In February of 2024 I wrote an article1 titled “Joe Biden Hates Israel.” I got a lot of flak for the title, but I believed it sincerely, and made it clear that my conclusion was based on the evidence. Now, here we are in July of 2026, and incredibly, I have come to a similar conclusion about Donald Trump.
That conclusion is based on Trump’s statements of late, his administration’s statements, and the fact that we already saw how a similar situation is playing out with Hamas. If it were up to me, Gaza would have been flattened on October 8, 2023. I know that sounds harsh to some, but I don’t know how many times we need to learn the lesson that the most effective weapon we have against our enemies is deterrence.
So it would seem obvious that allowing our enemies to survive, twice, when we were in a position to utterly destroy both is ludicrous.
Israel had the moral duty to utterly defeat Hamas, yet, with immense pressure put on it by the American government (meaning: Donald Trump), it allowed Hamas to survive, and there are multiple reports that Hamas has reorganized, is rebuilding, and is rearming. Meaning: the threat of another October 7, is still a possibility. Once again, we merely delayed the inevitable final confrontation with a genocidal enemy.
At the same time, Donald Trump has seemingly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Iran with the recently signed “memo of understanding” (MOU). (At Versailles no less – does anyone at the White House know anything about history?)2
I already know all of the arguments as to why Trump is still a hero to many Jews (I voted for him twice, but those “arguments,” as rational as they may seem, are not arguments at all anymore, at this point they are wishful thinking.
I hear them frequently, and they are always along the lines of:
“We have to wait and see. We don’t know how this is going to ultimately play out.”
Or, “Well then are you saying Harris would be better?”
The second argument is inane and juvenile. The people who invoke it never seem to get that Kamala Harris was not the only choice in the 2024 election. Republican voters chose Trump over Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz. That argument’s “logic,” is that if you don’t support everything Trump does, or you criticize him, then you MUST be a leftist, a democrat, and a Harris supporter. Obviously, that’s not true – we could have had any number of conservative GOP candidates.
But why does that even matter? The fact that someone terrible is worse than someone mediocre, doesn’t make the mediocre good or great. Leadership is not graded on a curve.
It’s also traditionally been the American attitude that the “buck stops” ultimately with the President of the United States – meaning that everything that happens while he is in office is his responsibility.
Of course, both sides like to ignore that precedent when their guy is on office, particularly when he isn’t doing well – then it becomes the fault of the cabinet secretaries, the vice-president, Congress, the dog walker, etc.
As for the constant cries of “let’s wait and see” (always said like it is the pinnacle of wisdom): at what point after waiting does the seeing happen?
We were given that excuse constantly when Trump oversaw the “ceasefire” agreement that has apparently ended Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Maybe I’m just an optimist, but I actually believed that after over 1,200 innocent Jews were murdered barbarically in the worst attack on the Jewish people since THE HOLOCAUST – that Hamas’ time on this planet was at an end point, and it would come with severe finality.
But here we are, two years and eight months since that day, and Hamas is still here.
Which is a victory for Hamas – no matter what else you think. It makes the Jews, and Israel, look weak. The fact that the attacks of 10/7 have been followed by an unprecedented, global, relentless rise in antisemitism is no accident. We showed our willingness to be vulnerable to our enemies, and they take advantage of it every day. How many times have we woken up to stories of Jews being murdered, attacked, or involved in incidents3 reminiscent of Germany post-Nuremberg Laws,4 since then?
Even the repulsive BBC admits5 (while fawning over Gazans and Hamas) that Hamas is rebuilding.
“Four months on, Gazans say Hamas is again extending its control over security, tax revenue, and government services, raising questions about its long-term strategy, and whether it is prepared to give up its weapons and authority, as now required under the second stage of Donald Trump’s peace plan.”
That is the peace plan which, in its early days, saw Trump issuing empty threat after empty threat for Hamas to disarm. He threatened them on September 19, 2025, on October 15, 2025, on October 19, 2025, and on January 21, 2026. That is just the list I was able to compile; there may be other examples. Each threat was along the lines of “Do it or there’ll be hell to pay,” or “Do it or we’ll destroy you.”
Hamas didn’t care because they knew that Trump didn’t mean it. How did they know that? The same way we know it: you can only effectively issue a threat like that once, if you don’t act – the threat becomes futile.
Iran knows that too.
But “it’s just his way of negotiating!” people claim. If that technique results in a more unsafe world for Jews, then we should all utterly reject that technique. But: it doesn’t work. There was no destruction, no disarming: and Hamas not only remains a threat to Jewish lives, that threat is growing every day. In fact, Israel recently foiled6 dozens of Hamas attacks.
Trump blinked. And when he blinks, it’s the Jews who often suffer the consequences.
Now we’re in a similar situation with Iran. And again, I continually hear the “we need to see how it’s going to play out” excuse.
There is only one problem: it IS already playing out.
After the signing of the MOU, restrictions of foreign ports used by Iran to sell its oil were immediately lifted. The Treasury Department also issued a waiver on Iran selling oil. The waiver7 lasts two months. During those two months, Iran will make an estimated $10 billion. Trump, for his part, was bragging8 about how much oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. He perversely was bragging about liquid cash flowing to an absolutely evil regime. I wish he was much more concerned with the blood flowing through the veins of Iran’s innocent victims.
