![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jameshfetzer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Trump-no-Zionist-feataured-image-.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTrump\u2019s Election Saved Jews, But He\u2019s No Zionist<\/h2>\n
Mitchell Bard Recall the alarming moment when Trump said that if he lost the election, Jewish voters would have played a significant role in that defeat. \u201cIf I don\u2019t win this election\u2014and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens,\u201d he said. This kind of scapegoating could have emboldened his most extreme supporters, unleashing a wave of antisemitism that would have been devastating for Jews around the world.<\/p>\n As president, will Trump stand up to\u00a0antisemitism<\/a>? His supporters believe Biden did not, but will Trump show empathy for a community that he thinks needs their heads examined for supporting his opponent?<\/p>\n Jews may benefit from policies not meant to help them, such as forcing universities and the Department of Education (if he doesn\u2019t abolish it) to reveal the donors and purposes of foreign contributions and addressing the academic rot in universities that have abandoned their educational missions and become captive of the woke, the anti-intellectual, and the un-American.<\/p>\n Has Israel also been saved from what the many Jews who abandoned the Democrats see as the Biden administration\u2019s weakness and failure to fully support Israel\u2019s war for survival?<\/p>\n So far, we only know that Trump wants the wars in the Middle East wrapped up before his inauguration. He hasn\u2019t said how he expects that to happen. He has not threatened to cut aid to Israel like the\u00a0Biden administration<\/a>. He also hasn\u2019t said he would provide the kind of military support Biden gave Israel. Even with ill-advised threats, intentional delivery delays, and embargos on certain weapons, Biden approved roughly $20 billion in arms transfers to Israel, exponentially more than any president.<\/p>\n In his first term, Trump didn\u2019t offer new military transfers to Israel until he needed to secure Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s support for his controversial deal, which Biden canceled, to send F-35s to the\u00a0UAE<\/a>. Biden is committed to defending Israel\u2019s right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state, including providing crucial military support. Trump\u2019s commitment is less clear.<\/p>\n Unlike Biden, Trump does not define himself as a Zionist. Trump lacks the kind of emotional attachment to Israel felt by presidents like Truman, Johnson, Reagan, and Biden. He does not see Israel as a strategic ally, a fellow democracy in a volatile region, or a moral cause deserving of American support.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s support for Israel is transactional. His actions\u2014moving the embassy<\/a>,\u00a0recognizing Jerusalem<\/a>\u00a0as Israel\u2019s capital and the\u00a0Golan Heights<\/a>\u00a0as part of Israel\u2014were more about domestic politics and securing Evangelical support than a deep ideological commitment to Israel. Repeatedly during his presidency and the latest campaign, Trump\u00a0complained<\/a>\u00a0about Jews\u2019 ingratitude for his support of Israel compared to the adoration he received from Christians. From Israel\u2019s perspective, it didn\u2019t matter that Trump did not act out of personal conviction because its interests were met.<\/p>\n In this election, Trump\u00a0courted<\/a>\u00a0Arab and Muslim Americans, who he previously scorned or ignored and who vehemently oppose U.S. support for Israel. Before it was clear that he would win in a rout and sweep the swing states, the outcome in Michigan was viewed as potentially determinative. Trump promised to end the wars in Lebanon and Gaza for the antisemites\u2019 votes. Trump supporters paid for antisemitic ads to court Arabs\u2019 favor, along with campaigns praising Vice President\u00a0Kamala Harris<\/a>\u00a0for being pro-Israel to stoke their anger against her. Ultimately, many Arabs and Muslims preferred to punish Harris even if it meant electing someone who had disdained the Palestinians, supported Israel, and banned immigration from Muslim-majority countries. They naively expect that Trump will end the war to Israel\u2019s disadvantage. Al Jazeera more realistically reported Trump would worsen the plight of the Palestinians and Lebanese.<\/p>\n Trump frequently complained about Israel during his campaign. \u201cIsrael has to do one thing, they have to get smart about Trump because they don\u2019t back me. I did more for Israel than anybody. I did more for the Jewish people than anybody \u2014 and it\u2019s not reciprocal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump famously directed an expletive toward Netanyahu for committing the sin of disloyalty by congratulating Biden on his victory in the \u201crigged\u201d election. He repeatedly criticized Israel\u2019s conduct of the war; it was never clear if this was out of pique toward Netanyahu or his true estimation of Israel\u2019s behavior. His admonition for Netanyahu to \u201cget it over with\u201d was no endorsement of the prime minister\u2019s goal of \u201ctotal victory.