LAS VEGAS — Even as former President Donald Trump drew a characteristically enthusiastic crowd response on Thursday during a virtual address to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual donor summit in Las Vegas, his remarks still fell short of advancing any new Middle East policy proposals that would help demonstrate how his approach to Israel’s war with Hamas might differ from the Biden administration.

Instead, the former president continued to invoke his oft-repeated claim that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks “would never have happened” if he had been in the White House, while casting Vice President Kamala Harris as an anti-Israel radical whose policies would embolden Iran and its terrorist proxies in the region.

“This November, we’re going to replace weakness with strength, cowardice with courage and clarity, and war with peace,” Trump said in largely scripted remarks that were broadcast to a packed ballroom at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. “When I left office, America was safe,” he added. “Israel was safe, the Jewish people were safe, and the whole world was at peace.”

Speaking from New York, Trump — who began his 15-minute speech with an acknowledgment of the six hostages recently murdered by Hamas in Gaza — ran through a list of Middle East policy achievements that he has frequently touted to pro-Israel audiences, including relocating the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states.

“Nothing was ever going to happen without me,” he claimed.

The former president also reiterated his frustrations with Jewish voters do not support him in spite of what he touted as his pro-Israel record. The Jewish state, Trump said, will “be abandoned” if Harris wins the election. “I think you have to explain that to your people because they don’t know it,” he told the room. “They have no idea what they’re getting into.”

“You’re not going to have an Israel if she becomes president,” he said, rephrasing comments he gave at last year’s conference, where he appeared in person. “Israel will no longer exist.”

While he vowed to deport what he called “the “foreign jihad sympathizers” and crack down on pro-Hamas demonstrators, Trump did not share any substantive plans to address the war between Israel and Hamas — even as Jewish conservatives have slammed the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict.

“When I’m president, the United States will once again stand shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel,” he said broadly. “I will support Israel’s right to win its war on terror, and we will win fast.”

The former president said he would “help Israel become great again,” while imploring the crowd to “get Jewish people who love Israel” to vote for him in the November election. “You must get them to vote for Trump.”

Despite an absence of detailed policies, the crowd was enlivened by Trump’s remarks to the summit, which featured speeches from some disenchanted Democrats who are now supporting his campaign. 

“I did not support Trump in 2016, I did not support Trump in 2020. Hell, I did not support Trump six months ago,” said Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish campus activist and former progressive Democrat who has drifted away from his party in the wake of Hamas’ attacks. “The Democratic Party has taken the Jewish vote and Jewish voters for granted for far too long,” he said, “and come this November, I will be supporting, I will be endorsing, and I will be voting for President Trump.”

The line-up at the summit also included House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), addressing the crowd remotely from Italy, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Dr. Miriam Adelson, the pro-Israel megadonor who is among Trump’s chief benefactors in the election.

In rare public remarks to the RJC conference on Thursday, Adelson —  the widow of the late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — called Trump “our best friend” and said she was “eagerly waiting for him to enter the White House to save the Jewish people.”