Despite being only a year apart in age and living not far from each other during our childhood and teenage years, he in Jamaica Estates and I in Holliswood, Queens, I never met Donald Trump in his formative years. We did not engage in any shared schoolyard or public transportation, as he resided west of 188th Street and I further east, separated by just under two miles, not to mention our socio-economic and cultural differences.
Even if I had read Trump’s The Art of the Deal and paid attention to his 11-step formula for business success, since I am not attuned to the financial world, I fear that I am not that prepared for conducting a conversation based on commercial concepts that would properly resonate with him. I have, therefore, no personal insight that could assist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in their diplomatic dealings with President Trump.
Nevertheless, Israel has surely been challenged by the president’s temperament. Expletives are not that usual among elected officials although Israel has received more than its fair share – like when Daniel Bernard, France’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, added one in 2001 when referring to Israel’s size.
Trump’s comments regarding Israel-Iran ceasefire infractions will go down in history. Addressing reporters before flying off to the NATO Summit in The Hague last week, he said about Iran and Israel: “They don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
Of course, Iran knew exactly what it was doing. Any historian could have prepped the president to expect an infraction by the belligerent Islamic Republic. Why would it presume it could not act in total defiance of international law and custom, since it has been doing so for four decades, with quite insufficient opposition?
A former American president even gave the genocidal regime the easiest of terms to reach nuclear development potential, not to mention the transfer in 2016 of $1.7 billion, in non-US currency, because of the “effectiveness of US and international sanctions,” which isolated Iran from the international finance system.
I have already admitted above my inability to comprehend many aspects of world finances, but I am puzzled, as I would presume that the whole purpose of sanctioning Iran at that time was to punish it. Even I could be moved to employ a choice expletive when recalling that. But I digress.
The recent engagements with Hamas since 2006 have always wound down with a ceasefire, of sorts, but the last hours have also been preceded by an extensive barrage of armaments by Iran’s proxy to, as it were, “prove” that they forced upon Israel the cessation of fighting – and, more than that, they have won. Then the infractions begin.
In fact, it has been that way since 1949 when the first armistice agreements were signed in Rhodes, not to mention that Iran hasn’t signed anything that I am aware of. Israelis were killed by that post-ceasefire infraction whereas Israel continued to only target military and regime security elements, with any civilian casualties being an unintended consequence.
Brief Trump's closest advisers
If I can contribute to the art of dealing with President Trump, one thing would be to make sure that his closest advisers are briefed, not only on contemporary events and processes, but on the history of the conflict. That history also includes the cultural, national, and religious background of the violence in the region.
After all, it took even Benny Morris decades, as he finally revealed in his 2008 book, The 1948 War: the First Arab-Israel War, to belatedly highlight the ideological nature of the Arab forces that were fighting against Israel then. Many of them viewed their conflict as a form of jihad, a holy war. That perception is even more relevant as it is more potent with Iran, Hamas, and Tehran’s additional allies.
Trump’s intervention by ordering the air strike on three of Iran’s main nuclear reactors was not only critical for Israel but supremely important for Europe as well. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte congratulated the president, thanking him for his “decisive action in Iran that was truly extraordinary.” He added that it was “something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.”
Iran is a global issue
Another aspect of dealing with Trump is to ensure that he understands Iran as being not only a regional problem but one that affects most of both the democratic and undemocratic world. A possible Nobel Peace Prize could be a worthy reward but, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama, who received one in 2009 for promoting nuclear nonproliferation – which was actually all a charade – it needs to be for a genuine accomplishment if he wants to be proud of it. He knows that.
This is as long as Israel, with verifiable information, can continue to supply the Trump administration with proof of Iran’s wrongdoings. That, too, is part of the dealing. If your “business partner” has the wrong intentions, and Trump knows business, you are more wary and will ensure that everything in the contract will be fulfilled.
The future enforcement of that agreement, if it becomes an official document, must be guaranteed and backed up with actions that Iran accepts. The president must know that this is not a one-night stand that he and America can turn away from.
I am unaware, at this writing, of the conditions of the current ceasefire regarding the future. Nevertheless, Trump needs to be pressed to explain to Israel how Iran’s enrichment program will be halted beyond the one-off dropping of those Massive Ordnance Penetrator “bunker buster” bombs and the Tomahawk missiles.
How will Iran’s global reach, including assassination attempts against him, be thwarted? Can international shipping pass securely through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait? A shared identity of interests must continually be made clear to him and those who have his ear.
Dealing with Trump requires patience, because his heart and head are in the right place. He knows the direction in which he has to go.
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.