My Love for Trump

I enjoyed watching Trump’s rallies in the closing days of the election campaign. The huge crowd sizes and overflows were amazing as was the enthusiasm which was booming. Amid the raucous chants of “USA” and “Lock Them Up” there was one unusual chorus I’d never heard before – least of all in politics.

"We love you!” they roared. Again, and again.

Well I guess I do too.

And it’s not just for all the bountiful gifts Trump has bestowed on our people and our Jewish state. From the Jerusalem embassy and Golan sovereignty to stifling the antisemitism at the UN, defunding UNRWA and holding Iran’s feet to the fire. More than that, I loved him simply as a kindred spirit.

Just think of how Trump came on the scene. As soon as he declared his candidacy he was demonized from all sides, right and left, as some sort of creature from the depths. I recall one conservative podcaster referring to him as ‘some kind of lizard’.

Once elected with a wide margin his presidency was promptly delegitimized, with hordes of protesters marching under the banner of “Not my president!” for months on end.

And then came the two impeachments over Russia and Ukraine. After 2 years and 40 million dollars of the Muller enquiry (staffed exclusively by Clinton supporters) it was found that there was no Trump collusion with Russia. Instead we learned that the whole Russia hoax was started by Clinton based on a fake Russian dossier to deflect attention from her own email scandal. Then as to Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine, it was found the only real story with Ukraine was Hunter Biden’s million dollar payoffs by corrupt Burisma and Joe Biden’s televised leverage of a billion dollars of US aid to get a Ukrainian prosecutor off his son’s back.

So it turns out, everything the Democrats accused Trump of, and falsely, they were actually doing themselves. Russia collusion to spy on the Tump campaign and abuse of Vice-Presidential privilege to hide Ukrainian corruption. Those are double standards by any measure.

These three elements: Demonization, Delegitimization and Double standards happen to be the 3D test of antisemitism as defined by former Russian dissident Anatoly Sharansky.

And there lies my kinship to Donald Trump.

Israel is today the World’s Jew. The Yid among nations. The one so many European leaders still wish had never come into existence, to mess up their lucrative deals with oil-rich sheikhdoms. The place they call ‘that shitty little country’. The one that is singled out at the UN for more punishment than all the despotic and rights-abusing members combined. Between the UN and EU, all 3D boxes are checked.

As the son of an Auschwitz survivor whose parents were gassed and incinerated on arrival, it hurts me every day that despite all that happened, the Jewish state is still the one country that is not welcomed in the family of nations – truly a nation that dwells alone.

Which is why I empathise with any victim of 3D – like Donald Trump. Truly a kindred spirit.

How ironic that in less than four years he made such stunning progress bringing together Arabs and Jews. And how sad that the Saudi icing on the cake will now melt away with new American empowerment of Iran.

Sharansky & Joseph

Letter to The Jerusalem Post

Sir: Your editorial ‘Prisoner Set Free’ suggests that Natan Sharansky’s resignation from the Sharon government is more likely to bring about the very ‘national rift’ he has warned will occur over a disengagement policy that ‘commands majority support in Israel as a genuine hope for progress’ towards peace.
Having spent quality time with this remarkable man on his recent lecture tour of the UK, I can tell you that Mr Sharansky is prepared to be as generous as Mr Sharon in territorial concessions for peace. However, his concern is: concessions with whom and for what? His acclaimed book “A Case for Democracy” has analysed the failings of the Oslo accords with remarkable clarity. He concludes that détente with dictatorships worked no better with Arafat than it did with the leaders of the former Soviet Union. It merely empowered Arafat to further impoverish and terrorise the Palestinian people and perpetuate the conflict through incitement and indoctrination. Little has changed under Mahmoud Abbas who is either unwilling or unable to disarm the gunmen who stand between the Palestinian people and their freedom. As a result it is most likely that Gaza will descend into anarchy after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal. Natan Sharansky is the embodiment of a latter day Joseph. He has emerged from a Siberian dungeon and been ushered into no less lofty place than the Oval office. He has interpreted the dream of peace and determined that a genuine treaty is only possible between free people.