Back in September of 2016 I wrote an article for WWW, “Vote Trump and Feel Good about It.” I think the things Donald Trump has done during the past 18 months have proven me right.
Fifty years from now, when people look back at the decade that began in 2010, and they ask what was most special about that decade for Israel, I think three things will come to mind: the train line now being completed that is going to put Tel Aviv just 28 minutes from Jerusalem; American’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; and America’s recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli.
The 28-minute train between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will forge a link between Israel’s two largest city centers, one largely spiritual and the other largely material, enriching both, and making Israel much stronger. Jerusalemites will be able to lead a spiritual, Jerusalem-based life and find work, 28 minutes away.
Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will set the tone for the world’s other governments to let go of the mistaken idea, a throwback from another era, that Israel’s victory in the War of Independence was an unfortunate accident that should not have happened. It will be a step in the right direction of Israel achieving genuine independence, with psychological repercussions for how the world relates to Judea and Samaria as well.
Along the same lines, Trump’s recognition, as Israeli property, of the Golan Heights, will open the door for many more Jews to make a pleasant home there. It will further put into question the assumption that if Israel conquered something in 1967, that conquest has to be immoral and wrong. Trump’s act brings us a step closer to the world’s recognizing Judea and Samaria as Israeli. The Europeans and the Arabs are presently rejecting the American move, but they both have been shot in the foot.
We are already seeing the fruits of Trump’s decision. Immediately following Trump’s announcement, the leadership of the Golan Heights announced an initial campaign to double their population size, presently under 30,000. With 690 square miles, there is room for many more Jews. By way of comparison, “Gush Dan,” Israel’s coastal metropolitan center (Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, etc.) is inhabited by four million Jews in just 585 square miles. The five boroughs of New York City, with 8.2 million inhabitants, comprise a total of 302 square miles. So America has given Israel a great gift. With America’s having recognized the Golan Heights as being an equal part of the State of Israel, no one will any longer be counting homes and making accusations of “illegal settlement activity on occupied land.” I think the population of the Golan Heights will not just double but rise ten-fold times over the next 20 years.
One other point I find interesting (since, from what I understand, this article will appear before Israel’s upcoming election): Trump has his “deal of the century” for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians ready. No one yet knows what that consists of; its details haven’t been divulged. Yet Trump, two weeks before Israel’s election, is thus giving Netanyahu an election gift that will increase his support in the election, at the expense of the Left. Think about it. Trump knows that either Netanyahu will win, or the Left-leaning Ganz/Lapid group will. Certainly, if Trump has a “deal” in the works, you might expect him to want the most flexible government in power, i.e., the Left, so that there is more chance of his deal succeeding. You would not expect him to be offering Netanyahu gifts right now that will help him win the election. Yet that is exactly what he did.
That, too, says some really good things about Donald Trump’s character. For the sake of helping the candidate he admires to win the election, he is willing to jeopardize/sabotage/shoot his own plan out of the water. That shows humility and an appreciation of truth, and I admire Donald Trump for this.
There have been times in the past 30 years when the Golan Heights was in danger of being given as a gift to the Syrian Butcher Hafez el Assad or his eye-doctor son, the mass murderer Bashir. During the 1990s, I went to a series of right-wing demonstrations protesting against this.
Fortunately, we have seen the hand of G-d many times during the past decade – in the destruction and near-collapse of many Arab countries; the rise of Islamic State (ISIS), its conquest of large portions of Syria and Iraq, and its subsequent fall; the massacres in Syria; and the emergence of an American president with pro-Israel attitudes, recalling Cyrus of ancient Persia, who gave permission to build the Second Temple.
Thank G-d that these events occurred in the order they occurred! Thank G-d that the Golan Heights has been saved! And, once again, thank you Mr. Trump.
