Trump wins applause vowing to protect Israel from Hamas, ISIS and Iran

In US President Donald Trump's final speech in Israel on Tuesday, he praised Jerusalem's diversity and vowed to stand with Israel in the global war on terror.

"I make this promise to you: My administration will always stand with Israel." This remark earned an additional handshake from Netanyahu.

After reiterating that civilized nations must band together against terror, he said, "Israelis are murdered by terrorists wielding knives... Hamas and Hezbollah launch rockets into Israeli communities where school children... must run to the bomb shelters with fear but with speed. ISIS targets Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues... and Iran's leaders routinely call for Israel's destruction. Not with Donald J. Trump." At this, the rose to a standing ovation, as Netanyahu pumped his fist in support. "I like you, too," Trump said in response.

In regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump was optimistic. "I had a meeting this morning with President Abbas and can tell you that the Palestinians are ready to reach for peace. I know you've heard it before, I am telling you, that's what I do, that they are ready to reach for peace. And by meeting with my very good friend, Benjamin, [I can say that] that he is reaching for peace, he loves peace, he loves people, he especially loves the Israeli people. Benjamin Netanyahu wants peace. Making peace will not be easy. But with determination, compromise, and the belief that peace is possible, Israelis and Palestinians can make a deal."

He went on to reiterate America's stance against Iran's nuclear proliferation. "The US is firmly committed to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and halting their support of terrorist and militias. So, we are telling you right now, that Iran will not have nuclear weapons."

When have we ever fought Israel's battles? I specifically remember us preventing Israel from fighting their battles in 1982 in Lebanon. We should have let them wipe out Arafat and his whole PLO horde then, but we stopped them along with the rest of the stupid UN....

I am all for letting the Israelis and other Mideast countries doing what they need to defend themselves, but that is not what the president said. He said that we would do the defending. A lot of people voted for President Trump because he gave the impression that he was going to reverse the trend to more and more international commitments, not add to the burden of the American taxpayer and soldier.

My impression after taking in all of Trump’s speeches and what he has said on it is that we are there to support our allies in the region. I think Israel especially just wants us to take the lead. We don’t need to fight their battles. I’m hoping that this arms deal with Saudi (which I’m sure will include training their personnel) will be used to help them fight the Houthi’s down in Yemen. I don’t see us deploying any large number of troops to Yemen. I think it’s obvious that we have SF down there and that’s not going to change.

Overall, as far as troops, I think the only ones we will keep stationed are ones in Iraq. Quite frankly, after ISIS is defeated, keeping a force of 10,000 or so there just makes sense and keeps the lid on the crazies. I don’t see Trump doing any more than that and continuing to destroy ISIS in the region. It’s just about done in Iraq and we have reliable partners in the Kurds for Syria.

I think you misread Trump during the campaign, as his stance was not isolationist (as he explicitly said it was not) but America first realism. He made it clear then that he thought we should intervene and show power in the world where our interests were clearly involved (just not in random regime changes, unrealistic democracy building, or in places where they weren’t contributing to their own defense), and he thought stopping terrorism was one of these interests. Trump said during the campaign that he wanted to eliminate ISIS and that he thought the Iran deal and the idea of Iran getting nuclear weapons was dangerous for us.

You might not think that it’s our problem if Iran wipes out Israel, but remember that they chant “death to America” as often as “death to Israel.” Please remember too that ISIS believes in a global, theocratic, Islamic Caliphate and they are eager to kill as many Americans and other Westerners as possible. Israel and Iran’s traditional enemy Saudi Arabia are fundamental counterweights to both Iran and ISIS. Trump is strengthening alliances in order to protect us, as well as our allies for our own interests.

And part of the way he’s doing this is by selling them more of our advanced weapons so they can do more of the fighting themselves. I remember him talking about our Middle Eastern allies needing to do more of the fighting, and now he’s working to make that possible (while infusing hundreds of billions extra into our economy through these arms deals). That he also made it clear that he wouldn’t allow our strongest ally in the region, Israel, to be destroyed in no way changes that important step forward. Saudi Arabia has done more bombings of ISIS than any other country except for the US, but their military is not that strong yet, so there are limits on what they can do on their own. Trump has gone a long way to remedy that. Also, part of the deal was a missile defense system that will hopefully allow the Saudis to defend the Arabian peninsula on their own should Iran attack them with long-range missiles.

And, of course, you can go back and watch his AIPAC speech from the campaign to know that Trump wasn’t going to be the first US president to throw Israel to the wolves (although Obama’s cozying up to the Iranians did make the Israelis doubt us). After all, Trump didn’t say he wanted to fight any and every one of their battles, but rather to stop Iran from destroying Israel and to work for peace in the area that will allow the Israelis to live free from terror. I don’t know why this would involve any burdens on our soldiers beyond the small number already fighting ISIS unless the situation with Iran really spirals out of control, especially since ISIS is already on the run. You and I both know (along with everyone else) he was in no way talking about sending a horde of US soldiers to Israel to take out all their enemies; yet, your comments almost act as if he was.

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