Trump’s ‘America First’ Policy Likely to Help Israel

The phrase “America First” is suspect from a historical standpoint; it conjures up images of Charles Lindbergh and other Nazi sympathizers who wanted America to stay out of a war with Germany. It puts one in mind of the pro-Nazi rally held in Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939, sponsored by the German-American Bund. But when Trump calls for an “America First” policy, it means he wants the US to choose carefully what military campaigns it wages, and for what aims. Trump wants America to limit its military and economic commitments abroad, for he has in mind the trillions of dollars wasted in order to “bring democracy” to Afghanistan and Iraq. He is similarly disinclined to support international organizations such as the UN, which has been largely captured by an anti-Israel and anti-American cabal and is therefore not worthy of continued American financial support. More on Trump’s“American First” policy as currently understood can be found here: “Will Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy help or hurt Israel?,” by Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS, November 8, 2024:

…The stakes involved in Israel’s war against Iran and its proxies are very different. The notion that Ukraine is a valiant democracy fighting for the freedom of the world is a myth. The regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not as democratic or free from that nation’s antisemitic past as the foreign-policy establishment claims. By contrast, helping Israel defeat these terrorists who seek to spread chaos and genocide in a region central to American interests because of its oil reserves and strategic placement is vital to U.S. security.

All foreign-policy choices are transactional, but every nation has the duty to consider the interests of its own people first.

The choice of “America First” for the title of Trump’s foreign-policy vision has always been unfortunate since it conjures up the pre-World War II movement led by Charles Lindbergh that was both dedicated to appeasing Nazi Germany and antisemitic. Trump’s “America First” is neither dedicated to appeasing a foreign foe or spreading Jew-hatred. It is, instead, more of a realist policy than anything else. That’s because it involves, as we saw in Trump’s first term, a desire to defeat the Islamist terrorists of ISIS, in addition to an aggressive policy of sanctions and anti-terror special operations against Iran.

There is a difference between having the good judgment to pick and choose your battles based on American interests and a policy of isolationism. The notion that an America not willing to commit itself to conflicts anywhere no matter the circumstances will betray Israel is absurd as well as impractical. And it has yet to be explained how Israel is helped by a situation in which American strategic reserves are drawn down to the breaking point to fund and supply an endless war in Ukraine, rather than expended sparingly until they are needed for more important conflicts. Israel needs a strong American ally, not one mired in a conflict that only saps its strength.

Trump’s “America First” policy has been wrongly described as “isolationism.” It is, rather, a policy of picking and choosing where to give financial and/or military support. In NATO, for example, his policy has not been to diminish American support for the alliance, but to threaten to do so if its European members fail to live up to their commitments to increase their military spending, so that less of the burden falls on America; his threat during his first term led 23 of NATO’s 32 members to now spend on their military the required 2% of their GDP ; in his second term, expect that pressure to continue until every member of the military alliance is finally spending that amount — 2% of its GDP— on its military.

What about Ukraine? For Trump, it has become a bottomless pit. Already the Americans have sent Kiev more than $120 billion in military and other aid since the war with Russia began. The Europeans have spent a similar amount on aid to Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides have been killed. The war grinds on, with a sliver of Ukraine now under Russian control and a sliver of Russia under Ukrainian control. Russia has many times the number of troops, many more weapons, and much more money to fund its war, than does Ukraine. Putin will never give up; he sees a Russian defeat as an intolerable national humiliation. Should the Americans continue to pour tens or hundreds of billions of dollars into Ukrainian coffers, when at best only a stalemate can be achieved? Or should it instead insist that Zelensky recognize reality and agree to negotiate a peace with Putin which, alas, will undoubtedly leave Ukraine with some loss of territory? It was always fantastical to think that Ukraine could defeat Russia. Trump won’t be wiling to send another $120 billon to Kiev.

With less American money spent on Ukraine, there will be more to spend in a much more important theatre of war — the Middle East. Trump understands the necessity of supporting Israel’s war effort, which, unlike the Ukraine war, is not about borders, but about the very existence of the Jewish state and its people. Israel is not merely fighting for its own survival; it is holding in check the malign actor, Iran, the most dangerous puppet-master supporting, and directing, a series of proxies in the region, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shi’a militia groups in Iraq. Iran is not only a threat to Israel, but also to the rich Sunni Arab states of the Gulf, and to America itself, which the Iranians call “the Great Satan.” In supporting Israel, Trump understands, America is helping the most loyal of its allies to survive, and if need be, to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threat. He will reimpose sanctions on Iran, but also give the IDF whatever weapons it may need — such as the 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs — to destroy those of Iran’s nuclear facilities that have been built deep underground, like the uranium enrichment plants at Fordow and Natanz.

Trump’s version of “America First” has other tangible benefits for Israel. Unlike both Obama and Biden, Trump is not interested in bolstering multilateral organizations like the United Nations that are cesspools of antisemitism and irredeemably hostile to the Jewish state. The president-elect has little use for that world body or any of its constituent agencies that do so much to demonize and harm Israel….

Trump is contemptuous of the UN. He sees it, as Jonathan Tobin quite rightly says, as “a cesspool of antisemitism and irredeemably hostile to the Jewish state.” He will again halt all payments to UNRWA, as he did in his first term. He may withdraw from the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. He may decrease the American contribution to support the UN.

As part of his new policy, Trump will likely cut all foreign aid to countries and entities that are not firm allies of the US. That means he will again cut off all aid to the Palestinians, as he did in his first term. That, in addition to again cutting aid to UNRWA, will leave the Palestinians unable to continue as before — living almost exclusively off of international aid. They’ll have less money to build vast networks of terror tunnels, to buy weapons, to pay their fighters. They’ll have less money, too, for their leaders to steal — some $14 billion has been taken by four Hamas leaders (Khaled Meshaal, Moussa abu Marzouk, the late Ismail Haniyeh, and the late Yahya Sinwar), and $500 million has been appropriated by the President-for-Life of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Some people who have been battening on that aid may have to get real jobs. Goodness, what an unfeeling ogre this man Trump turns out to be.