In Time Magazine’s lengthy interview with GOP presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump (How Far Trump Would Go), he says he “has come around to the now widespread belief in Israel that a Palestinian state existing side by side in peace is increasingly unlikely. ‘There was a time when I thought two-state could work,’ he says. ‘Now I think two-state is going to be very, very tough.’”
He blames Netanyahu for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, saying, “It happened on his watch.” And when asked whether he would consider “withholding US military aid to Israel to push it toward winding down the war in Gaza, he doesn’t say yes, but he doesn’t rule it out, either.”
As usual, the former president makes his decisions based on personal events. In the case of Netanyahu, once his close friend and ally, Trump remembers the injuries of the past: “I had a bad experience with Bibi,” he says, recalling the January 3, 2020 US operation to assassinate Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to Trump, it was supposed to be a joint attack with Israel, but Netanyahu backed out at the last moment. “That was something I never forgot,” Trump told Time.
Back to the 2-state solution (I imagine most Jews cringe when hearing us being mentioned in one breath with the word “solution,” but maybe it’s just me):
The Trump peace plan, officially titled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People,” was proposed by the Trump administration to resolve the “Israeli–Palestinian” conflict begun in 1878, when the first Jews dared leave the walled city of Jerusalem to settle in Petah Tikvah.
President Trump formally unveiled the plan in a White House press conference alongside PM Netanyahu on January 28, 2020. The plan had been delayed by two years and previously rejected by the “Palestinians,” who were not invited to the meeting.
In other words, Trump gave Netanyahu the friendliest treatment, together with a soon-to-be reneged on call for Israel to impose its sovereignty over the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria – exactly 25 days after Bibi backed out of the Soleimani assassination?
History and vengeance are so fungible when you’re Donald J. trump.
The above bit of real politics and US presidents did not hinder the Chairman of Religious Zionism, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich from piling up the thanks. He issued this statement:
I congratulate the former US president and presidential candidate, a clear supporter of Israel, Donald Trump, for his clear words and the reversal of his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
A Palestinian state would be a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of Israel, and the international pressure to establish it is an injustice on a historical scale, by the Western countries which are ready to endanger the only existing Jewish state due to internal political interests.
The aggressive pressure exerted for the establishment of a Palestinian state against the backdrop of the terrible massacre by Hamas of Israeli citizens on October 7 is a terrible reward for terrorism and a shot of encouragement to Israel’s enemies on the axis of radical Shiite Islam led by Iran.
I hope and pray that more leaders around the world will discover the courage and integrity shown by presidential candidate Trump to change their position, withdraw from turning their backs on the State of Israel and resolutely join hands with us in the fight we are leading in the name of the free world against radical Islam that threatens the peace of the entire world.
As things stand today, among the G20, nine countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey) have recognized “Palestine” as a state, while ten countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States) have not.
But it appears that despite what candidate Trump and Bezalel Smotrich may say today, this count is about to change radically in the near future. And if you were looking for reasons to prefer Trump over Biden come November 5, you just found one. I hope.