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu has been working to get back in Trump\u2019s good graces, starting with his visit to Mar-a-Lago in July. The two have reportedly spoken multiple times since the election, but the indications are that the president-elect\u2019s principal interest is in getting Israel to quit fighting while it is ahead. Trump seems more interested in being able to say no wars were fought while he was president than allowing Israel to fight until its objectives are accomplished.<\/p>\n Perhaps the best thing for Israel\u2019s long-term security is Trump\u2019s fury over Iran\u2019s plots to assassinate him. He has threatened to blow Iran to \u201csmithereens.\u201d<\/p>\n Does this mean Trump will attack Iran?<\/p>\n It seems unlikely since he wasn\u2019t willing to do it in his first term. He threatened to retaliate if Iran attacked American bases and then called it off at the last minute. Attacking Iran would ruin his claim that he keeps America out of wars.<\/p>\n Trump will resume the \u201cmaximum pressure<\/a>\u201d campaign, but it failed the first time and won\u2019t work now that Iran is on the cusp of joining the nuclear weapons club. Iran now believes a bomb is its only defense against Israel and its only means of destroying the Jewish state.<\/p>\n Some speculate Trump will let Israel take out Iran\u2019s oil and nuclear facilities, which Biden kept Netanyahu from doing. That, too, might force him to use American forces, and the impact on energy prices would damage the economy he promised to improve. Perhaps he will be satisfied if Israel limits the attack to the nuclear targets.<\/p>\n Rather than fomenting war, Trump is talking more about peace, again suggesting that his negotiating skills will turn the Middle East into Eden. He brought a vital sliver of peace through the\u00a0Abraham Accords<\/a>\u00a0but did not pacify the region or eliminate the Iranian threat that led to October 7. Trump is now talking, absurdly, about bringing Iran into the Accords (presumably before blowing them to bits). He also wants to resurrect the peace plan that proved that, contrary to his boasts, he couldn\u2019t solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Still, this may not be as foolish as it sounds. By accepting the Trump plan, which would establish a Palestinian state, Israel could provide the Saudis the fig leaf they need to move ahead with\u00a0normalization<\/a>, provided Trump is prepared to meet the Saudis\u2019 real concerns: a defense treaty, more weapons, and nuclear technology. Since the Palestinians will not accept the plan and never would meet its terms for statehood, they will again be sidelined, leaving Arab Americans with buyer\u2019s remorse.<\/p>\n In Lebanon, Israel appears willing to accept a ceasefire if\u00a0Hezbollah<\/a>\u00a0can be forced north of the Litani River and the Lebanese Army takes control over the south. Trump has no apparent interest in anything but the war ending, so that should satisfy him. He has given no indication, however, of how to resolve the current impasse.<\/p>\n Regarding the\u00a0future of Gaza<\/a>, Trump has said nothing, but unlike Biden, he is likely to acquiesce in the Israeli occupation of a buffer zone. It\u2019s unclear whether he will continue Biden\u2019s policy of pressuring Israel on humanitarian aid or decide to leave it to others to figure out.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to imagine Trump threatening to cut aid to Israel, though UCLA Israel Studies professor Dov Waxman told the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0<\/em>Trump is more likely than previous presidents to cut aid to Israel. Since Waxman\u2019s analyses are consistently wrong, there\u2019s no reason to believe him. For one, the new Republican majority Congress is not going to cut aid to Israel; second, aid is already approved for the coming years based on the renewed Memorandum of Understanding (and Trump approved Obama\u2019s original\u00a0MOU<\/a>); third, Trump has given no indication he wants to punish Israel and, fourth, unlike the current Secretary of State, Trump nominee\u00a0Marco Rubio<\/a>\u00a0is not a State Department\u00a0Arabist<\/a>\u00a0bent on sabotaging U.S.-Israel relations.<\/p>\n Trump doesn\u2019t need to adopt favorable policies on Israel or anything else to win votes now. He can\u2019t move the embassy twice or re-recognize Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital and the Golan as part of Israel. Trump doesn\u2019t talk about Israel in biblical terms; he has no religious beliefs, so he won\u2019t be comparing himself as Truman did to Cyrus. He called himself Israel\u2019s \u201cprotector,\u201d but that may only have been a campaign slogan. He wants to focus on America\u2019s interests, and he doesn\u2019t want Israel distracting him.<\/p>\n For Israel, the hope is that the policies\u2014if not the ideology\u2014will continue to serve its security interests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nFor partisans,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0is either the devil or the Messiah. We will only know at the end of four years. We do know the Jewish community\u2019s immediate well-being was spared by his victory. Israel\u2019s fate is not so certain.<\/p>\n