Kasich for America said in a statement provided to JNS.org that the U.S.-Israel relationship “is one of our most important [relationships] because of the role it plays in advancing our shared national interests and helping stabilize what is a very tough neighborhood of the world. It is also mutually beneficial to our economies and is a reflection of our shared values.”

“The governor’s support for Israel and engagement with its leaders goes back decades and reflects his fundamental belief that supporting Israel is simply the right thing to do,” Kasich for America said, adding, “Friends will always disagree and that’s okay, but friends also extend one another the courtesy of disagreeing in private and supporting one another in public, and that’s the approach that the governor will bring to all of America’s important allied relationships.”

Kasich came out strongly against last summer’s Obama administration-brokered nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers. Even in his current capacity as a state governor, rather than a member of Congress, Kasich personally attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s much-discussed March 2015 speech to Congress in opposition of the emerging deal.

“When Netanyahu recently spoke to Congress, John cleared his calendar and made the trip to DC to support Bibi,” Kastan said, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

Kasich said he believes the U.S. should have walked away from the negotiations with Iran, like Reagan did for talks with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. 

“Just remember Reagan in Reykjavik (Iceland’s capital), where [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev said, ‘Look, get rid of all nuclear weapons,’ and I remember Reagan getting back in the car and saying, ‘No, we’re not gonna do that,’” Kasich told Fox News last July.

Beth El Congregation’s Grundfast questioned the significance of Kasich’s pro-Israel position. 

“Every politician is pro-Israel. That doesn’t mean very much to me. They can’t not be pro-Israel. If anybody wants to criticize [Israel], they’ll be thrown under the bus….Barack Obama tried to do that and he’s been skewered by many people. I’m sure [Kasich] is as pro-Israel as all the other candidates have to be,” said the rabbi.

Kastan, however, believes that Kasich’s support for Israel is sincere and deeply personal.

“It is not just important to observe what is in John’s head, but what is in his heart,” Kastan said. “Sure, he supports Israel because it is good for America. But, he also believes there can be no light between the U.S. and Israel because of the shared values between the two countries. He has a record of over 35 years of unwavering support for the Jewish state.” 

Despite his strong showing in New Hampshire, Kasich faces an uphill battle for the nomination in a year when many Republican voters are angry at the direction of the country and dissatisfied with traditional politics, pushing them towards non-traditional candidates like Trump, who won the New Hampshire primary.

Nevertheless, OJC’s Beigelman said Jewish voters can find “common ground” with Kasich, the type of leader who “defies labels.”

“From expanding healthcare to school choice, to protecting the dignity of Holocaust survivors, to helping those in need get a hand up, to containing Iran…there are many areas [in which] independent-minded voters, including Jewish voters, could find common ground with him,” Beigelman said. 

Kastan, similarly, said Kasich “has his own moral compass and does what he believes to be the right thing.”

“All Americans want is a [president] who understands how to bring our country together to solve problems. John is doing that in Ohio,” Kastan said.

Moderate candidates “are always a good choice,” said Grundfast. 

“When you get the extremes on both sides, left and right, you’re talking to the fringe elements. [Kasich] does work with Congress, he does work with the Democrats, and that’s important. We haven’t had that in a long time,” he said.

“I think he’s a person that might be amenable to having a discussion, and to sit down and try to come up with some kind of compromise,” Grundfast added, noting that he believes other GOP candidates such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) or Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) are not as willing to compromise, while “who knows what’s going to be” with Trump.

While Grundfast expects Kasich to get a spike in campaign funding after his success in New Hampshire, he said that a more significant test for the governor will be the forthcoming primaries/caucuses in South Carolina and other states with more diverse populations than New Hampshire and Iowa, the states whose voters have already spoken,

“He’s been a strong leader here [in Ohio],” said Grundfast. “You have to look at a person overall….He has a folksy, informal type of style, and a lot of experience…I think he gained some traction because he is centrist or not a hard-right type of person, which may or may not be good for him.”