Donald J. Trumpberger

townhall.com

What goes through the head of a typical Israeli?

One of the greatest human capabilities is being able to understand another human being. I did not say agree or give in, but rather simply understand. Oftentimes, we are either so confident in ourselves or so full of ourselves that we make it nearly impossible for another person to exist in our orbit. But there are times when we can put ourselves aside and try to think about how our spouses, children, friends, colleagues, and even strangers might feel. We don’t have to agree with them—obviously not. But maybe we can at least understand them and, by doing so, help our ability to interact with them.

Imagine your kid badgering you to go to the big concert next week. You say no, and that’s final. The tickets are too expensive, he’ll get home way too late and have a problem getting up for school the next morning, and who knows whom he’ll meet at such a venue? And while all of these arguments sound legitimate and a parent has an obligation to guide his children, let’s take a timeout and think like the child. All of his friends are going to this concert. This is his favorite group, and for years he has had dreams of seeing them live. If he doesn’t go, his friends will think that he is a baby who isn’t allowed out of the house beyond his bedtime. Not going would be a massive personal disappointment and would also make his standing at school and among his peers much worse. The parents might not change their minds, but they also might realize that for their child, there is a lot more at stake than ear-splitting rock and roll. They might even make a deal with him about promising to get up the next morning and staying away from weirdos at the concert.

Let’s imagine that Donald Trump secretly inserts himself into a kibbutz in northern Israel. He goes undercover in order to understand how Israelis feel about the multiple wars going on around them. After planting some corn, he talks to a couple of the locals. And he hears things like the following:

“We could destroy Hezbollah, but they know that Washington won’t give us the green light to destroy their neighborhoods in Beirut.”

“The Iranians flung missiles at us last night. We ran to the bomb shelter as fast as we could. When Israel was ready to shoot back, Washington told Bibi to cool his heels and not respond.”

Recommended

“Hezbollah and Iran see Israel as being too weak to really fight either. The longer the ceasefire goes on, and more Israelis are harmed, the bolder they become.”

I have written umpteen times that Donald Trump is the president of the United States, and his only obligations are to the citizens of the country and the Constitution. If he makes a great deal for America that completely screws Israel, the Gulf states, and the Iranians in the street, he has fulfilled his job obligations. With the above in mind (in order to get rid of the "Israel First" nonsense), let’s look at how current policies affect both perceptions and actual war-fighting.

When the president told Bibi Netanyahu that he could not attack the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut, it was a windfall for Hezbollah. They have a lot of assets there, and just as they hide in Christian towns in southern Lebanon, they knew that their leaders could hang out in Beirut without fear of attack. So they violated the “ceasefire” in every way, with 14 Israeli soldiers killed during the supposed lull in fighting. But Israel could not hit them where it would hurt. In the eyes of the terrorists, the keep-your-hands-off-Beirut policy made Israel impotent and thus encouraged additional Hezbollah violence and Iranian intransigence.

There is a well-known story of American and Soviet tanks facing off in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. World War III seemed right around the corner. The tank commanders were in touch with their generals, who were literally communicating with Kennedy and Kruschev. Nobody wanted war, but neither wanted to back down. So a Soviet tank was told to go back five meters. An American tank reciprocated. The first tank went further back; the other did the same. This continued until the situation was safely defused. Let’s call it the “Christian way” of doing things. Now let’s imagine such a tank standoff in Beirut. The Israeli tank goes back 10 meters. The Hezbollah tanks go forward ten meters. Etc. In this part of the world, any self-restraint or refusal to act is considered WEAKNESS by Muslims. There is no nobility in taking one on the chin. Israel fired back at Iran because it had to. If it had followed Donald Trump’s exhortations and restrained itself, the Iranians would have declared a victory, and both they and their terror dogs would have felt emboldened to attack further. And why not? Donald Trump is restraining Israel, so now is the time to strike!

I have this WiFi-connected “tank” that has a camera, an infrared camera, and a microphone. I don’t know how, but the controls somehow got messed up. If I want to go right, I have to push the left button. I want to go back? Push the forward button. Once one knows the coordinate system, life is much easier. Donald Trump wants an agreement. I don’t know why, because those who sign it on the Iranian side will have no intention of honoring a single word in the document. The U.S. can claim to have enforcement mechanisms, but will those systems withstand a change in government? Will they hold up to Iranian subterfuges? But since the president wants an agreement (“We’re so close!”), Israel is not supposed to do anything that might rock the apple cart. But Israel also has its own calculations. Not attacking Beirut means more dead IDF soldiers. Not answering Iranian missiles (Biden: Don’t!) means that the mullahs will be even more brazen the next time around (not waiting for a cause but attacking suddenly). Everyone from Bibi Netanyahu to regular Israelis loves and respects Donald Trump and the United States of America. But just as even a husband and wife may have slightly different agendas, the two countries have many shared interests, but it’s not 100 percent. One of the many mistakes of Barack Obama was to say that he wanted “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel. The Palestinians and other bad actors immediately took that to mean that Israel would get less support in weapons and in international forums. And they were right. There was no shortage of fighting with the emboldened Palestinians during Obama’s eight-year reign.

I imagine that the Moron Right will say that Bibi is trying to undermine Donald Trump and prevent peace. And while however much they try to treat Israel as America’s 51st state and however much they claim that Bibi controls Trump, the reality is that Bibi Netanyahu runs an independent country and his citizens also have needs. If they send their kids to Lebanon and the (the missile alarm just went off as I write these words) IDF does not do EVERYTHING possible to weaken Hezbollah, then that is a failure in leadership. Ditto in halting Iran. Donald Trump may still conclude that his agreement is more important than Israeli deterrence. He has every right to believe so. But it would help if he understood Israelis and the situation on the ground here. Muslims do not think like Christians or Jews. They see magnanimity as weakness, restraint as a license to kill. Donald Trump’s sole concern is rightly the United States. Fine. But at least try to understand the dynamics of Israel and its psychotic neighbors. Weakness breeds more attacks, not less.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

Help us report the truth about the Trump administration's decisive actions to keep Americans safe and bring peace to the world. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.