The Jewish state is less secure because Trump has not been Israel’s friend | Opinion
“Israel Said to Be Source of Secret Intelligence Trump Gave to Russians,” said a New York Times headline on May 16, 2017. While this story reads like a spy novel, it was all too real for the United States’ top intelligence and defense partner in the Middle East, Israel. President Trump placing his own personal relationship with Vladimir Putin above U.S.-Israel ties was not surprising, sadly, but it betrayed Israel’s trust and harmed its security.
Trump’s policies frequently jeopardized Israel’s security, undermined Israel’s Jewish and democratic future, and turned Israel into a domestic political football. While some credit Trump with popular decisions like moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, a closer analysis shows that he has endangered the Jewish state in many ways.
Iran, bent on acquiring nuclear weapons and arming its terrorist proxies, is the biggest threat Israel faces. But Trump emboldened Iran through failed and reckless policies, including his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. Under the deal, Iran was kept at least one year away from a nuclear weapon. With the deal in tatters, that is now down to less than six months. Iran has increased its malign activities including recent cyberattacks on Israel, strikes in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and harassing U.S. troops in Iraq. Meanwhile, the United States is more isolated than ever, unable to gain support from its allies to extend a U.N. arms embargo on Iran or to snap back multilateral nuclear sanctions.
In 2018, Trump announced via tweet his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Israelis were shocked by this sudden reversal, even as they conducted an ongoing campaign against Iranian forces in Syria. The pullout (only partially completed) relieved pressure on Iran, the Assad regime and Hezbollah, while ceding even more influence in Syria to Russia. Major Gen. Amiram Levin, former commander of Israeli Northern Command, said, “As long as Trump is in power, Israel has no one to rely on.”
The same decision saw the United States abandon its Kurdish allies — the ground troops who fought bravely to defeat ISIS — raising questions about America’s word. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned in protest. Here, Trump is consistent: He regularly excoriates the United States’ closest partners, calling into question solemn commitments to allies from NATO to South Korea, and treating alliances as transactional protection rackets. The damage to U.S. credibility is harmful to Israel, which benefits immeasurably from the image of a reliable, respected United States as its closest ally.
Trump has also undercut effective security cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, which has prevented many terrorist attacks and saved lives by eliminating longstanding U.S. funding to train Palestinian Authority security forces. When Israeli officials called this assistance “critical for Israel’s security,” Trump said, “If it is that important to Netanyahu he should pay the Palestinians $12 million.”
Trump has also jeopardized Israel’s status as a Jewish and democratic state by abandoning historic U.S. support for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. Trump’s support for unilateral Israeli annexation of West Bank territory runs counter to the very idea of a negotiated outcome. It would force Israel to choose between its Jewishness and democracy. Meanwhile, Trump ceased all diplomatic contact with Palestinians, denying the United States the influence it needs to help shape a peaceful outcome.
Normalizing relations with Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain is positive for Israel. But the deal Trump concocted will provide a prized American military asset — the F-35 fighter aircraft — to the UAE as a quid pro quo, undercutting the U.S. commitment to ensure Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) over its neighbors. Israel’s security experts have raised serious concerns about an erosion of Israel’s advantage and Trump’s failure to consult meaningfully with them before deciding to proceed.
Trump has worked to divide Americans over Israel. He calls the 70 percent of Jewish Americans who vote for Democrats “disloyal,” cynically cracking the broad, bipartisan foundation of American support for Israel. Amazingly, he has done so while indulging neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, failing to condemn white supremacists and feeding the growth of anti-Semitism on his watch.
In this election, Joe Biden is the candidate who will end the cynical politicization of Israel, avoid undermining Israel’s security, keep the two-state solution alive and oppose anti-Semitism wherever it appears. For those who care about Israel, the U.S.-Israel relationship and fighting anti-Semitism, Biden is the president we need.
Eric Lynn served as senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2009-2014. Daniel Shapiro served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2011-2017.
