President Trump leads the fight against antisemitism

Published: JANUARY 21, 2020 17:07

US President Donald Trump leaves a note at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City May 22, 2017 (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS) — US President Donald Trump leaves a note at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City May 22, 2017

(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)

In every measurable metric, President Trump has done more to combat antisemitism than any of his predecessors.

About 20 years ago, on a cold Friday afternoon, I sat in a conference room on the 50th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper meeting with my client and teams of bankers and lawyers. We were negotiating the final points of a complicated deal and making slow but steady progress. At exactly 3 p.m., in the middle of a heated discussion, I stood up and announced that I had to leave to get home for Shabbat. Although they held their tongues, the look on many in the room was one of frustration and even anger. My client, however, the one actually entitled to my loyalty and attention, immediately said, “David, go home and pray for all of us, we need it! We’ll pick this up Monday morning and get it done.” (We did).

My client was Donald Trump. Then and now, I have only known him to be entirely respectful and supportive of those of the Jewish faith. Those who shamefully argue otherwise by seizing on isolated incidents of political incorrectness (in which we all engage) have trivialized a serious issue for partisan gain and have only exacerbated the problem.

In every measurable metric, President Trump has done more to combat antisemitism than any of his predecessors. He has condemned antisemitism in the strongest of terms, with soaring and unflinching rhetoric worthy of the subject. (For example: “The scourge of antisemitism cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated and it cannot be allowed to continue... the Jews have endured terrible persecution... those seeking [the Jews’] destruction, we will seek their destruction” – Oct. 27, 2018).

He has backed up his words with groundbreaking actions, including most recently his Executive Order holding colleges and universities accountable to end antisemitic activity. He has imposed crushing sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of antisemitic terror. And he has stood with Israel – on Jerusalem, on the Golan Heights, on intelligence sharing, on military cooperation, and on the right of the Jewish people to live within their ancestral homeland.

Some say – with breathtaking error – that protecting Israel has nothing to do with fighting antisemitism. The State of Israel is the ultimate defense against this evil force. It is the sanctuary to which Jews fled when they were expelled from North Africa or escaped the former Soviet Union and had no place else to go. When Jews were singled out for execution on the tarmac in Entebbe, Uganda, it was Israel that saved them in one of history’s most daring rescues. When Jews were persecuted in Yemen and Ethiopia, it was Israel that brought them to safety on missions such as Operation Moses, Operation Solomon and Operation Magic Carpet. To this day, Israel helps support local governments and NGOs around the world in defending the Jewish people.

The recent rash of antisemitic attacks in the United States is repugnant and shocking. But apart from baseless pronouncements from armchair pundits and opportunistic politicians, they have nothing to do with the president. Quite to the contrary, President Trump, in empowering law enforcement, preserving individual rights to self-defense, supporting tighter security in schools and places of worship and advocating for more protective mental health policies, is directly addressing concrete measures to keep us all safer and more secure.

Many have called for a softening of our public discourse and more education regarding the evils of hatred as a means of reducing antisemitic attacks. As one who has spent the better part of the past three years in Israel, where regrettably such attacks occur far more frequently but with far less international coverage than attacks in the United States, I can’t help but doubt the seriousness of that plan. We can always use better education and more civility, but those who will commit acts of antisemitism are not going to be the ones who attend the course. I have yet to see anyone present an effective method to identify in advance and arrest or cure the unstable and hate-filled miscreants who are attacking Jews. As in Israel, the primary approach must be increased security, better surveillance and intelligence, self-defense and mental health reform. President Trump is exactly in the right place on these initiatives.

I have an important message for the Trump haters who think they are fighting antisemitism by fighting Trump: In five years, President Trump will be out of office and your hysterical hyperbole will not have made a dent in combating this evil scourge. Whatever other policy differences you may have with the president, if you truly oppose antisemitism, then you have a friend and ally in the White House.

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter

Subscribe Now

The author is the US ambassador to Israel.