Source: Politico
By KATIE GLUECK
There’s one state where Donald Trump’s ground game appears to be a model of efficiency, rather than a ramshackle operation lacking organizers and field offices: Israel.
As part of an effort to target what the Israeli chapter of Republicans Overseas says are as many as 300,000 U.S. citizens living there — many of them registered in places ranging from safe Democratic states like New York, New Jersey and California to swing states like Florida and Pennsylvania — the pro-Trump group is employing all the traditional tools long eschewed by the campaign itself.
In some ways, the Trump organizing efforts are more extensive in the West Bank than in West Palm Beach, Fla.
While the Trump campaign and its allies spent much of the summer waving off the importance of brick-and-mortar offices in the U.S., the Israeli team is expanding its physical footprint. So far, there are five offices open in areas around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And the group has plans to open three more offices starting as soon as this week: In Gush Etzion, which is also in the West Bank, near Jerusalem; and two others around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
There’s even coalition-specific engagement—a top adviser to the Chief Rabbi of Israel is focused on courting the ultra-Orthodox vote for Trump, according to the campaign manager for the Israel effort. Compare that to the Trump campaign in Florida, for example, where there is little evidence of tailored Jewish outreach at all, much less constituency-focused outreach to various Jewish subgroups.
Marc Zell, who heads up Republicans Overseas Israel, said they are “closely coordinated” with both the RNC and the Trump campaign on messaging. But the Israeli-based Trump effort is supported by local fundraising, not the GOP nominee’s campaign or the RNC.
Categories: America, Israel, Middle East, The Muslim Times, USA