Earlier this year, in a bid to reassure Jewish voters doubting the Democratic presidential candidate’s support for Israel, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman publicly endorsed Kamala Harris, who then suffered a crushing loss to Donald Trump.

With the death of former President Jimmy Carter, 100, on December 29, there was a moment in his failed run for reelection in 1980 that resembled the 2024 presidential campaign. He shared the stage with the most outspoken supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party of his day.

“Throughout that 1980 presidential campaign, wherever Carter appeared, vocal Jewish protesters were likely to be waiting – and with the protesters came the media,” Larry Domnitch wrote in a Jewish Press opinion column in 2004.

A graduate of Yeshiva University, Domnitch was active in the movement for Soviet Jews and pro-Israel causes. He later worked as a Jewish history professor at Touro College before making aliyah.

In the 1980 presidential contest, Carter was trailing former California governor Ronald Reagan, who had name recognition resulting from his 1976 presidential run and movie career that preceded his entry into politics. While Reagan campaigned on the slogan of “morning in America,” Carter was blamed for abandoning Cold War allies such as the Shah of Iran, who was toppled by Islamic fundamentalists; and the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua, which was ousted by communist rebels. Domestically, economic stagnation and rising energy prices contributed to Carter’s electoral defeat.

His visit on October 11, 1980, to the Forest Hills Jewish Center was part of a larger attempt to secure the Jewish vote, which had been solidly favoring Democrats since the first election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Carter’s security detail quickly whisked him into the synagogue, as nearly a hundred Yeshiva University students jeered his arrival. A smaller number of activists sat in the audience, waiting for their moment to contradict Carter’s claims of support for Israel.

“I’m proud to have the support and the counsel of Senator Scoop Jackson. He is a tremendously effective fighter for a strong defense, for American energy security, for help to New York City and to other great cities, for the cause of Soviet Jewry, and for a strong and secure Israel,” Carter said in his opening remarks. Alongside Jackson, he was joined on the stage by Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser, Queens Borough President Donald Manes, Gov. Mario Cuomo, and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

The latter was a revered figure among New York’s Jews, remembered fondly for his role as UN ambassador, when he forcefully rejected the resolution declaring Zionism equal to racism.

“I share with some of you the belief that Scoop Jackson would be or would have been a great President,” he added. “You might want to know that at the Democratic Convention in Miami in 1972, the person who nominated Senator Scoop Jackson for President of the United States was Governor Jimmy Carter.”

Jackson was also a beloved name among Jewish voters, best known as the coauthor of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, which conditioned improvement of economic relations with the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate.

On that crowded stage, they were also joined by local Reps. Ben Rosenthal, Joe Addabbo Sr., Geraldine Ferraro, and Mario Biaggi, all of whom had strong records of support on Jewish matters.

“I want the people of Forest Hills and of Queens to know exactly where I stand on these crucial issues,” Carter said.

“Let there be no doubt where I stand. The United States opposes and I oppose any PLO state. The United States of America will never recognize nor negotiate with the PLO as long as it refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist and refuses to accept UN Resolution 242. The United States does not deal with organizations which attempt to accomplish their objectives by means of terrorism. Terrorism is a crime against decency and humanity.”

In truth, Carter sought to undermine Israel’s gains from the Yom Kippur War of 1973, not only by returning the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, but also to include other Israeli-occupied territories in the Camp David Accords, with input from the Soviet Union and recognition of Palestinian autonomy. Despite the ban on meeting with terrorist groups, Carter’s Ambassador to the UN Andrew Young secretly met with Yasser Arafat.

In his role as an unofficial diplomat after losing his reelection run, Carter traveled the world, promoting dialogue between despots and dissidents, attempting to prevent conflicts with an idealism that alienated, and in some cases, endangered America’s allies.

He first met Arafat in 1990, helping to promote an image of the terrorist as a political moderate ahead of the Madrid Peace Conference. In 2006, he wrote the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a catchy title designed to isolate Israel from the community of democratic nations. In 2015, he met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, in an attempt to reconcile Hamas with Fatah and demonstrate that Hamas was willing to recognize Israel.

Carter then spoke of Holocaust remembrance, having founded the commission that built the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, and rooting out Nazi war criminals who immigrated to this country under false pretenses.

“After 40 years of Government inaction I set up a special unit in the Department of Justice to root out Nazi war criminals who may be in hiding in the United States. The Congress has appropriated $2.8 million especially for this task.”

After mentioning his support for Soviet Jewish emigration, Carter was heckled and quickly returned to the subject of Israel.

“This President will never use economic and military aid to Israel as a lever against Israel, not in the last four years, not now, and not in the next four years.” He added that Israel is a “major strategic asset” and reiterated that he does not seek to divide Jerusalem.

He then spoke about defending Israel at international forums, and the normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt leading to a “broader peace.”

Carter finished his speech with domestic matters, arguing that Reagan opposed federal funding for mass transit, reduction of nuclear weapons, public healthcare, the Equal Rights Amendment, and reducing oil imports.

“New York City and the Borough of Queens are very important in this effort. Your influence can go throughout the United States,” he concluded.

As was the case in 1980, the “World’s Borough” gave most of its vote to the Democratic contender, but a closer look revealed an uptick for Republican Donald Trump, exceeding his previous two presidential runs.

In neighborhoods populated by Persian Jews, anger over Carter’s abandonment of the Shah was exacerbated by the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement and Biden’s attempts to limit Israel’s military resolve. Orthodox Jewish voters recognized the difference between the words of Democrats concerning an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the actions of Republicans who made this recognition official and relocated the embassy. Russian Jewish voters remembered Reagan’s tough words against the Soviet Union and the direct language used by Trump, easily understanding where Republicans stood in regard to foreign adversaries.

“Perhaps there was something that awakened some longtime Jewish Democrats,” Domnitch wrote. “Perhaps the protesters prompted many in the Jewish community to think twice about automatically pulling the lever for a Democrat. One thing was clear: More Jews were now willing to cross party lines and choose a candidate based on his policies and views rather than his party affiliation.”

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