Israeli supporters of the US Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump have opened a campaign office in the Jewish settlement of Karnei Shomron, saying they hoped to get as many US citizens expatriates as possible, to cast an absentee ballot for their candidate.
There are about 300,000 US citizens living in Israel, prompting both republicans and democrats to intensify efforts to persuade them to vote in the upcoming Presidential-election. According to estimates, as many as 80,000 of those residing in Israel, live in the West Bank, though it is not clear how many of them are eligible voters. Even though the Israeli initiative is fully coordinated with the Trump campaign in the United States, it is not officially tied to it and all financial backing comes from Americans residing in Israel.
“So I just want to make it very clear that every Dime (ten U.S. cents) every Agora (Israeli currency smallest change) that we have raised for this effort thus far has come from sources here in, not from the Republican Party and not from Trump campaign. Now, there is a second side in this answer, and that is we are in coordination with them, we are in touch with them on a daily basis,” Marc Zell, Co-Chairman of ‘Republican Overseas Israel’ – NGO.
A poll of Jewish Israelis conducted in May, found that 40 percent of respondents backed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and only 31 percent supported Trump. Nevertheless, the poll did not specify whether those who responded were eligible to vote in the US election.