Same as the Old Boss. Maybe.

I do not argue with anyone who criticizes U.S. president Donald Trump. In fact, pretty much anything anyone has said to me about him I would not dispute. I don’t care about any of that. My litmus test for a U.S. president has always been how he relates to Israel. (I have that luxury – I am not an American). Even the ones before my time. For example, Harry S Truman has a street named for him here in Jerusalem. Truman was, of course, the first world leader to recognize the state of Israel. He also then imposed an arms embargo to the region, so as “not to exacerbate the violence”. Here you get a street for that. 

It has been that way throughout.  There are stories from the time of each president where an argument could be made on whether a president was good or bad for us. (Except maybe Obama. People point to the MoU and the financial package set up then, but that was more to do with  Congress.) Trump has been far and away better than anyone. In his first term, he could have not moved or recognized anything, and he would still have been better. The feel of the relationship between the two countries was palpably different. This time around, the support for the fight against Hamas has been very significant to our success. No buts.

But as is always the case, as much as it is all about us, it is not all about us. Various U.S. interests are beginning to seep into what we are trying to achieve. We will soon see what the depth of Trump’s commitment to ridding evil and achieving peace actually is, in the face of making America great again. Turkey and Qatar are Hamas. To let them into Gaza is to surrender to Hamas. 

Part of me wants to think that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president are actually playing the enemy, all the while setting things up for it all to fall into place: they know this about that, so if they do this, that will happen. They are both experienced and knowledgeable in their respective fields, with a gushing respect for each other. I would feel much better if their respective expertise and knowledge matched their respective egos. The best to be hoped for is that Trump continues to let us drive the bus, rather than throwing us under it.