And where is that money going to? STRAIGHT to the IRGC and Hezbollah (Iran’s most viable proxy at this point).
How much damage will $10 billion cause? How many Israeli, and American, lives will be lost (G-d forbid) because of terms of the deal which are already in effect?
We waited, and we saw: Iran is, so far, $10 billion richer.
The estimate for a year of waivers is $60 billion.
Even without getting into why Trump is doing this, or why he and his aides suddenly sound like the worst of the worst leftists when discussing Israel, Trump did not achieve victories in Gaza or Iran.
(There are many, many examples of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric coming from the White House, but the most recent as of this writing was JD Vance’s deplorable comment that “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”)
Yet, Trump still, incredibly, tried to claim9 that the capitulation to Iran is actually “unconditional surrender.” We have a twisted version of P.T. Barnum when we need Ronald Reagan.
“Unconditional surrender”? Does this guy know anything10 about World War II?
As Melanie Phillips pointed out,11 Trump even admitted that he ended the war because of economic considerations, meaning that Iran now has “the upper hand in everything that now follows in the negotiations for a final ‘deal.’ It will be able to run rings round the Americans over the proposed ‘online blending’ of the enriched uranium Trump once pledged to destroy, the destruction of centrifuges, disarmament verification or anything else.”
The details of the MOU have been written about extensively. But basically, all Tehran has to do is keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and it gets to do whatever else it wants. There was nothing in the MOU about ballistic missiles or terrorist activity. There is nothing requiring them to “be good,” so when “true believers” say that “Iran will have to abide by the deal,” what are they abiding by exactly?
Hezbollah certainly hasn’t observed the terms of the deal, and Hezbollah is Iran. Meanwhile, Jews continue to die at the its hands.12
In fact, there have been MULTIPLE “ceasefire” violations by Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas since these various farces of “agreements” have been put in place. Each time, the U.S. agrees, abides by the terms….and Iran does whatever is chooses.
Speaking of choices, Israel was given none, because it was not shown the MOU until well after the Arab nations involved, and Iran, had seen it. What is more – Israel has been left out entirely of the process, and will continue to be left out of the process, while the U.S. and Iran pretend that Israel is bound by whatever agreements they make.
Just as bad, Trump laughably suggested13 (while accusing Israelis of a blood libel) that Syria handle Hezbollah, and Vance, more laughably, suggested that Iran be given a role14 (which is totally laughable given that Hezbollah is Iran) in Lebanon as part of negotiations.
That makes me wonder, given that Trump’s entire rationale for the Iran operation was that it was getting close to producing a nuclear weapon, and the first target of that weapon would assuredly be the Jews (G-d forbid), how can we assume good intentions on his part? Israel was also the ONLY ally willing to participate, and do all of the heavy lifting, in the “war” that Trump takes all of the credit for every day.
How can we watch history repeat itself twice during the last two years, and still think that Trump, or America, has some master plan up his sleeve. He doesn’t. It’s obvious.
As Jews, we need to live in the world of reality. I’d recommend Tehillim (Psalms), Perek (chapter) 146.15 Pasuk (verse) 3: “Do not trust in princes, in the son of man, who has no salvation.”
Never give in. Never give up.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Resources
1. https://joshuanamm.substack.com/p/joe-biden-hates-israel
2. https://www.history.com/articles/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-german-guilt-effects
3. https://www.facebook.com/newyorkstateag/posts/vandalizing-the-office-of-congressman-dan-goldman-a-jewish-elected-official-is-d/897022811789836/
4. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nuremberg-laws
5. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98g1klxnpxo
6. https://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-says-it-foiled-dozens-of-hamas-attacks-led-by-turkey-based-operatives/
7. https://nypost.com/2026/06/22/world-news/us-waives-iran-oil-sanctions-for-two-months/
8. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-says-19-million-barrels-of-oil-exited-strait-of-hormuz-on-monday/
9. https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-says-iran-deal-probably-unconditional-surrender-reveals-details-covert-maritime-operation
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan#
11. https://www.jns.org/opinion/column/melanie-phillips/trumps-surrender?utm_campaign=120355022-Melanie%20Phillips%20RSS%20email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-865KE4SLxrYzTGVXy-RPUC6G9FIsIKcu63vPCjOHpMvnRlftdSdmYFL2W3VA7H6ysi2cscRNyRKIGhC5q8VhjogVMt-A&_hsmi=138738293&utm_content=138738293&utm_source=hs_email
12. http://www.timesofisrael.com/4-person-idf-tank-crew-including-battalion-chief-killed-by-hezbollah-in-south-lebanon/
13. https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/06/16/trump-israel-has-killed-too-many-in-lebanon-let-syria-handle-hezbollah/
14. https://www.algemeiner.com/2026/06/23/vance-pushes-iran-role-lebanon-deal-israel-warns-growing-strategic-risk/
15. https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16367/jewish/Chapter-146.htm
Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing and dedicated to the principle of free speech.