Biden dropped everything to help Israel - would Trump have done the same? - opinion

I'm not sure if any other president in the US would have come to the defense of the Jewish state less than a week after the October 7 massacre. After all, Trump despises losers, and on October 7, Israel was a loser in a very significant way. Biden was the last Democratic Zionist president and we'll have to fight for the heart of the next American Democratic generation.

Although Joe Biden's presidency has been relatively positive, no American owes him more thanks than Israel does. Joe Biden did not save the United States of America. He pulled it out of an economic crisis and steered it through COVID-19, but America could have managed without him. Joe Biden did save Israel. He was the right person, in the right place, with the right club in the right direction.

He didn't hesitate, flinch, or make excuses. He saw the country he values and admires in its hardest hour, and he took decisive and simple action. He dropped everything and rushed to help. I'm not sure if any other president would have, in his place, collected himself at his age and arrived in the attacked and bleeding Jewish state less than a week after the disaster. This includes Donald Trump. In such a situation, I wouldn't count on Trump. We're lucky to have had Biden.

We must understand that a visit from an American president to a foreign country is a project planned months in advance. It's an enormous logistical operation, including a massive airlift, armored cars, various means, and hundreds of people. Americans plan such visits down to the toothpick, waiting for the last member of the presidential entourage. Very few times in history has an American president spontaneously flown to a distant country at war, bombed, shelled, bleeding, and threatened. Biden did it.

Not only did he do it, but he also brought with him all of America's might. He looked north to Beirut and east to Tehran and explicitly warned them that if they joined the war, the United States of America would fight them. To emphasize this, he hurried two aircraft carriers here. Each comes, as is known, with a war fleet that can defeat intense forces. 

Biden's visit to Israel after October 7 wasn't a political move

Biden then passed special aid in Congress of $14 billion to cover Israel's war expenses. And it wasn't easy. He did all this despite his deep disdain for Israel's prime minister and his administration's strong reservations about the composition of Israel's government. He did it because his love for Israel and Zionism far exceeds these political issues. Anyone who has followed Biden throughout his decades-long career knows how much he values Israel. This wasn't a political act. On the contrary, occasionally, he had to curb this devotion for political needs. When he visited Israel, he came out of love.

Biden's arrival in Israel is an event that will go down in history. These were the critical days of the war in which we've been embroiled for over nine months. During these days, the pressure on Nasrallah to join the war was at its peak. Sinwar and Deif pressed him to jump in. They still rode the waves of success from the October 7 attack. Netanyahu was at that time a nervous wreck. He sat with Major General Brick, he sat with Brigadier General Winter, he was deathly afraid of entering Gaza, and he was deathly afraid of a Radwan invasion in the north, which could have turned the blow of October 7 into a defeat. 

I find it hard to believe there's a country in the world that would dare execute what Biden, the president of the world's strongest power, declared after such a display. Two weeks later, the IDF began the ground maneuver in Gaza. The color started returning to Netanyahu's cheeks and the cheeks of other top Israeli political and military officials. This color was infused by Joe Biden.

It was sad to see him in recent weeks. It was even sadder to see the primitive and pathetic celebrations and dances in certain circles here at the sight of the old, confused president losing himself and his personal security at the most critical moments of the campaign. It was sad because it teaches us something about ourselves. About our ingrained ingratitude. About the growing perception among us that not only do Americans need to be pro-Israel, but they also need to enlist in the Jewish Power Party; otherwise, they're simply anti-Semites.

Joe Biden was the last Democratic Zionist president. In the next generation, nothing will be taken for granted. The next generation won't know the Holocaust. They didn't grow up with the survivors' generation and won't feel committed to any previous conventions.

We will have to fight for the heart of the next American Democratic generation. In this current battle, it looks as though Israel has no chance. But until that's determined, all we need to do is be grateful for our good fortune in having Joe Biden in our hardest hour and say to him, thank you, Joe. Take care of yourself as you took care of us. We are praying for you here in the Holy Land.