.By contrast, Trump was the first U.S. chief executive who gave near-absolute, unconditional support to Israel, handing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu everything it asked for and then some.Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed capital of Jerusalem, the first major country to do so. He endorsed Israeli control of the Golan Heights, a contested fertile plateau that Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. He did so without concessions from Israel.Trump was so popular among right-wing Israelis that Netanyahu used him as he campaigned for reelection, adorning cities across Israel with huge posters of the two men together. A Jewish settlement in the West Bank named itself after Trump.Trump’s one-sided approach won him praise from some pro-Israel advocates, but critics say he also sacrificed valuable U.S. leverage in negotiating broader peace in the region.Israel-Hamas war Biden voiced U.S. support for Israel and its right to selfdefense after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that left nearly 1,200 Israelis and others dead.“The United States stands with the people of Israel in the face of these ...
