The Real Deal
President Donald J. Trump is a good friend to Israel. Is he the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House? I would say yes, but the bar is not that high. In 1948, Harry Truman recognized the new State of Israel within twenty minutes of its declaration of independence. He then imposed an arms embargo on the region, so as “ not to exacerbate the violence”. Really what that meant was that he was not going to threaten oil imports to the U.S. from Arab countries who were about to invade Israel. This earned him a street in Jerusalem bearing his name. John F. Kennedy has a memorial named for him, Yad Kennedy, in the Jerusalem area. Other than lifting the arms embargo implemented by Truman, Kennedy did little else other than speak of Israel’s right to exist, and the need for the two sides to find a way to live together.
Hardly earth-shattering. But it seems like the template for U.S. policy towards Israel ever since, with a few bumps in the road, both positive and negative. Richard Nixon and his support during the Yom Kippur installment of our war for independence is an example of the former, and Barack Obama’s criticize-Israel-at every-turn policy more recently is an example of the latter.
Trump’s first term saw him move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognize the city as Israel’s eternal capital, and recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. More than that, however, was the feel, the ambience, the atmosphere, between the U.S. and Israel. There was no longer the daily exercise of calling out Israel on one thing or another – whether it be settlement policy, or the treatment of the violently hostile minority population. It felt healthier, friendlier, more cognizant of the source of the conflict. This time around, his support for Israel’s struggle with Hamas has assisted immeasurably in weakening Hamas, and in helping bring home all the hostages.
We are not the only pot that Trump has on the stove. Within our fight is his desire to close the ultimate deal. Whether it’s the Deal of the Century, or the Key to the Nobel Prize Deal, or whatever, it throws how he interacts with us into a different direction. It now seems that what is more important than a secure Israel is the survival of the cease fire between Israel and Hamas. Or, at least, to be able to say that the cease fire is holding in the face of continued, blatant violations. Simultaneously, American envoys are moving around the region, conducting talks in order to keep the cease fire in place. One need not be an expert international relations/political scientist guy to see the contradiction here.
It seems to me that this is a result of once again, trying to come up with a solution to the conflict that does anything but give Israel full (or any) control of what happens in Gaza. Talk about international forces, and demands on Israel to be patient and show restraint in the face of cease fire violations, both in Gaza and Lebanon, do nothing but show that while much has changed in our relations with the U.S. under Trump, the agenda gets kind of lost in confusion. So let us be clear: our goal is not the maintaining of the process/cease fire, but the attainment of a solid and stable security for our borders and our citizens. The only way to get that is for us to decide what happens, for us to be in control, for us to impose the conditions for peace. Anything else is just a regurgitation of what has already been shown to be a waste of time and lives.