Yes, but is it good for the Jews?

There is no doubt that the Trump administration accomplished much that those who love and support Israel could feel good about during the president’s first term. Among these accomplishments was moving Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and for those who see Israeli settlement in Samaria and Judaea as positive, declaring the settlements past the Green Line to be legal.

The crown jewel of Trump’s first term was reconfiguring the Middle East in what has now become known as the Abraham Accords. What had been a decades-old Arab boycott and refusal to recognize Israel suddenly disappeared, and Bahrain, the Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan entered the same relationship with Israel as Egypt and Jordan. And now Hamas has freed Israeli American Edan Alexander from captivity in Gaza because of the diplomatic efforts of President Trump’s emissary, Steve Witkoff.

Based on this record, it is not surprising that many Jews voted for Donald Trump. Indeed, in certain Bergen County neighborhoods many lawns sprouted signs with some Hebrew in them, proclaiming “Trump tov la-yehudim” (Trump is good for the Jews), and the more heimish “Yidden for Trump.” As a lover of Israel, I understand and to some extent even sympathize with those who supported this president because they believed he would be great for Israel and for American Jewry. How has it worked out?

Trump 2.0 and Israel

At the beginning of President Trump’s second term, it looked like Israel would fare very well. Remember him saying on February 10 of this year that if Hamas failed to return all the hostages by Saturday of that week, “All hell would break loose”? However, did Hamas free all the hostages? Did all hell break loose? Though all hell looks like it might break loose now, all the hostages still have not been returned, and it looks like only 21 are alive out of the remaining 58.

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Right now, Israel’s economy is a disaster. The Times of Israel reports that 60,000 small businesses are expected to close due to the ongoing reservist call-ups. These call-ups, some of which have taken men away from their families and businesses for hundreds of days, have been disastrous. Further, tourism, which brought billions of dollars to Israel, has tanked. And now President Trump has proposed a 17% tariff on Israeli exports, which he will not call off. Is that a sign of being good for the Jews or Israel?

As has been reported, there was a small but significant window of opportunity to take joint Israeli and American military action that would have destroyed Iran’s nuclear capability. Israel, which faces existential danger from a nuclear Iran, has hoped that powerful military intervention would remove this threat. Instead of supporting Israel when the opportunity arrived, the president decided to try to make a deal with Iran that includes its giving up all its centrifuges and upgraded uranium, a condition Iran already has rejected. Here was a chance for joint Israeli and American action to end this threat to Israel, the entire Middle East, and potentially the world by supporting Israeli policy. But that’s not the route the president took. Further, while the president ‘made a deal’ with the Iran-supported Houthis, agreeing not to bomb them if they stopped bombing U.S. and other foreign shipping, Israel was not included in the deal. The result: A Houthi missile nearly exploded on Ben Gurion Airport.

This week President Trump will visit the Middle East. He will go to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel is not on his itinerary. It is reported that the president is not visiting Israel because he is very angry and frustrated with Netanyahu for making it impossible for him to make a deal with Saudi Arabia. This is due to the failure of the prime minister and his coalition to give any concessions to the Palestinians, which the Saudis have set as a condition for normalizing relations with Israel. As a result, the United States no longer requires Saudi Arabia to arrange a rapprochement with Israel for the United States to offer it security and nuclear development arrangements. The president’s anger at one man has put the entire Israeli population in a less secure position in terms of U.S. support.

Are these examples of being good to the Jews or Israel?

Trump 2.0 and American Jewry

For Jews to remain informed about Judaism and their Jewish identity and proud of their Jewish heritage, sources of Jewish information and cultural preservation are invaluable. With the present defunding and planned dissolution of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, the present administration has profoundly and negatively affected Jewish institutions preserving our history and culture. Here is a partial list of the Jewish institutions whose grants have been canceled, ending or endangering their significant Jewish projects:

The National Yiddish Book Center’s preservation of Yiddish oral and cultural history covering 18 countries. The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life for digitizing its extensive collection of pre-Holocaust Jewish photography. The Jewish Plays Project, which develops new Jewish theater productions. The Klezmer Institute’s project to archive technologically advanced klezmer music. The Capital Jewish Museum, which is dedicated to preserving the history of the Jews in the Washington, DC area. And the iconic San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which has 40,000 viewers annually and is the main funder for cutting-edge films by and about Jews and Jewish culture.

The defunding of NEA and NEH has created a direct assault on the preservation of Jewish history, culture, and artifacts. While this may be described by some DOGE operatives as unintended collateral damage, the result is the same: The president of the United States has ordered actions to be taken that undermine activities that preserve the Jewish past, influence the Jewish present, and harm the Jewish future, and has not reversed his decision.

The president’s Middle East record cannot and should not be denied, but as the saying goes, “What have you done for me lately?”

Rabbi Michael Chernick of Teaneck is professor emeritus at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He received his doctorate from the Bernard Revel Graduate School and rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.