During the second term, do we have a different Trump?

During the second term, do we have a different Trump?

Before Trump’s first term as a President of United States, me and my friend were having passionate discussions regarding his chance of success. Both of us are devoted to the safety and strength of the State of Israel and its people and Trump’s election platform was pro-Israel and full of love of Jewish people. The effort on the left to prevent Trump’s success was overwhelmingly powerful which led us to hypothesize that only divine intervention, a miracle, can make his bid for the Presidency a reality.

The miracle did happen and Trump became the 45^th President of United States in 2017.  His commitment and steadfastness to the well being and safety of Israel and Israelis was evident throughout the whole first term of the presidency. His crown achievement, the Abraham Accords, his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of American embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, his signing of the proclamation legitimizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel-all was proof that Trump is a staunch supporter of the State of Israel and Jewish people.

Trump’s campaign for re-election for the second Presidency term was unsuccessful. The progressives, by using various machinations, installed their candidate, Joe Biden, to the Presidency of United States in 2021.

In the following years, during Biden’s presidency, Trump was subjected to an unprecedented attack by left forces. A special committee, composed mostly of democrats to denunciate the January 6 riot, was formed and enacted. The left leaning prosecutors and judges have instigated multiple criminal indictments against Trump, among other outrageous actions to compromise the former President.  From the moment, when the Republican party named Trump as their presidential nominee to the time when Trump was elected to Presidency of the United States for the second term, it was a period of the hope for me and my friend. As the first time, we craved for the miracle that God will help the Jewish people by placing in the White House a friend of Israel. It is worthwhile to note that this relationship is reciprocal -most Israelis are accepting Trump as a friend and love him.
The miracle did happen and Trump became the 47^th President of United States in 2025.

But something had occur in the last several weeks that triggered in me and other admirers of Donald Trump a sense of confusion regarding the actions of current President of U.S. toward the State of Israel. First, it is related to Iran and the Trump’s initiative to negotiate with the Islamic state on the subject of the nuclear technology leading to the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs.  To negotiate with Islamic Republic of Iran can be compared to Neville Chamberlain’s talks with Hitler. The Islamic theocracy of Iran and the mentality of Nazi Germany are similar-it allows to lie the other party in order to achieve their goals.

Second, the confusion worsens when I was watching Trump’s meeting with the Israeli enemy Qatar, during the President’s business tour of Persian Gulf states. The sense of confusion was replaced by realization that something fundamentally wrong is happening in front of my eyes.

The history of the Iran’s nuclear program shows a persistent pattern of country’s leadership to advance toward the development of the atomic weapons by secretly building new nuclear sites. The Islamic Republic is consistently ignoring the recommendations and agreements with various organizations and governments to eliminate the militarized nuclear project. It also failing to provide verifiable proof of working toward the use of the nuclear technology for civilian needs. In the breach of the conditions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Iran was  building the clandestine nuclear facilities going back to 2002.

Another specific and important aspect to remember when negotiating with the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose ninety percent of the population are Shia Muslims, is the concept of deception or ‘Taqiyya’ .  It was used for many centuries by the Shi’a Muslims to survive the hostility of another more numerous branches of Islam, the Sunnis. Shia Muslims, to conceal their religious affiliation with the Shi’a teachings in front of the Sunnis, were hiding their own beliefs by actively praying and behaving as if they were Sunnis. This duplicity, when negotiating with the enemy, and United States, ‘the great Satan’, is Iran’s enemy, is the second nature of the country’s Shi’a leadership. To assume that the Islamic Republic of Iran will follow up on the agreement with the United States is the naiveté of highest order or just stupidity.

Although the subject of Nazism is overused in the current political discourse, especially by the U.S. Democrats, who non-stop compare Trump to Hitler and U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency (ICE) to Gestapo, I think it is appropriate to point to the similarities between Islamic Republic of Iran and Hitler Nazi regime. First and foremost, it is the pathological hatred of Jews that makes both dictatorships an ideological soulmate. Second, both totalitarian regimes exhibit outrageous disrespect to international treaties and agreements and, at the same time, publicly hypocritically denying it. The moment Hitler came to power in 1933, he secretly began rebuilding the Germany’s military in violation of the Versailles Treaty of 1919.  Concurrently, in the speech to the Reichstag (Germany’s Parliament) Hitler lied that “Germany needs peace and desire peace”. The Islamic Republic of Iran consistently violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but publicly announcing their nuclear project is for advancing of energy, agriculture and medicine.

