I never understood people who said Trump was Israel’s best friend. One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he is unreliable. Suddenly, for Israel’s “best friend,” uranium enrichment by Iran, a 747 from Qatar and cutting Israel out of Saudi-US engagement — all red lines for Israel and its allies — are on the table. With a best friend like this, who needs enemies?
That’s what I wrote on May 16, 2025.
In light of Trump’s appeasement of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the sentiment stands.
So does my growing conclusion that staunch faith in one political party over the other is foolish. As individuals we all have our preferences along the liberal-conservative spectrum, but leaders among both parties have shown an openness to candidates and points of view that are deeply harmful for the Jewish people.
It’s part of why I have long been critical of Netanyahu’s fawning over Trump. “I never got why some placed so much trust in him, (Netanyahu included),” I wrote March 7, 2025. “If there is anything that defines Trump, it’s his unpredictability.”
Which is why I must now also quote the following paragraph again from the May 16, 2025 column:
“Knowing Trump, by the time this article is published, he could be fully back onto the Israel bandwagon, but it still won’t change the message that was received over the past week to Israel’s enemies: The US-Israel relationship is up for negotiation.”
We could be facing an entirely new geopolitical situation by the time this appears in print. But it won’t change Trump’s behavior last week with regard to Israel and Iran, just as it won’t change how he and VP Vance treated Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky last year.
Messianic-type faith in any human being never works out well.
Trump’s dimwitted rapprochement with Iran’s mullahs has mostly betrayed the Iranian people. As tens of thousands of them took to the streets to protest ongoing oppression — risking their lives — Trump promised he was sending help.
He didn’t.
I am deeply sad for all the Iranians I know who truly believed that their time, after 47 years, had finally come.
But just as they have faced setbacks from Carter through to today, they will not give up. “Trump disappointed us,” said Amir of Free Iran Colorado, “but we will get our freedom.”
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com