President Trump’s policy toward Israel – underlying assumptions

Peloni:  The US-Israeli alliance has the benefit of being between two nations who share a world view based on ideology and values, but the US-Israel alliance will always represent the overlapping interests which exist between the US and Israel.  The campaign to introduce daylight during the Obiden regimes seriously betrayed and damaged the interests of both America and Israel as it literally and figuratively supported terrorism against the interests of both the US and Israel.  The second Trump term has the potential of being even more robust in reaffirming the US interest and Israeli interests than was his first term.  It will require a turn away from Qatari influence, Hezbollah support, and finally eliminating the threat from Iran.  Doing so will grant greater security to Israel and the US, and securing Israel in the region provides the US  with the double benefit of securing US interests in the region.  A strong, secure Israel representing US interests in the region is an American interest, and it remains as a key component of securing the Trump Doctrine.

Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: US-Israel Initiative” | February 16, 2025

The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

1. President Trump is not an impartial leader. As expected, he is driven by US interests, determining that Israel’s capabilities and track record have been a unique force and dollar multiplier for the US, commercially and militarily, technologically and operationally.

2. President Trump views Islamic terrorism as a threat to Western democracies, including the US (“The Great American Satan”) – a mutual threat to both the US and Israel. He is aware of NATO’s vacillation (No Action Talk Only), and its unwillingness to flex any effective military and political muscle against Islamic terrorism. Also, all pro-US Arab regimes have the machetes of Iran’s Ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood at their throats. Thus, Israel is the most potent, reliable and experienced ally in the US’ battle against Islamic terrorism. Trump views Israel as an essential ally in his attempt to end wars and terrorism, which requires the obliteration – not containment – of the epicenters of war and terrorism (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, Hamas and Hezbollah).

3. President Trump aspires to minimize US military presence in the Middle East. However, he does not ignore the critical role played by the Middle East as the main epicenter of global anti-US Islamic terrorism and drug trafficking, and the site of 48% of global oil reserves. Also, the Middle East is a junction of critical trade routes between Asia and West Europe, stretching between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf and between Europe, Asia and Africa. President Trump considers Israel as the only effective ally to fill in the vacuum created by a US military withdrawal, serving as a US strategic beachhead, while not requiring US military personnel, only US military hardware – the largest US aircraft carrier with no Americans on board.

4. President Trump (just like most Americans, most Capitol Hill legislators and his entire foreign policy and national security team) identifies Israel as part of the forces of Good in their battle against the forces of Evil, which underscores Islamic terrorism.

5. President Trump realizes that Islamic (and Palestinian) terrorism is driven by a fanatic anti-Western ideology, not by despair. He has concluded that terrorism must be defeated, not contained.

6. President Trump supports Israel’s obligation to defeat terrorism, not just Israel’s right to defend itself. He is aware that Israel’s victory over Islamic terrorism is also a US’ victory.

7. President Trump realizes that Israel’s capabilities have played a key role in the defense of all pro-US Arab regimes (e.g., Jordan), which are targeted by Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and other forms of Islamic terrorism.

8. During his first Administration, President Trump evicted the establishment of the State Department from the center stage of policy-making, because Foggy Bottom has systematically failed in its Middle East policy. Thus, it was the defiance of the State Department’s Palestinian-centered worldview, which paved the road to four additional Israel-Arab peace treaties (the Abraham Accords).

9. Unlike the State Department’s worldview, President Trump does not consider Israel to be part of the problem, but a major part of the solution. He does not believe in soothing – but defeating – terrorism, and considers Gaza as a terror-state, where the population idolizes terrorism.

10. Contrary to the multilateral and cosmopolitan worldview of the of the State Department’s establishment, President Trump does not aspire to establish a policy-common-denominator with the traditionally anti-US and anti-Israel UN and UN-related international organizations. President Trump prefers independent US national security action in collaboration with effective allies, such as Israel, rather than mortgaging US policy to the UN and ineffective Western allies.

11. President Trump is aware that Israel’s posture of deterrence has made it a unique ally, enhancing the US’ regional and global strategic posture. He appreciates Israel as a site of an innovation center for some 250 US high tech giants, which has contributed to the US global technological edge. Moreover, he knows that Israel has been the triple-A-store and cost-effective battle-tested laboratory of the US defense and aerospace industries, yielding a mega-billion-dollar bonanza to the US taxpayer through research and development savings, enhanced US competitiveness in the global market, increased US exports and expanded US employment.