The Persian Gulf monarchy Qatar has a population of 300, 000. Seemingly a small country but, as you will see, an ambitious one. Qatar, as one source noted, rewards luxury jumbo jets to the heads of states like medals. The Turkey’s President Erdogan got one in 2018, the Yemen’s late ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh received a plane and the Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was awarded a flying palace in 2000. Recently, the Gulf monarchy offered a $400 million Boeing 747 to American government, with possible use as Air Force One, and President Trump appears is ready to accept the gift.

The ‘generosity’ of the royal family of Qatar not limited to luxury jumbo jets, they are “the largest foreign donor to US universities, funneling over $6.3 billion into schools like Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern”.

Since 2017, the Qataris had invested $ 225 million on lobbing and PR efforts to gain influence in Washington.  The mentioned above activities, ethically questionable, are part of the arsenal of tools to build closer relationship with United States utilized by many countries.  But the use  of Qataris enormous wealth to buy favorable sentiment among American elite goes far beyond the accustomed, “the tiny Gulf nation has spent almost $100 billion to establish its influence in Congress, universities, newsrooms, think-tanks, and corporations”.

The largest US military installation in Middle East, the Al-Udeid air base, is located 18 miles southwest of Qatar’s capital, Doha.  The base was built and given to US without a contract in 2000. In 2002 Doha and Washington officially recognized the US military presence at Al-Udeid base.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies in the publication ’10 Things to Known About Hamas and Qatar’ points that Qatar was funding Hamas despite the terrorist organization’s main goal to destroy the State of Israel is clearly stated in their charter. “Qatar has pumped an estimated $1.8 billion dollars into Hamas-run Gaza” and “Doha pledged $ 360 million of annual support to the enclave in January 2021”. Demonstrating unbelievable moral and ethical corruption the monarchy was blaming Israel not Hamas for the October 07, 2023 barbaric attack. Through the Qatari own network Al Jazeera, the Gulf state government praises the violent action of Hamas toward Israel.

Now, against common sense and logic, Qatar, obvious enemy of the state of Israel and friend of Hamas, is acting as a mediator to facilitate the release of Israeli and foreign hostages from Hamas’s captivity.

The meaning of the phrase ‘Something is wrong in this picture’ does not even touch the extend of the absurdity of the situation.

So, what should be done in complex dilemmas described above? As always, the answer to convoluted situations lays in the simpler but principal solutions. The solution of the Alexander the Great, when he encountered the Gordian Knot, comes to mind. The legend says, instead of assiduously untangling the complex knot, he used his sword to cut it in half.

Regarding the Iran’s nuclear military ambitions, Israel needs to realize (I am sure Benjamin Netanyahu knows this but is still reluctant to announce it publicly) that the main thing Trump wants to leave as his legacy is him as a peacemaker who avoids military confrontation by making deals with hostile countries. Unfortunately, it is, as the above paragraphs explain, dangerously naïve to wait for Iran to follow up on the agreement to eliminate its nuclear military project. It is helpful to remind Donald Trump that Hamas and Qatar would kill his Jewish daughter and his Jewish grandchildren, if they have a chance to do it, because they are Jewish.

Therefore, that leaves, as the only option, for Israel to follow the Begin Doctrine as ” a precedent for every future government in Israel’- the destruction of nuclear military facilities of the enemies of the State of Israel as the only way to avoid the repeat of the Holocaust.

Regarding the Qatar’s role as a mediator to get the hostages back, the only solution is to remove the Golf monarchy from the negation process completely. Qatar is a biased entity which abates, finance and symphonizes with Hamas. The members of Likud, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Parties advancing a bill to designate Qatar as a ‘terror-supporting state’ and “clearing the way for the coalition proposal to be put to a preliminary vote in the Knesset”. The Likud member, Dan Illouz points that “Qatar has been the financial lifeline of Hamas for years, it hosted Hamas leaders in Doha, poured billions into Gaza, gave platforms to Hezbollah and looked the other way as money flowed to jihadists groups” and “Qatar played both arsonist and firefighter; funding Hamas while pretending to mediate”.