DONALD TRUMP: GOOD FOR ISRAEL

In March 2019, Trump did what no other president had the courage to do: He recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel and recognized Israel’s, rather than Syria’s, sovereignty over that area.

By: Mike Lewis

Outlet: JPost

Date: 6.23.19

The campaign for the 2020 presidential election has begun and Donald Trump is already the winner! There is no possibility that any of the Democratic candidates can compete with President Trump when it comes to Israel.

On the weekend of June 15, I spoke at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York. Speaking prior to me was Eliot Engel. He touted Barack Obama’s stance toward Israel and all he had done. It was little more than a joke!

When I stood up, I talked about the man who is really the greatest supporter of Israel: Donald Trump. Immediately, there was a standing ovation. Every thinking individual is aware that Trump has done more for Israel than any other American president.

The pro-Israel Evangelical vote is definitely in the president’s corner. There is little, if any, possibility that another candidate can compete with that powerful voting bloc. It is united behind Trump and his promises made and kept.

Trump has stood with Israel in a number of ways since taking office. He vowed to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. His promise was fulfilled on Monday, May 14, 2018, when he officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital.

After taking office, the president appointed former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as UN ambassador. She is a strong conservative and a supporter of Israel. In her opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2017, Haley stated that “nowhere has the UN’s failure been more consistent and more outrageous than in its bias against our close ally Israel.” Trump has been America’s greatest voice against UN anti-Israel bias.

In Israel on a school-sponsored trip to study Israeli start-up companies as part of his MBA curriculum, Taylor Force, a US Army veteran and graduate of West Point Military Academy, had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. While strolling along the boardwalk in Jaffa, Bashar Masalha, a knife-wielding Palestinian, suddenly began to attack people on the promenade, fatally stabbing Force and wounding 10 others, five critically. Sadly, Force, having safely navigated the dangerous sands of two war-torn countries, would now travel home from the Middle East in a coffin, the victim of a terrorist.

Trump has supported the implementation of the Taylor Force Act. This legislation is designed to end financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority unless or until it halts compensation to terrorists and/or their families. The PA is well known for its so-called Martyrs Fund, money paid to those killed, incapacitated or jailed as a result of attacks on Israelis. The fund has been labeled “pay for slay,” as fanatics are rewarded for violence. Trump signed the Taylor Force Act into law on March 23, 2018.

Trump reinstated sanctions against Iran, the leading supplier of arms and funds to terrorists globally. He has been working with other nations in the Middle East to establish an alliance with Sunni Muslim nations whose leaders were highly skeptical of any plan that would leave Iran with the ability to produce the materials necessary for the production of atomic weapons. In a decade, the Obama deal with the Iranians will have expired, leaving Iran with the existing substructure necessary to produce an atomic bomb. Added to that is the report that the “binding agreement” pushed by the Obama administration was never even signed by the Iranians.

Trump authorized passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA contained $550 million in support for Israel. At the same time, it provisionally halted the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, while supplying the same jets to Israel. Whereas Saudi Arabia was once an enemy and Turkey an ally, times have changed. Saudi Arabia has moved up on the “allies” ladder, while Turkey has slipped several rungs.

In March 2019, Trump did what no other president had the courage to do: He recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel and recognized Israel’s, rather than Syria’s, sovereignty over that area.

This move is a reasonable endeavor to provide safety for Israel’s people. The tiny state is surrounded by deadly enemies, even within its own borders. The nation must not relinquish a single tactical advantage. Trump’s move is one more logical step in securing Israel’s existence.

Trump is one of the most-liked presidents in Israel. He has an excellent working relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has appointed conservative David Friedman as US ambassador to Israel.

Netanyahu has commended the president for having “changed history” by acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He has also applauded Trump for his “robust defense of Israel’s right of self-defense” and for championing Israel at the UN – something few others have been brave enough to do.

The writer is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author with 89 published books. He is the founder of Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, of which the late president Shimon Peres, Israel’s ninth president, was the chairman. He also serves on the Trump Evangelical Faith Initiative.