As the deadline to vote in the US nears there is a singular fact that all Jewish American voters must recollect. Between 2017 and 2021 America’s policies in the Middle East and Israel were successful.
During this period, US policies and decision-making ushered in a period of relative peace. This era culminated in 2021 with the Abraham Accords, the first Arab-Israeli peace treaty in a generation.
If you, like me, are an American Jew, you probably remember this time. The Abraham Accords sparked hope not only for peace. We imagined a future Middle East that might transform into the planet’s newest and largest economic cooperation zone. It would be fueled by Israeli high-tech know-how, Arab Oil, key trade corridors, Israeli water tech and agritech, and tourism.
This bold vision is alive but on life support. After January 2021, as Biden and Harris took office, optimism faded as US policies, actions, and rhetoric shifted suddenly and radically. What followed was unexplained inaction and often willful ignorance of basic facts and the history and culture of the Middle East.
Iran, previously throttled and starved for cash and friends in 2020, was enriched and back on the march in 2021. The tentacles of its terror network were revitalized and more aggressive than ever. They soon touched nearly every Middle Eastern country, especially Israel.
The Biden-Harris administration’s policies have been an abject and bloody failure. Their actions and inactions have escalated conflicts, triggered new ones, emboldened terrorists, shattered economies, and shattered lives. Only a fool can deny a connection between America’s abdication and malpractice in the Middle East and the present wars Israel is fighting on several fronts against Iran and its proxies.
By contrast, as you contemplate your vote as a Jewish American, please recall the following from when President Trump was in the White House:
Point 1: Actual Peace for Jews. Under President Trump’s leadership the period from 2017 to 2021 was one of relative calm in the Middle East. This was not coincidental. It was thanks to wise policy choices, steady support for our most important strategic ally, Israel, and demonstrating our resolve. Several books have been written about how this was achieved.
Point 2: Peace Treaties. Trump and his advisors envisioned and then consummated an actual peace treaty. The treaty is called the Abraham Accords. From 2020 and 2021 Trump persuaded four countries to sign on. They were Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan. The United Arab Emirates also normalized relations with Israel. A second Trump administration may see more countries sign the Accords, including Saudi Arabia. The value of Saudi Arabia’s participation cannot be underestimated.
Point 3: Jerusalem. It is hard to believe that this needed to be done, but it did. Trump was the first president with the guts to enforce the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. The US Embassy moved to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.
Point 4: The Golan Heights. Trump put to rest a generation-long border dispute with Syria over Israel’s northern border. After multiple wars and skirmishes, Israel won and held the strategic Golan Heights during the Six-Day war in June of 1967. On March 25, 2019, the US recognized the Golan Heights as being part of Israel.
Point 5: Legal Protections for Jewish Students. For over a decade we have seen antisemitism grown on US campuses. Yet university administrators did little to help. On December 11, 2019, Trump issued an order clarifying what even an Ivy League Ph.D. apparently could not comprehend: That Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination against Jews. How much worse would campus life be today without this?
Our Jewish friends, family members, and colleagues in Israel live in the tough neighborhood that is the Middle East. They and their sons and daughters often must fight and die to maintain their security. Shouldn't you trust the judgment of 7 million Israeli Jews?
In Israel, 20% say Vice President Harris would be better than President Trump for Israel's security. Nearly three times that number support President Trump. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/israel-us-election-poll-trump-harris-vote-preference/story?id=114474257
Outside of the Jewish community’s deeply Democrat political circles most Americans feel the same way as Israeli Jews. Recent polls show Trump has a 15% lead on the question of whether he or Vice President Kamala Harris would better handle the Israel-Hamas war (See Reuters report).
From Democrats all I seem to hear is name-calling. Trump is Hitler. A fascist. A Nazi. A Russian agent. The refrains are as endless as they are ridiculous. How discordant these labels are for a man with Jewish grandchildren. Two weeks ago, President Trump visited the Ohel of Lubavitcher Rebbe to commemorate the anniversary of October 7 in a Jewish cemetery.
You do not have to love President Trump. You do not need to like him. Yet please consider looking at President Trump’s well-conceived policies and his record in the Middle East. If you vote for personalities instead of policies, you risk relegating the US Presidential election to the status and dignity of your high school president election.
In this dangerous age, it is in America’s national interest to bolster and support its strategic ally. For Americans who struggle to understand this relationship, think of Israel as an American aircraft carrier; but one that can never be sunk and which is parked eternally on the edge of Western Civilization.
Our strategic ally needs full-throated American support, not equivocation, excuses, and willful ignorance. Which candidate is more likely to deliver?
Rami Chris Robbins is a Jewish American writer who focuses on Middle East issues and policy. He is at present helping as an unpaid volunteer for the Donald Trump campaign and recently returned from a volunteering trip in Israel. He is based in Denver, Colorado and spends part of the year in Israel.