Conflicts in the Middle East: Maybe Donald Trump is a Blessing in Disguise?

Official portrait of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many of us in Israel were quite shocked at receiving the news of Donald Trump’s presidential victory. He fought a tough campaign almost on his own. His campaign tactics were vulgar, brutal and had reached a low level of character assassination of Hillary Clinton. He had made accusations against Hillary Clinton of corruption. Many of us were appalled at his tactics and rightly so - at least superficially. Much time was wasted on skirting important issues as the never ending accusations against Hillary Clinton of corruption and the emails issue were the main tactics used to win the election. These tactics worked and Trump was the one-man show that led him to success.

Wikileaks with Julian Assange at the helm of all these reports of Clinton Foundation corruption must have been a source of information for Trump and he obviously tapped this information and used it aggressively convincing many undecided voters to vote for him. This must have had some effects on the decisions of many voters. Hillary Clinton’s nomination as presidential candidate was also plagued by many problems and her credibility was also at a very low ebb. Reports of rigging the primaries by the DNC (Democratic National Committee) in order to get an unpopular candidate the nomination was a factor as well.

The American People wanted a change and many had voted as a gut reaction against the Obama Administration and did not want the same form of government anymore. ISIS had blossomed under the Obama Administration with its appeasement of potential Jihadis. They woke up far too late after a few years of many ISIS beheadings and bloody massacres of innocent people in the Middle East as a result of the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq under the previous Bush Administration, creating a vacuum for ISIS to develop. The overflow of ISIS terror reached the shores of the US as well as Europe. The only people who fought ISIS were the Kurdish Peshmerga while the US and EU remained silent and continued with their expediency in order not to hurt Islamist sensitivities. ISIS cells still remain dormant in their countries and it is a matter of time before they strike again.

Trump during his electioneering campaign has hinted that he will not be soft on Jihadis as his future predecessor was during his administration.

While the Democrats are licking the wounds of electoral defeat and commence soul searching, the time has come to look at the situation as objectively as possible and not from a left or right wing perspective. Trump has issued tough statements regarding Muslim immigration into the US. This is an issue that is very controversial and does have smatterings of racism. Statistics have proved that most terrorist attacks if not all are Islamist-oriented. They (the Jihadis) have an agenda to convert or kill non-Muslims by the sword replacing democracy with a Caliphate ruled by Sharia Law.

As far as Israel is concerned, Trump may be a blessing in disguise. His administration will leave Israel alone and not make an issue out of illegal settlement construction. He has stated that the construction of settlements in occupied areas is “not an obstacle for peace”. According to Hamas, Israel’s very existence is the obstacle to peace. Already plans for settlement construction that have been frozen under all previous US administration may be resumed. Trump has already given his tacit approval as president-elect. This will be the death of the two-state solution that has been undergoing rigor mortis for a long time. Hamas is against it (the Two-State Solution) as they view the whole of Israel as the occupation that must be destroyed and the State of Palestine will replace it. PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and his coalition government are euphoric over Trump's victory.

Donald Trump will have a lot on his plate as he has many internal issues to solve as well as reconciling with Republicans who opposed his nomination. He has no political experience and has much to learn about the US governing system. The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict will go on the backburner for a long time under Trump’s watch.

The US approach under the various administrations have been ineffective in facilitating a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. The Two-State Solution is moribund and showed no signs of ever happening under previous US Administrations. Perhaps under the incoming Trump Administration with its hard approach may succeed. The previous “soft, conciliatory, wimpish, approaches” over the years yielded no results. All Israel got was more terror, stabbings and ramming of innocent people by Palestinian terrorists driving cars coupled with impotent US condemnation of terror after each act. Palestinian national aspirations have become more extreme. It is not only a land dispute but also a religious one. Jews are demonized in the educational system of Palestine. Pupils are brainwashed to hate Jews from the cradle.. I have written about this in previous posts using examples. Donald Trump’s AIPAC Speech in March 2016 did state truths that nobody wanted to hear.

We have to be patient and see what Trump will achieve in solving the Palestinian - Israeli Conflict. Old, unsuccessful attempts at solving this tragic conflict must be discarded and a new approach - maybe a more hawkish, tight-fisted approach is needed to solve this tragic conflict. Will Trump stand up to the challenge once he is settled in? Time will tell.

Trump, as president-elect has been very gracious towards his opponent, Hillary Clinton. All the vicious talk against her during the campaign seems to be put aside by Trump as if it never occurred.