Israel & The Front Runners
Part Two: Donald Trump
By Hal Lindsey
Last week we looked at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s relationship with the nation of Israel. This week we look at the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.
Though not a traditional politician, Mr. Trump has amazing political skills. That can be good or bad. He has the ability to talk at length on a subject, and say far less than he seems to have said. That’s good in that, if elected, it gives him flexibility. But it can leave voters scratching their heads wondering where he actually stands.
Israel makes a good case in point. At the February 25th CNN Republican debate in Houston, Wolf Blitzer quoted Mr. Trump regarding peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. “Let me be sort of a neutral guy. I don’t want to say whose fault it is. I don’t think it helps.”
Blitzer then asked the logical follow-up. “How do you remain neutral when the U.S. considers Israel to be America’s closest ally in the Middle East?”
The real estate tycoon answered by criticizing the Obama Administration’s treatment of the Jewish State. He said President Obama treats Israel “horribly.” He then talked about being Grand Marshall of New York’s “Israeli Day Parade.” He added that he once received the “Tree of Life Award” from Israel.
Finally he came to the point. “As president, however, there’s nothing that I would rather do [than] to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors generally. And I think it serves no purpose to say that you have a good guy and a bad guy. Now, I may not be successful in doing it. It’s probably the toughest negotiation anywhere in the world of any kind. OK? But it doesn’t help if I start saying, ‘I am very pro-Israel, very pro, more than anybody on this stage.’ But it doesn’t do any good to start demeaning the neighbors, because I would love to do something with regard to negotiating peace, finally, for Israel and for their neighbors. And I can’t do that as well — as a negotiator, I cannot do that as well if I’m taking big, big sides. With that being said, I am totally pro-Israel.”
You have to wonder how he can be “very pro-Israel” and “totally pro-Israel,” yet remain neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians contend that Israel is guilty of war crimes. Is he neutral on the question? Shouldn’t the United States speak up on Israel’s behalf? Can a reasonable person be neutral about Hamas building tunnels that put bombs under Israeli pre-schools?
Will it help the cause of peace to pretend that the joint Fatah/Hamas government is not evil to the core? Their leaders take for themselves money that has been given by countries and charities in order to help Palestine’s poor. The leaders lead lavish lifestyles while the poor people who should be getting the help sink deeper into poverty.
The cause of peace is better served by honesty than by a false neutrality. When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union “the evil empire,” liberal critics fell all over themselves. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, we learned that for thousands of influential Russians this criticism brought them to their senses. Instead of politically correct bromides feigning a moral equivalence between the USSR and the USA, Reagan spoke the truth. Critics accused him of endangering the peace. But he was actually building peace on the foundation of truth.
How can Donald Trump be “totally pro-Israel” and at the same time be neutral on Israel? How can a moral person take a neutral position between a terrorist government and a responsible, civilized democracy? When asked to choose between good and evil, choosing neutrality can itself be a form of evil.
In Trump’s favor, he alone of all the candidates seems best able to recognize the inherent danger of Islam. In a CNN interview, he said, “I think Islam hates us. There’s something there that — there’s a tremendous hatred there. There’s a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There’s an unbelievable hatred of us.”
He’s taken a lot of heat for this statement, but refuses to back down. However, while he recognizes Islam’s danger to America, he refuses to apply this knowledge to Israel. Like so many American politicians, he forgets that the Palestinian Authority governs jointly with Hamas.
Like ISIS, Hamas is a radical Islamic terror group. Even the European Union has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. Until Palestinians choose leaders who want peace, no American president should be “sort of a neutral guy” on the issue. It’s a matter of right and wrong; good and evil.
God has kept the Jews through thousands of years of satanic attempts to destroy them — from Hamon to Hitler to the Ayatollah. He preserved them through holocausts, pogroms, ghettos, inquisitions, expulsions, and banishments. He preserved them because He said He would. He is not going to break His word now. Their future will be difficult, but as a people they will survive — with the United States or without it. God gave His word and nothing is more solid than that.
America’s future is far less certain. U.S. leaders have been distancing this nation from Israel in various ways for several years. That’s bad for Israel, but even worse for the United States.
Why? Because God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 remains in effect. “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (NASB)
