JERUSALEM—Israeli officials joined their counterparts across the Middle East on Wednesday in hailing former U.S. president Donald Trump’s reelection as an opportunity for regional peace.
"I look forward to working with you to strengthen the ironclad bond between our peoples, to build a future of peace and security for the Middle East, and to uphold our shared values," Israeli president Isaac Herzog said in a statement congratulating Trump on his victory.
The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, and Turkey similarly congratulated Trump and pledged to work with him for peace. Even a top official in Hamas—the Palestinian terrorist group that started the Iranian axis’s ongoing war with Israel—expressed hope that Trump would follow through on "his statements that he can stop the war."
But when the Israelis speak of peace, they mean almost exactly the opposite of what their neighbors do. The Arabs and Turks, like the Iranians and their terrorist affiliates, want the fighting to end now that Israel is on the offensive. Israeli officials, by contrast, seek to decisively defeat their genocidal enemies—and they are hopeful that Trump shares their vision of peace.
"When you are strong, when you bring your enemies to their knees, that’s the way to really end wars," Ohad Tal, a member of Israel’s parliamentary defense committee from the governing Religious Zionism party, told the Washington Free Beacon. "I think Trump gets that. Now that he’s back, I think America will return to being the force for global peace and security that it should be. So it’s a happy day for America, for Israel, and for the world."
Israeli officials across the political spectrum have sent congratulations to Trump, and the mood on the right has been downright celebratory.
"Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, said in a statement before the premier had what his office described as a "warm" phone conversation with Trump. "Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America."
Panelists on Israel’s Channel 14, a popular right-wing news channel, pulled out paper cups to toast the president-elect in a studio festooned with digital displays of American flags and Trump’s grinning face.
"God bless America!" one of the panelists shouted. "And Am Yisrael Chai!"
Amir Avivi, a former senior Israeli military official who has advised Netanyahu during the war, told the Free Beacon that Israeli leaders see Trump’s second term as a chance to decisively counter Iran’s decades-long campaign to destroy the Jewish state.
"Israel has never had a better friend in the White House," Avivi said, citing Trump’s first term moves of relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, intensifying sanctions on Iran, and ordering the assassination of Iranian terrorism chief Qassem Soleimani. "This is a huge opportunity for Israel to push some very important policies, including taking out Iran’s nuclear program and maybe toppling the regime."
Israel's top brass also expect that with Trump back in office—and Republicans in control of the Senate and possibly the House—they will be freer to wage war against Iran’s main terrorist affiliates: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Avivi.
"The security establishment’s biggest worry has been that the U.S. has withheld munitions from us in the middle of a war," Avivi said. "This was devastating, and we expect it to change under Trump. We’re going to see full support, which by the way will shorten the war. The more you withhold capabilities from Israel, the longer it takes us to win."
The Israeli public has also welcomed Trump's reelection. Sixty-five percent of Israelis, including 72 percent of Jews, believe Trump will be better for Israel than Vice President Kamala Harris would have been, according to a poll published by the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank in Jerusalem, on the eve of the U.S. election. Even Arab Israelis, who overwhelmingly oppose the war, slightly preferred Trump.
Some Israeli commentators have warned that Trump could take an isolationist turn without his pro-Israel son-in-law Jared Kushner returning as a senior presidential adviser. The critics have noted that Trump styled himself a "peacemaker" on the campaign trail and sent mixed messages about the war in Gaza and Lebanon—saying that Israel should be allowed to "finish the job" but also that the Jewish state needs to "get it over with, and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people."
Chuck Freilich a former Israeli deputy national security adviser and a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank in Tel Aviv, told the Free Beacon that Trump would likely do less than President Joe Biden has to restrain Israel’s war effort in the name of humanitarian concerns. But, Freilich said, Trump might also prove less willing than Biden to come to Israel’s defense with the likes of advanced anti-missile systems, B-52 bombers, and warships.
"Trump is highly unpredictable," Freilich said. "For Israel, it could be a case of, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’"
Freilich also noted that Israel must survive two more months of the Biden-Harris administration, during which Biden "could try to leave a legacy in the Middle East by stepping up pressure on Israel to end the war."
Avivi, however, argued that during the lame-duck period, Biden would be hard-pressed to put more pressure than he already has on Netanyahu. Anyway, he said, amid Iran’s threats of a "crushing" third strike on Israel, the prime minister "is not going to give up his policy of total victory."
"I would suggest to President Biden, if you can’t beat him, join him," Avivi said. "If you really want to leave a legacy, stop fighting with Israel and bomb Iran."