Israel Needs to Take a Lesson From Trump About Independence

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President Biden has betrayed our ally of Israel and is holding Israel hostage to its need for weapons from the U.S. (the sale of which was approved by Congress), creating a crisis climate in Israel. As Israel fights a war for its existential survival against an enemy that seeks to destroy Israel, destroy America, create a worldwide Islamic caliphate, and committed the heinous crimes of October 7, Biden is attempting to cripple Israel, support Hamas/Iran, and determine how a foreign nation should defend itself.  

His actions are despicable but not shocking as he panders for Muslim votes in this election year. The shocking aspect is that Israel wasn’t prepared for this betrayal, and it could have been if it had only learned a lesson about independence and sovereignty from President Trump. 

Some of us are old enough to remember the 1970s, and the energy crisis in the early parts of that decade as a result of the 1973 oil embargo by OPEC. The long lines at the gas pumps, the jump in the average gas price from 39 cents to 59 cents per gallon, the sudden surge to create cars run on other fuels than oil; and what it felt like to have our country held hostage by other nations and their control of a necessary aspect of American life.  

The American people realized it was an extremely bad idea to be dependent on foreign nations for a necessity, and every President from Nixon through Obama made “energy independence” an integral part of their campaign. They each had their own idea as to how to achieve that goal, usually through the development of alternative energy sources. And each one failed in his attempts, leaving America dependent on foreign countries for the energy needed to power the United States. We saw gas prices rise dramatically at the whims of those foreign nations.  

When the Iran hostage crisis happened in 1979-1981, we saw gas prices double again to a whopping $1.31 per gallon in 1981. Despite the billions invested in alternative energy sources, it was clear that the American economy was able to be controlled by foreign nations. This reliance manifested in all-time highs of over $3.50 per gallon in each year of Obama’s second term.

Then came President Trump and his commitment to American independence, utilizing the resources at our disposal, and MAGA. Developing our resources, he lowered the price by over a dollar per gallon during the years of his term in comparison to his immediate predecessor.   But the price of gas was a byproduct of a much more important victory that Trump accomplished. It’s a victory that Israel needs to emulate: independence from foreign influence. 

By taking away the leverage of oil from the Arab nations, Trump was able to accomplish great things for the U.S. and the world. Unencumbered by Arab pressure for oil, he made America a strong world leader again. Without their leverage against America, Arab countries were more inclined to create peace between each other; Iran was disempowered, and terrorism was reduced.  

The Abraham Accords were created, successfully initiating working relationships in the region between countries that were previously enemies. American independence from foreign oil set the stage for a world of greater peace and prosperity and allowed the United States to act in ways that were self-beneficial as opposed to acting out of fear of being held hostage for a national necessity. 

Israel should have learned this lesson long ago. It should have recognized the dangers around it, and it now needs to quickly emulate Trump’s actions and be independent of being held hostage by the United States, especially by Joe Biden and the extremist antisemitic faction of the Democratic Party. 

Israel made a choice years ago that it was more financially prudent to develop the technology for weapons while having them built and then purchased from the United States. When it built the Lavi fighter in the 1980s, it received tremendous U.S. pressure to abandon the project as the U.S. did not want a competitor to the American fighter jets that it was exporting. Although the Lavi was received as a remarkable machine, it was also considered costly by many in Israel, and in a close vote of 12-11, the Israeli Cabinet canceled the program after making only three prototypes.

Many in Israel still regret the decision 40 years later. Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens, who was also an aeronautical engineer, was encouraging a reinstatement of the Lavi program as late as 2014. He, like many in Israel, realized that the nation needed to be independent militarily. As necessary as oil is to America, military strength is even more important for Israel, which is surrounded by enemies that have vowed to destroy her. Arens, and those like him, recognized the same important truth as Trump: a nation that allows a necessity to be provided by a foreign government is a nation that is always under the threat of substantial foreign influence.  

Because of Israel’s reliance on weapons from the U.S., Biden (and the extreme leftists in his party) are able to unduly influence Israel to adopt policies that are ultimately detrimental to the country, and the world. By relying on faith in the supposedly unconditional support of an Israel/U.S. relationship, Biden is now able to hurt Israel and enhance the strength of her enemies, which are also enemies of the U.S. (something Buden ignores in his quest for the Muslim vote). Letting the U.S. be the provider of necessary arms as opposed to building its own weaponry has now placed Israel in the same difficult position that America felt for 50 years when we were entirely dependent on foreign oil — a position that is dangerous to Israel and all of Western culture.

Israel needs to do a few things for her own self-preservation, all of which are reflected in President Trump’s attitudes and policies. The war needs to be concluded with the utter destruction of Hamas, and it needs to be done speedily. The longer the war continues, the more leverage Biden has against Israel and the more likely he is to use that leverage to support Hamas, Iran, and Iran’s other proxies in his quest for the Muslim vote.

And Israel needs to redevelop the Lavi program with updated weapons, allowing her to be militarily independent. With that independence, Israel will no longer be hamstrung by the extreme leftist antisemitic wing of the Democratic party. Like America under Trump, Israel will be able to ultimately be safer and more secure, as well as more effective in actually creating a lasting peace in the region. 

President Trump facilitated the Abraham Accords, a miracle in Middle Eastern foreign relations history. Now is the time for Israel to follow his lead on being independent of foreign influence by finishing this war quickly and fully and then by developing its own military independence. Biden has said that he will continue to supply defensive weapons, but what would Israel be forced to do if Biden even abandoned that support of Israel, God forbid? 

When I was in Israel last summer, I saw shirts that said “Don’t worry America, Israel has your back.” The reality is that Biden’s America does not have Israel’s back, and maybe Israel needs to create its own Make Israel Great Again program, beginning with military independence from a nation that is currently controlled by antisemitic leftists who demonstrate daily their desire for Israel’s destruction.

President Ronald Reagan was fond of talking about “peace through strength.” Israel needs to make sure her strength is not dependent on others, but on her own resources, products, and her greatest ally: God. In doing so and in following President Trump’s model of energy independence, Israel may be able to fully accomplish what has always been her long-term goal: a lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors.