US President Donald Trump visited Israel on Monday to showcase his “peace through strength” doctrine.
While in the country, he spoke about “new bonds of cooperation and commerce” that could develop in the Middle East.
The American president mentioned a series of connections that could come to pass, including a vision of trade that links Haifa to Beirut, as well as Jerusalem to Damascus, Tel Aviv to Dubai, India to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to Qatar, Indonesia to Iraq, and Syria to Bahrain.
Further, Trump brought up Turkey, Jordan, the UAE, and Oman, and linked Armenia to Azerbaijan. He stated that Israel, the US, and the nations of the region will be safer, stronger, and more prosperous than they have been in the past.
Trump said that he loved Israel and that he was with Israel “all the way.” The country would be stronger now, he said. Ending on a high note, the American president blessed Israel, the US, and the Middle East.
Trump has a belief in his ability to personally change things that goes beyond what many other presidents have put into the region.
For instance, many US presidents were constrained by inertia and history, making it difficult for them to think outside the box. They also trusted in advisers who were either timid or sometimes misguided regarding the region.
For instance, Barack Obama approached the Middle East with the intention of changing decades of US policy by reconsidering American ties to traditional allies. Instead of doing what Trump did, which is to work with allies and try to broaden the circle of peace in the region, Obama’s policies fueled chaos.
The failure of the Obama policy was due to appeasing Iran. Instead of making the Islamic Republic change its behavior or its rhetoric, the Obama administration basically accepted Iran’s destabilizing actions.
This bred contempt for the US. It is why Iran harassed US naval ships and why it believed it could carry out abuses around the region and fund its proxies even more.
Trump’s doctrine is the opposite. When he says, “Peace through strength,” he means it.
He shared a story in the Knesset about asking his generals in Washington how long it would take to defeat ISIS. They told him it would take years. Then, he continued, he met with US Gen.
John Daniel “Raizin” Caine in Iraq and heard that ISIS could be defeated in a matter of weeks.
This is what Trump liked: The sense of strength and victory.
Trump does not like long wars.
The American president’s experience in the US in the 1970s, seeing the aftermath of the Vietnam War and what it did to Americans in the late 1970s and early 1980s, likely informs how Trump views wars.
He believes they are destructive and traumatic when they last too long. Trump does admire the military, but he dislikes the entrenched bureaucratic aspects of the army elites who lose their will to win. As such, he wants to see results. Trump trusts friends and businesspeople because he believes they tend to be results-driven.
Another feature that became clear in Trump’s speech to the Knesset is the importance he places on personal relationships.
He discussed philanthropists Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, their friendship, and how they encouraged him during his first term to change specific US policies regarding Israel. Trump was willing to do things differently because he does not trust orthodoxies and sacred cows.
Another theme of Trump’s policy concerns his transactionalism. He wants to see countries invest in the US. America’s president wants America to receive something in return as well. He does not like a foreign policy of charity where the US gets taken advantage of.
Furthermore, Trump wants America’s friendship to be valued and honored. He can earn this respect by working closely with foreign leaders, such as the leaders of Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
'My personality is all about stopping wars'
Trump’s message in his speech was about “hope, harmony, and opportunity.” He spoke of the need to embrace opportunities, saying that it was not beneficial to focus solely on war for its own sake.
He discussed the need to go to war in order to win. Trump also said, “My personality is all about stopping wars.” Lebanon, too, could prosper, possibly achieving peace with its neighbors, he said.
For Israel, he said he wants the Jewish state to understand the grand strategy of peace through strength. He did not wish to see Israel fighting against the world in terms of the sunk cost of more battles in Gaza, the US leader said. “Now it is time to translate these victories into the prize of peace and prosperity.”
'Ready when you are'
Trump sought to incentivize Israel to end the Gaza war by basically implying that Israel could declare it had won and thus end the cost incurred by the diminishing returns of the war.
There was nothing more to achieve in that regard, Trump suggested. In his heart, the US president views most of these efforts as a way to broker a deal.
He even hinted that Iran could potentially make a deal with the US. He encouraged Tehran to stop funding its militant proxies in the region and to recognize Israel. “We are ready when you are,” he said, addressing the Iranian leadership.