A disappointment: Smotrich shows a lack of gratitude to Trump - opinion

Once again, President Trump accomplished what many thought was impossible, enabling the hostages to return to their families and rebuild their lives. Thanks to the president, the two-year war is being resolved, with Israel maintaining the upper hand and its security vastly improved.

President Trump deserved the standing ovations he received from across the Israeli political spectrum in the Knesset. It was clear in that room that if an election were held in Israel and Trump could run, he would be elected by a landslide.

That’s why I was surprised and disappointed to see that so soon after that speech, President Trump was challenged by an opportunistic politician. It would not have surprised me if it had been one of the Arab Knesset members who heckled the president, holding up signs about the Palestinians.

However, his recent behavior displayed a face that makes me ashamed to be a religious Zionist. His values are not my values, nor those of the vast majority of religious Zionists in Israel or the United States.

First of all, Smotrich defied coalition discipline to pass the preliminary reading of a bill that would annex Judea and Samaria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begged Smotrich and other members of his coalition to wait with the bill out of respect for the president and the visiting vice president, who said he was insulted by the political maneuver that he rightfully called stupid.

I am, of course, in favor of Israeli sovereignty over our Biblical heartland, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelled, but smacking the president of the United States is not the way to bring it about. Passing the bill’s preliminary reading accomplished nothing for the courageous residents of Judea and Samaria at a sensitive time when decisions are being made about the role in Gaza of the Palestinian Authority, which could be strengthened where it currently governs.

“If Saudi Arabia tells us ‘Normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,’ friends – no thank you. Keep riding camels in the desert in Saudi Arabia, and we will continue to develop with the economy, society, and state, and the great things that we know how to do,” Smotrich said, speaking at a conference called “Halacha in the Technological Era” organized by the Zomet Institute and the Makor Rishon newspaper.

Racism is not what religious Zionists believe in. Saudi Arabia is actually a technologically advanced country, investing vast sums in artificial intelligence, and it wants to normalize relations with Israel and do business with the Jewish state.

Finally, Smotrich insulted Netanyahu by claiming that he pushed Trump for the release of the hostages instead of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, as if one came at the expense of the other. He wrongly claimed that Trump did not care about either issue and went with the one that Netanyahu indicated he wanted.

That could not be further from the truth. President Trump cared deeply about the hostages before returning to office. He met with hostage families, and the issue became deeply personal for him.

These three cheap provocations were obviously intended to impress religious Zionist voters and push Smotrich over the electoral threshold, where he has been teetering. The polls indicate that it did not work.

What it did do was upset both Netanyahu and the Trump administration. The religious-Zionist leader, who never made an effort to speak English clearly, does not understand that he is burning bridges with the best president for Israel in history.

The most important religious-Zionist value is gratitude. The word “Jew” comes from the word “thankful.”

Politicians like Smotrich come and go. However, President Trump is one of a kind, and his leadership must be celebrated, savored, and graciously rewarded.