First – full disclosure: I prefer the Trump administration to the Biden administration.
I estimate that the majority of Israeli citizens would agree.
Last week, after the agreement between the Houthis and the US, followers contacted me asking what I thought about “the slap Trump gave Israel” in this regard.
This was joined by numerous headlines in Israeli media outlets over the past week claiming: “Trump does whatever he wants and doesn’t consider Israel.”
Let’s start with the very important fact:
Trump is the president of the United States, and was elected to serve the United States, not the citizens of Israel.
Trump and the vast majority of senior officials in his administration have not hidden their support for Israel in the past and are not hiding it now.
This may surprise many of you (although I hope not), but Israel was a particularly marginal issue in US elections, usually not even in the top ten. This was evidenced by many polls during the months before the election (some of which were presented here on the channel). The “ticket” on which Trump was elected is: the economy and immigration. This is what bothers Americans, even though it seems to us in Israel that everything revolves around us.
This should be your basic premise.
Another assumption, which has been proven as a fact, is that Israeli interests are important to Trump, and when they do not conflict with American interests, then Trump acts in favor of Israeli interests.
The Houthi issue
Trump did not have to launch such a massive attack on the Houthis – dozens of attacks every evening for a month and a half (approximately 1,700 attacks, according to a figure cited by the Houthi leader, during which the US lost 2 F-18s and approximately 7 extremely expensive UAVs).
I thank him for doing it and I’m not mad at him for stopping it. He didn’t owe me anything in the first place. When someone does me a favor, I’m grateful. When someone stops doing me a favor, it doesn’t mean I harbor resentment for it, because it’s essentially a gift.
Trump takes care of the US. Israel takes care of Israel. Many times it’s tangential. Not always. That’s how it works.
If Trump only did what Israel wanted, he would be in trouble with his voters. With his power base.
The Iranian nuclear issue
This is a central issue for Israel, one of the most important. As of this writing, the Trump administration has declared its opposition to Iran enriching uranium, threatened to attack Iran, and armed Israel over the top with almost everything it needs to attack the Iranian nuclear program.
Should we complain about this?
In the meantime, you need to be patient.
The issue of Edan Alexander
How dare Trump release an American citizen, negotiating with Hamas “at Israel’s expense and without asking it? This is truly terrible, a mortal blow to Israel.”
Well, no!
I don’t think so at all. I welcome the release of every Israeli hostage in any way, as long as Israel doesn’t give up on destroying the Hamas regime and doesn’t give up on its ground achievements in the Strip. Everything is good and kosher in my opinion. As far as I’m concerned, if Abu Mazen will bring about the release of the hostages, if Abu Muhammad al-Julani will do it, even the president of Iran – its good for me. I’ll thank everyone for every hostage. And the more, the better.
The issue of ending the war in the Gaza Strip
Trump, like all of us, wants the war to end. It prevents him from advancing processes in the Middle East. At the same time, Trump is arming Israel with all the weapons it requests to complete the job in Gaza. He publicly supports the evacuation of the Gaza Strip from its residents. He supports Israel in the face of challenges in the international arena (the UN, the Hague, Europe, and more).
