Trump’s appointments are glad tidings for Israel’s expansionists

In contemplating a second Trump presidency, Jews on the right had hope: hope for a green light for the expansionist ethos guiding the Netanyahu government and the settler movement with which it is allied. Jews on the left had fear: fear of domestic repression and an assault on liberalism that might ultimately endanger the Jewish community. With the announcement of Trump’s first picks for his administration, we can now see that both the hopes and fears were well-placed.

In contemplating Trump’s appointments, the centrality of Trump himself is key. As Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, wrote last week in Foreign Affairs, “Over the past eight years, Trump has collected enough acolytes to staff his foreign policy and national security team with like-minded officials [that] the United States will speak with one voice on foreign policy, and that voice will be Trump’s.”

Nonetheless, these appointments can speak volumes about what to expect from the President-elect and what he expects from his team.

Surely the most notable nomination in the “green light for Bibi” category is that of Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel. Huckabee, a former Governor of Arkansas, is a dyed in the wool Evangelical Christian and a Baptist minister. America’s tens of millions of evangelicals are the country’s largest bloc of supporters of a strong Israel with expanded borders.

"I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria," Huckabee told CNN in 2017, using the Biblical terms for the West Bank. "There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement. They're communities, they're neighbourhoods, they're cities. There's no such thing as an occupation."

As reported in Newsweek, settler communities are bullish on Huckabee. Yishai Fleisher, spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron, told Newsweek "we are very excited about Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee is an amazing person, both in his spiritual and political awareness. He's a great friend to Israel. He truly understands the issues, has a heart for the people of this region, and we're thrilled to have him."

Palestinians might not be so happy. The Forward’s Rob Eshman experienced “a teaspoon of pure, sweet schadenfreude” directed at “those pro-Palestinian purists who threw away their vote on third-party candidate Jill Stein in order to punish Vice President Kamala Harris for the Biden administration’s Gaza war policy.”

In his first term, Trump merely ignored the Palestinians. The selection of Huckabee indicates that it could go worse for them in the second term.

This conclusion is supported by the appointment of Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. In a recent video, Rubio said he does not support a ceasefire until Israel destroys “every element” of Hamas.

“I think it's terrible and I think Hamas is 100% to blame,” he said about the estimated 15,000 Palestinian children killed in the war.

The good news for the Israeli right and their allies in the diaspora continues. Here are quick takes on Trump’s other key appointees, as laid out by Eshman in The Forward:

National Security Advisor and current member of Congress Mike Waltz has said the Biden administration took an “appeasement first” approach to Iran. He said members of Congress who supported a Gaza ceasefire were “antisemitic,” and promised to give Israel a free hand to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

CIA Director John Ratliffe signed a commemorative statement declaring Jerusalem “the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” and as a Texas representative voted for the ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

Incoming UN Ambassador Rep. Elise Stefanik gained prominence last year in Congress by grilling university presidents on whether it was antisemitic to call for the genocide of Jews. She recently called to cut off aid for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, the main supplier of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

Secretary of Defence Peter Hegseth described the story of Israel as “the story of God’s chosen people.” Like Huckabee an evangelical Christian, in a 2018 speech Hegseth prophesied that one day Israel would see “the rebuilding of King Solomon’s Temple on the Temple Mount.” He neglected to mention the Al-Aqsa Mosque which stands there now.

Closer to home, Americans will need to update the famous Martin Neimoller quote to begin “first they came for the Hispanics.” Trump’s campaign promise to deport millions of Hispanic immigrants will be in the hands of a coterie of high level immigration hardliners, among them: Stephen Miller, architect of the family separation plan in Trump’s first term, as Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor; South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who sent national guard troops 1700km south to the Mexican border, as Secretary of Homeland Security; and Tom Homan, Trump’s first term director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as “Border Czar”.

Our update of Neimoller might then read “next they came for the trans.” Although the Secretary of Health and Human Services has not been announced, Trump plans a broad assault on the rights of trans people and the elimination of gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Muslims, despite their role in Trump’s victory in Michigan, could be next. Stephen Miller has called for the reinstatement of Trump’s Muslim travel ban which affect seven Muslim-majority countries during his first administration (the ban was rescinded by Biden).

Where do Jews fall in this progression? While antisemitism is not explicitly on the Trump agenda, do not forget that Trump and many of his closest friends and supporters casually share a stage, a microphone, or a dinner table with the most notorious antisemites and white supremacists. Antisemitic incidents rose dramatically during his first term and right-wing extremists were continually emboldened.

This week, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, examining the Amsterdam pogrom as part of “a worldwide Jew hunt” that portends “a civilisational catastrophe”, concluded that “Americans (and not just Jews) should beware: If we stay on this path, the Jew hunt of Amsterdam may be upon us, too, and sooner than we think.”

Even before Trump takes office, the writing is on the wall: it is a good day for settlers, a bad day for Palestinians, a bad day for minorities of all sorts within the United States, and a great day for racists and evangelicals.

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