President Trump Means Business

I was struck by the headline of a recent opinion piece by Michael Goodwin in the New York Post that read “A year after Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, it’s clear he means business”. He stated unequivocally that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state.  That reality was promised by every American president and candidate for two decades but the caveat always being when the time was right, which was never.  The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 allowed for postponement due to Arab potential violence and other geopolitical threats and so the law was never realized until last year. President Trump changed the scenario then by deciding the time was right to do the right thing.

The naysayers claimed that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital would bring doom and gloom to the region. They predicted global catastrophes would ensue.  Opponents all over the world envisioned that the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians would disintegrate. Some predicted that a new Middle East war would happen. But a year has passed and everything that was negatively predicted did not come to pass. There are, of course, still problems, but they are no different than they were prior to the Jerusalem declaration and the moving of the American embassy from Tel-Aviv to Yerushalayim.

Hamas does still cause trouble as it did at opening of the American embassy, when organized groups tried to crash into the Gaza border fence and send kite balloons with fire bombs into Israeli territory in retaliation. Not deterring the Arab desire to destroy Israel, Trump called their bluff and opened the American embassy anyway as he stated that he would.

As the Arabs howled and threatened the world order to prevent President Trump’s declaration and the Palestinians stated that the peace process is dead. Israel has let the Palestinians blow in the wind and has sought other alternatives to peace by pursuing alliances with China, India and key Gulf States. 

The world recognizes strength and weakness. They have no respect for American presidents who flinch like President Obama did by failing to enforce his red line in Syria which invited mote trouble because opponents believe they will cave in at the first chance of mayhem.  President Trump, on the other hand, has demonstrated that saber rattling and riots won’t move him so riots didn’t happen.

Israel is now dealing with serious issues of tunnels at its northern region.  The action called Northern Shield is determined to cut off Hezbollah tunnels emanating from the Lebanese border.  These tunnels were designed so that Hezbollah militants can make incursions into Israeli territory from Lebanon. “The digging of tunnels constitutes a blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty,” said Brigadier General Ronan Manelis “The offensive will include troops from the Israeli army’s northern command as well as combat engineering corps”.

“IDF soldiers are working methodically and declaratively around the clock even in inclement weather to expose and neutralize tunnel after tunnel”, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.  He went on to say, “We need patience but with the same perseverance we will continue the operation until its conclusion.-until the tunnel threat in the north is neutralized”.

Deeply disconcerting is that here in the Unites States, there are so many important issues that we  must deal with both domestically and globally and the Democrats and the media are busy with false narratives of impeachment and criminal prosecutions by Robert Mueller as the threat of a government  shutdown and the caravan crisis loom.

After commemorating the passing of President George H. W. Bush and particularly lauding him for his positive attributes, the Democrats are starting up. So much for the civility that was so much touted about the late President. His body isn’t even cold yet and Pelosi and Schumer are up to their old tricks.  Sadly Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer are determined to undermine President Trump.  Gone are the days of President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill who compromised after hours over drinks and were determined to do the people’s business or the era of Linden Johnson and Everett Dirksen. Compromises were made and the people’s business was done.

It was quite distressful to have seen the shenanigans played last week in the Oval Office between Pelosi, Schumer and President Trump over the upcoming government shutdown and the give and take over the security wall. I am sure that the majority of that spectacle was Hollywood showing the American people how “tough” and resolute the parties are.  I found it sickening.

It’s ironic to watch what’s happening in Europe today. Europe’s big three are in hot water. Britain’s Theresa May, although she survived a no confidence vote in the Parliament ,is still in deep trouble over Brexit. France’s Emanuel Macron is experiencing detrimental riots and Germany’s Angela Merkel’s days in office seems to be numbered. This volatile situation should be sobering for our leaders in Congress because President Trump ’has the potential of being the leading political figure of the entire free world as the other leaders are on the ‘outs”.

Our global prestige is at stake and it is time for all of us-Democrat and Republican alike to back President Trump so that he  is able go about his business which is America’s business without the damaging partisan bickering that is being on display now.

By Cynthia Zalisky

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Cynthia Zalisky is the Executive Director of the Queens Jewish Community Council. She can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.