30 Issues in 30 Days: Mideast & Israel

Brian Lehrer (0:10)

Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we continue our 30 issues and 30 days election series. Let other media focus on the polls and personalities to the exclusion of the issues. We are choosing an issue a day for 30 straight shows to help you be as informed a voter as you can be in our local congressional swing districts and the New York state governor's race. We're in the middle of a three part set of issues in the very important Tom Kean, Jr, Rebecca Bennett congressional race in New Jersey 7th congressional district. We picked three issues from their Sunday night debate, the only debate they're having in the campaign.

Yesterday, we compared the candidates on affordability questions in the debate. Today, it will be military aid to Israel on which their answers were different. Tomorrow, we'll compare them on ICE and other immigration issues in the district. Tom Kean, Jr. is the Republican incumbent, Rebecca Bennett is the Democratic challenger.

At the end of today's segment, we will also touch on the thing for which Kean has most been in the news this year, his extended absence from Congress. Some political and geographical context, NJ7 is a sprawling district that goes from just west of New York City, places like Linden, Broadway, Fanwood, and Westfield, all the way south and west through Flemington and towns like Phillipsburg and Lambertville in the southwest along the Pennsylvania border, Delaware River. According to the website Census Reporter, it's two-thirds white, 14 percent Latino, nine percent Asian, and five percent black, 17 percent foreign-born. The median household income is pretty high relative to other places in the country, more than $130,000, and it only has a five percent poverty rate. In the 2024 election, according to the Jersey Globe, Trump beat Harris by two points, just two points. Kane beat his Democratic opponent, Sue Altman, by six points. So here we go with 30 issues in 30 days. Issue number six.

Here is the full five-minute exchange on the question about US military aid to Israel from Sunday nights, New Jersey, Globe and Rider University debate. It begins with a moderator's question.

SPEAKER_2 (2:23)

Should US military aid ever be conditioned? Is there any Israeli military action that would cause you to withhold American weapons or diplomatic support?

Rebecca Bennett (2:39)

So I have deployed to the Middle East. I've seen firsthand how important Israel is as an ally to the United States, certainly from an intelligence perspective. And so my perspective on Israel is really framed from that. I believe we need to work towards a two-state solution. I think we need to work towards long-term peace and stability in the region. I think what the Netanyahu administration is doing is not in the best long-term interest of Israel, just like what I think the Trump administration is doing is not in the best long-term interest of the United States. And so my framework for evaluating this decision when I'm in office is that Israel should be held to the same standard as any of our other allies. It shouldn't be a higher standard or a lower standard, but also we need to make sure that we are making these decisions in the best interest of the United States. And that's the framework that I'm going to use for these decisions.

Tom Kean, Jr. (3:24)

Thank you.

Israel is absolutely justified in what it is doing in response to those attacks. And we need to have their back in every single way. And it's not just they need to be able to defend themselves, they need to be able to win this war. And we need to stand up against anti-Semitism in this country. And my opponent not only says she would condition USAID to Israel based on US law, her most recent position, but she also won't stand up against anti-Semitic members of Congress here in New Jersey. And then, too, a person who said that Israel's actions, which are rightful, are genocide.

She won't stand up to her own party to stand up against anti-Semitism or to stand with the people of Israel. I will do everything in my power to help Israel win this fight, and they are completely justified in what they're doing. My opponent is weak when it comes to Israel, because she wants a condition on US law, which is a standard that no other nation has, and she won't stand up against her own peers in Congress.

SPEAKER_2 (4:26)

So let me ask, give this panel a chance to respond to that. Thirty seconds on this.

Rebecca Bennett (4:31)

Yeah. I mean, what I will say here is that anti-Semitism is absolutely unacceptable, period, full stop. And so I will do everything to fight back against anti-Semitism in this country. I was talking to a mom, a friend of mine in Bridgewater the other day, who told me that she was afraid to send her son to the Holocaust Museum in DC for a field trip because of the anti-Semitism that we're seeing in this country. And so it is absolutely unacceptable. And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we are pushing back against this and also to make sure we're getting the funding that we need, because everyone should be safe and feel safe in this country.