As America’s most/only reliable partner in the Middle East for nearly 70 years, Israel cautiously welcomes the Donald Trump presidency, says the legal affairs correspondent for the international Jerusalem Post.
Because of Mr. Trump’s already legendary unpredictability and his imprecision about policy plans, Israel’s concern is palpable, Yonah Jeremy Bob said.
Addressing an intensely knowledgeable audience last evening at an Orthodox synagogue, the Westwood Kehilla, Mr. Bob eschewed speaking in the sweeping strokes favored by international observers.
A practicing lawyer and international affairs commentator for the English-language Post, Mr. Bob brought an insider’s broad and deep insight into the ghastly fights, occasional wars and semi-wars that politically pockmark the heavily pimpled face of the Middle East.
By a narrow but clear margin, American Jews in Israel, as well as the Jerusalem government of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, preferred Mr. Trump to the alternative, Hillary Clinton.
The conservative Likud ruling party and the Israelis stand shakily beside Mr. Trump, uncertain what the next moment will bring.
The next president’s “instability and lack of clarity” have seeded Israeli nervousness, Mr. Bob said. This is a growing condition around the globe about the career non-politician.
“When (Mr. Trump) comes into (or out of) a press conference you don’t know what he is going to say,” Mr. Bob.
Still, Mr. Trump was the people’s choice.
A Mrs. Clinton administration incontestably was seen as extending the dreaded policies of the dreaded President Obama, who has fought with Mr. Netanyahu throughout his two terms. Most infamously, Mr. Obama once forced the prime minister to enter the White House where low-tier employees do.
