Helping President Trump

Some Thoughts on Israel and the Trump Administration

Here in Israel Trump seems to be the cause of everything over the last month, good and bad. He is the reason we have the hostage deal because Hamas is scared of him. He is the reason we have the hostage deal because he threatened Netanyahu. The Israeli right is convinced he will allow Israel to annex the West Bank and the Israeli left thinks he will make a deal with Saudi Arabia to create a Palestinian state while the Israeli right is sure there will be no connection. But left and right – and not only in Israel – seem to be missing what Trump is all about – and that is that the goal of each of his policies is to make the United States stronger and more prosperous.

Many think that should be the goal of every US president and it certainly makes sense. True enough, Trump likes to make his enemies squirm and sometimes cower in fear of him but when it comes down to it, he wants to be seen as the president who returned the United States to its post WWII economic and manufacturing dominance. Ideology is not an issue for the President and he is looking abroad for those countries who can help him and not be a hinderance.

There are a few ways allies of the United States in general and Israel in particular can help Trump in his goal and therefore escape the tariffs or pressure that will inevitably come to those who stand in his way. The Saudis seem to have responded with $600 billion (rounded up to a trillion?) investment and other countries are scrambling to see what they can do. The Israeli government is not in a position to invest that kind of money in America or anywhere else but there are other ways Israel and its companies can contribute to President Trump’s efforts and help itself.

The first, small, but important is giving up the $3-4 billion in aid that Israel gets every year from the US as part of the Camp David accords with Egypt. We and others have written about this before and Israel, even with the spending of the current war, can afford this. Israel is already ramping up domestic arms production anyway and this will give Trump not only a win, but allow him to use Israel as an example as he surely will review all foreign aid anyway. Better to pre-empt than to have to accept a Trump ultimatum.

A second thing that Israel can do, and this idea came to me via a note from a fellow Substack writer, Diane Murray of Going Orthogonal and that is hiring American programmers and engineers. At first I was skeptical but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. There is a current shortage of programmers in Israel (there is a shortage of workers in general – mostly lower level workers, but that is a separate issue) and setting up programming farms in states that have lower employment and housing costs could be profitable for all. There are plenty of large and mid sized Israel hi tech companies who are always looking for engineering and programming help and a special program with the Trump administration and the specific state governments could help all. Israel gives tax breaks to companies like Intel and others to setup shop here, maybe Checkpoint, Amdocs, Nice and other large and mid-sized Israeli hi tech companies could get the same treatment from US state governments. This ought to be initiated by the Israeli government and private sector and will further the goals of the Trump administration as well as fill Israeli corporate and diplomatic needs.

The third area that Israel should do is start enforcing the law it passed to rid the country of UNRWA. President Trump has already suspended aid to that terrorist supporting organization and Israel needs to act quickly and throw out all UNRWA employees and close all offices in Israel and the West Bank. Israel ought to stop cooperating with the one organization in the world dedicated exclusively to Israel’s destruction and declare any employee of UNRWA persona-non-grata. Any employee should have the option of quitting the organization or leaving the country. This will instantly allow the administration to save the more than $200 million that it gives annually to them.

Lastly, the current government has a golden opportunity to make amends for Israel’s disastrous choices of IDF Chiefs of Staff over the last few decades and appoint someone who believes in victory in war and not in “quiet”. A forceful and aggressive personality at the helm of the IDF will show the current administration that, unlike the past 15 months, this time when Israel needs to return to combat it will be under the command of a man who plans on wining the war. Of the three main announced candidates one in particular stands out who can break the mold of diplomat-generals and that is Tamir Yadai. His last position was as commander of the IDF’s Ground Forces and has been known to call for a change from limited conflicts to victory in war. If the US is to support Israel in its fight against Iran and then in conflicts closer to home, Trump will need to know that Israel will come out, unequivocally, on top.

We all know that President Trump likes “winners” and seeing Israel move in that direction will only help in the relationship. Israel should not take Trump’s past pro-Israel stances for granted and should not assume he holds all the views of Israel’s right or that he will give in to any Saudi demand. He wants, first and foremost to push his domestic agenda and associate with winners.

These are some modest suggestions for Israel to push the relationship forward.