Zvika Klein, the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, recently wrote an open letter to US President Donald Trump. He expressed his bewilderment with Trump’s behavior, unable to make heads or tails of his recent turnaround over Iran.
He all but begged the president to remember that our children are on the front lines, defending Israel against Hezbollah. “This deal tells us to pull back from the one border where our soldiers are still dying,” Klein wrote.
Something profound was revealed in Klein’s letter, beyond the betrayal. Israelis are starting to realize what’s on the horizon.
President Trump has indeed been the greatest defender of Israel. As is always the case with him, his actions speak louder than words. From moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, authoring the Abraham Accords, to attacking Iran – it seemed like our friendship might never end.
But things are changing.
The push for a new deal between Iran and the US to open the Strait of Hormuz came on suddenly. The concessions made are nearly identical to the Obama Administration’s JCPOA agreement, except that more money was promised to the Mullahs.
It does not require the handing over of nuclear dust, a halting of ballistic missile production, or the cessation of funding Iran’s terror proxies around the world. And worst of all, the agreement is an attempt to constrain Israel’s defense against Hezbollah.
None of this should come as a surprise. Trump is not the messiah. He’s been a good friend to Israel for the majority of his political career, and hopefully, one day, things will return to the way they were. But there’s a chance they may not.
This turn of events is the wake-up call Israel and the Jewish people needed. Trump’s legacy could prove short-lived. JD Vance’s disposition is the future of the Republican Party as indicated by the Senate vote to curb Trump’s powers in the Iran war. None of this bodes well for us.
Vance lashed out at unnamed members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition last week, saying, “Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
The vice president said the quiet part out loud. The US, along with many other nations around the world, has lost patience with Israel. He’s not offering unsolicited advice – it’s an implicit threat of removal of US support for Israel.
And beyond Washington, from Gaza to Iran, much of the world wants us to return to being the weak, pre-Holocaust Jews – and that’s a frightening notion. The potentially fractured alliance between the US and Israel would leave us isolated on the world stage.
We are not alone
What the editor-in-chief misunderstood about this current situation is that we are not alone. While the Republican Party is changing, Israel’s future is one of political self-reliance. It is long overdue for our country to manufacture its own military hardware and strengthen bonds with other allies around the world.
But what is most important for all of us to remember is that no matter the health of our relationship with any other country, America included, we are never truly alone. The Jewish state is unique in the West because we are not a secular nation. This may be why we are inclined to seek out false messiahs. More important than any political savior is remembering who is actually on our side – Hashem.
God has a plan for the Jewish people. Israel needs to foster diplomatic partnerships throughout the world and bolster its military self-reliance. But these relationships cannot be contingent on our own self-defense.
Anyone who demands compromise of an ally’s safety and the safety of its citizens is not a true friend at all. In order to forge our future, we can’t fold our hands and wait to be saved – not by the hands of God or man.
The writer is a rabbi, a wedding officiant, and a mohel who performs britot (ritual circumcisions) and conversions in Israel and worldwide. Based in Efrat, Israel, he is the founder of Magen HaBrit, an organization protecting the practice of brit milah and the children who undergo it.