Friday, November 06, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Trump’s ‘support’ for Israel was never a gift. He cared more about the way Christians viewed it, than the lives of American Jews, made Israel a partisan issue, and harmed public opinion towards Israel. Remember, Trump cares only about himself.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 6, 2020
I disagree about Trump's view of Israel for various reasons. However, rather than argue, I propose a simple test to see if Trump's pro-Israel stance was self-serving or something he believes in.
Assuming that he has lost the election, he is a lame duck president.
If he ignores Israel in his remaining weeks in office, then that would strongly indicate that Mazzig is right.
If he works to do more things that are good for Israel, then that would strongly indicate that Trump really is pro-Israel.
This is not a perfect test. He could ignore Israel during upcoming weeks if he is fixated on overturning the election results, he could do pro-Israel things if he thinks he would run in 2024. But I think this would be a pretty good test as to Trump's commitment to Israel's security.
UPDATE 1: I think I win Round 1:
The Trump administration, in coordination with Israel and several Gulf states, is pushing a plan to slap a long string of new sanctions on Iran in the 10 weeks left until Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, two Israeli sources briefed on the effort told me.The Trump administration’s envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the sanctions plan....Abrams said in a closed briefing several days ago that the Trump administration wants to announce a new set of sanctions on Iran every week until Jan. 20, a source who was privy to the briefing told me.The Israeli sources told me the planned sanctions are not connected to the Iranian nuclear program — such sanctions are more likely to be canceled by a Biden administration and open the door to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.Instead, the goal is to impose sanctions on Iran that are connected to its ballistic missile program, Iranian assistance to terror organizations and Iranian human rights violations.
