Despite Trump's behavior we Israelis must remember who had our back

Windows were broken, but it was not Kristallnacht, nor anything close to what former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger compared it to

By OPHIR FALK
A four-story digital billboard in Jerusalem at the Friends of Zion Heritage Center says it all. "Thank you, President Trump. You're making Israel Greater" (photo credit: Courtesy)
A four-story digital billboard in Jerusalem at the Friends of Zion Heritage Center says it all. "Thank you, President Trump. You're making Israel Greater"
(photo credit: Courtesy)
It is not popular to thank or praise President Trump today. But now, perhaps more than ever, is the time to put things in perspective and give credit where credit is due. Gratitude is most genuine when it’s least popular.
January 6, 2021, was a dreadful day for democracy. Five Americans tragically lost their lives when democracy was attacked on Capitol Hill. Had the demonstrators succeeded, it would have undermined the world’s strongest democracy and sent an awful message throughout the free world. It would have been an even worse message for oppressed peoples.
Thankfully, the thugs failed. President Trump made an inexcusable mistake in firing up the masses to take matters into their own hands. He used brinkmanship and exposed raw nerves. It was wrong and it backfired. It justly diminishes the slim possibility of Donald Trump ever holding public office again, and it minimizes further the probability of verifying future election integrity and transparency any time soon.
It also unjustly stereotyped Trump supporters. The mainstream media coverage, selective censorship, social media-platform banning, and the general environment in the US since January 6 are reminiscent of the public discourse and overall atmosphere in Israel in the aftermath of Rabin’s assassination.
The Washington Post’s slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” has seldom been more relevant.
What happened on Capitol Hill should not be downplayed. At the same time, it should not be described as something it was not.
Windows were broken, but it was not Kristallnacht, nor anything close to what former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger compared it to. Kristallnacht 1938 in Germany involved the burning of nearly 300 synagogues, the destruction of 7,000 Jewish businesses, the deportation of 30,000 Jews to concentration camps, and was a backdrop to the Holocaust. That is not what happened on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.
Bruce Hoffman, a leading terrorism scholar, diagnosed what occurred at the Capitol as terrorism. Other scholars differ. Regardless, whoever applauded the riots and looting in Kenosha and Portland, calling them “peaceful protests” in the summer, and now categorically depicts Trump supporters as fascists, is hypocritical.
WHOEVER NOW taunts Trump supporters as terrorists but did not use the same terminology to describe BLM and Antifa extremists who ransacked the streets and stores of America in the middle of a pandemic, is applying a detrimental double standard that ignites anger just as much, if not more, than Trump fanned the flames.
With the demands to “defund the police” from one side and for a “transparent recount” from the other put to temporary rest, tensions will eventually subside. America will overcome the Capitol raid, as it has after the five previous occasions the Capitol was attacked. Over time, America will become a stronger and safer democracy.
As for Israel, hakarat hatov – gratefulness, entrenched in Jewish tradition – is called for today. Despite Trump’s unpresidential behavior, we, as Israelis, have a lot to be grateful for. The Jewish people, especially those living in the Jewish state, should not forget who had our back.
President Trump recognized the obvious: Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital. He accepted that the Golan Heights are an integral sovereign part of Israel and squashed Hillary Clinton’s once surreal call that the strategic and biblical land be given to Assad. Trump recognized the legitimacy of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and engineered the Abraham Accords, in which four important and influential Arab nations normalized peaceful relations with Israel.
Those are historic achievements that not only pave the way for wider peace and prosperity in the region but help isolate the tyrants in Tehran. Indeed, Trump pulled America out of president Obama’s dangerous nuclear deal with Iran and alienated its terrorist regime. It would be utter blindness for President-elect Biden to go back to appeasing Iran, but if he chooses to do so, the coalition formed by the Abraham Accords can cooperate and will be able to competently confront that challenge. For all that, and more, President Trump deserves our gratitude.
Many Israelis were rooting for Trump’s reelection, but Israel was a side issue at best in the 2020 elections. The American people have spoken. Israel should thank the man who had its back and wish President-elect Biden all the best in serving America and its shared democratic values with Israel.
The writer is a founder of Acumen Risk Ltd., a firm that specializes in risk management platforms, a research fellow at the International Institute of Counterterrorism (ICT) and the author of Targeted Killings, Law and Counter-Terrorism Effectiveness (Routledge 2020). The opinions expressed are his own.