Kamala may love Israel, but she doesn’t hate Iran

Last week at the IAC Conference in D.C., Donald Trump made two comments that angered many American Jews. The first, let’s be clear, is highly inappropriate. Without him, he says, Israel is done in two years. Now I’m not doubting for one moment that Trump will be a better president for Israel than Kamala Harris, given the control people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib exert over the Democratic party. But Israel finished in two years? That definitely wasn’t the wisest thing to say to a people who just 80 years ago experienced one holocaust. And wasn’t the whole point of Zionism that Jews — even accepting that we need strong allies — defend themselves? That we don’t rely on popes, princes, and even the benevolent presidents to protect us?

The second Trump comment was even more incendiary. He said if he loses the election, it will be ungrateful Jews who are to blame. Now, I’ve always believed that the American Jewish community should show far greater gratitude to the most pro-Israel president in history. But control the election? In swing states like Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona, where our numbers are tiny? Come on.

And yet, with all that, a recent poll in Israel just stated that if Trump or Kamala were running for prime minister of Israel, Trump would win by well over 60%. I actually believe it would be much higher.

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And why?

It all comes down to Iran. Only Trump, Israelis know, is strong enough to stop Iran, which is not only the most evil government on earth but the source of all mayhem in the Middle East.

Firstly, Iran’s plots to assassinate a former president of the United States — yes, we’re back to Trump — as confirmed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was appointed by Joe Biden, is a declaration of war against the U.S. and fundamentally undermines the social and democratic fabric of America. How in God’s name has Biden not struck Tehran militarily when they are actively trying to murder a former and possibly future American president? Talk about weakness.

I believe that Trump would handle things differently. Yes, Trump is forever railing against the forever wars. I know he’s an isolationist. But Iran also perceives him as crazy. It’s back to the Nixonian madman theory so expertly cultivated by Henry Kissinger. And besides, Trump got close to bankrupting the mullahs while Kamala and Joe allowed the mullahs to sell over $150 billion in oil revenue to nefarious governments like China.

When Trump was president, we all witnessed firsthand how effectively American strength and resolve held back Iranian aggression. This hit its apogee when Trump decided to send Qassim Soleimani, the world’s foremost terrorist, to roast forever on a spit in hell. Now, with the IRGC targeting President Trump and Israel besieged by Iran’s terrorists in the Middle East, we’re seeing American weakness light the world aflame.

As is always the case with presidential misconduct, innocents are paying the price. Israel, our most vital ally in the Middle East, suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in its history at the hands of bloodthirsty Hamas death squads paid for and trained by Iran. 1,200 men, women, and children were butchered and 251 were taken hostage by an Iranian proxy army, while 100 remain in the brutal captivity of terrorists loyal to the ayatollah.

Since then, Iran has activated its “axis of resistance,” using its terrorist militias in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen to pound Israel and American bases with thousands of rockets while sinking ships and blocking trade routes. These countries are plagued by the predictable symptoms of Iranian dominance: women are persecuted, food is scarce, people wait in lines to fill jerrycans with water, and political persecution is all-encompassing.

But this is all child’s play. Iran might soon fuel conflict and chaos far beyond the Middle East because, according to the best estimates of American intelligence, the murderous mullahs are on the very brink of obtaining the means to launch a nuclear world war.

Iran’s resurgence provides the context of its plots to assassinate President Trump — and the motive: when Trump enters the Oval Office, Iran’s reign of terror comes to an end.  Much of the world believes that Trump is crazy. The ones who fear that the most are Iran. What Iran most fears is a non-rational actor who will utterly destroy a nation that regularly engages in asymmetrical warfare.

While Biden and Harris are content to play charades and let the mullahs hide behind heinous hired guns like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, Trump held Iran rightly accountable for the actions of its blood-soaked proxies. He understood that funding, arming, directing, and protecting terrorist activity constitutes complicity. Angel of Death Qasem Soleimani visited his militias in Iraq days after they murdered an American and expected the United States to just play along. He was dead wrong.

Literally.

Trump also left the mullahs too broke and isolated to sponsor proxies in the first place. He understood the path to preventing Iran’s pursuit of regional dominance passed through their purse. China, he made clear, could buy Iranian oil or do business with the United States. They could not do both.

President Biden, with his vice president at his side, instead paid handsome ransoms and provided sanctions waivers, letting Iran export 1.7 million barrels a day — more than five times the 300,000 barrels they were selling daily under Trump. The influx of cash explains the influx of regional terror.

Trump also understood that a nation that believes kidnapping and murder pass for prudent policy cannot be trusted with fighter jets and advanced missile systems. Nikki Haley and my close friend Ambassador Kelly Craft personally led the Trump administration’s tooth-and-nail fight at the U.N. to extend the international arms embargo on Iran, one that is crumbling under the Biden-Harris administration.

Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, crucial restrictions on Iranian missile and drone imports were allowed to quietly expire last November, and Putin provided advanced air defense and radar equipment to Iran just last month. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has been too busy defending Joe Biden’s decision to block essential arms shipments needed for Israel’s war of survival.

Kamala Harris would argue that these concessions to Iran will reduce tensions and may achieve peace. How then to explain, however, that President Biden just this month sent thousands of U.S. troops, carrier groups, a missile submarine, and a squadron of F-22s to the Mediterranean? Policies of appeasement don’t mitigate the chance of conflict. On the contrary, war with Iran appears closer today than ever before.

Donald Trump understood that when deterrence fades, the risks will only escalate, and that especially in the Middle East, weakness leads to one outcome: war.

But, gripped by global stage fright, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden seek to achieve security by showing insecurity and avert conflict by making enemies love instead of fear us. Their timidity has only bred contempt — and the expansion of Iran’s infernal reach.

Iran’s reckless adventurism in targeting a presidential nominee shows they don’t fear Kamala Harris — even while she serves as second-in-command of the United States. But like Ronald Reagan, who secured the release of 52 American hostages from Tehran hours before entering the Oval Office, Donald Trump is striking fear in Iran before he even takes the reins, which is why they are literally trying to kill him.

Let me be clear. Those who say that Kamala Harris hates Israel, as Trump said last week, are of course completely wrong. Kamala is married to a very proud Jew and a mensch in Doug Emhoff, who has valiantly, proudly, and publicly fought antisemitism as Second Gentleman for the last three years. Rather, the problem with Kamala is not that she doesn’t love Israeli, it’s that she doesn’t hate Iran.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of the newly published guide to fighting back for Israel “The Israel Warrior.” Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @RabbiShmuley.