Opinion: Netanyahu’s Real Republican Problem Is Not Trump

JERUSALEM (Israel Hayom/Ariel Kahana) – It is not Donald Trump whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be most concerned about, but rather James Fishback, a Republican candidate for governor of Florida. Netanyahu, the architect of Israel’s alliance with the Republican Party, should use his conversation with the president to address the need to curb a trend that ultimately threatens US support for Israel.

It is not Donald Trump whom Netanyahu should be worried about as he arrives in the US, but another Floridian whose name he has likely never heard. His name is James Fishback, and from a Jewish Israeli perspective it would be more accurate to describe him as the Republicans’ version of Zohran Mamdani.

Only four years younger than New York City’s newly elected mayor, Fishback, 30, has just entered his fourth decade of life. Much like Mamdani, he has not been particularly successful in his career so far.

The investment firm Greenlight Capital, where he worked for three years, intended to fire him for “insufficient productivity.” To get ahead of the move, he resigned and sued his employers in various legal claims. The company responded by accusing him of lying, and the countersuit it filed forced him to withdraw.

Earlier still, Fishback dropped out of international economics studies at Georgetown University at the height of his studies, without completing a degree. At the same time, he established his own investment fund as well as a training workshop for debate participants. In this field, the young Republican does appear to have some talent, as he knows how to deliver an argument effectively. The problem is that when it comes to Israel, these are precisely the wrong messages.

Florida’s next gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 2026. The current governor, Ron DeSantis, has transformed the state from struggling to prosperous, and from a swing state into a solid Republican stronghold. In practical terms, the candidate who wins the Republican primary is almost certain to become the next governor. One of DeSantis’ most prominent policy positions has been, and remains, unwavering support for Israel.

Enter Fishback, who until recently was virtually unknown, declaring himself a candidate in the Republican primaries and the “heir to DeSantis as Florida’s Republican governor.”

To win, however, Fishback needs attention. That is because he is facing a rival whom Trump has already anointed for the job, Congressman Byron Donalds. Donalds is a veteran and well known politician. Fishback, by contrast, emerged out of nowhere, Mamdani style. His method, therefore, mirrors that of his counterpart in the Big Apple: adopting a populist and extreme line, with a focus on the cost of living, the number one issue in US public opinion.

The first victim he identified along the way was, unsurprisingly, Israel. Last Friday, Fishback posted a pledge to “pull all Florida investments out of Israel’s bonds on my first day in office. Over the past two years, Florida sent $385 million to the Israeli government through bond purchases on the open market. That money should have been invested in our communities,” he wrote, in language designed to inflame voters unfamiliar with the details.

These claims are, of course, fake news. Florida’s investment was made on professional financial grounds. In any case, a state law prohibits boycotts of Israel, meaning such a move would not pass. Even so, Fishback’s post on X alone garnered 36,000 likes and two million views. By comparison, almost every other post he publishes struggles to reach even 1,000 likes. This was not his only anti Israel outburst. Fishback has also praised, among others, supporters of neo Nazi figure Nick Fuentes.

At present, Fishback enjoys virtually no support in internal Republican polling. However, there are still many months to go before the election. Moreover, primaries tend to be more surprising and more extreme than general elections. Either way, what should concern Israel is the audacity to float such a hostile proposal in one of the most pro Israel states in the US. This is further evidence of the strengthening negative trends within the party that has served as an anchor of support for Israel for decades, and of the speed with which this trend is spreading.

Netanyahu is the architect of the alliance between Israel and the Republican Party. In his conversation with the president, he must address the need to stop a phenomenon that, at the end of the road, endangers US support for Israel.

Ariel Kahana is Israel Hayom’s senior diplomatic and White House correspondent.