As an Israeli, my understanding of the charged political environment in America is quite limited, especially relative to that of the olim from the United States with whom our country has been blessed.
The justification for publishing my remarks on this matter stems not from their novelty, but from the moral obligation of gratitude that I feel toward Donald Trump, President of the United States, for what he has done on our behalf (and in my opinion, on behalf of the entire free world) during his four years in office.
In an article published in [Makor Rishon], Trump was likened to King Achashverosh.
It seems to me that with respect to what he has done for Jerusalem he is more like Achashverosh's predecessor, King Koresh (Cyrus), who authorized and encouraged the Jews who had been exiled to Babylonia to return to the Land of Israel and rebuild the Temple.
There are not enough lines in this newspaper to convey the full extent of the psychological upheaval which occurred when the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
This is not only recognition of the right of Jews to return to their ancestral homeland, which has been supported by the nations since the extermination of European Jewry.
Rather, it is recognition of Jewish sovereignty returning to its natural place after God had seemingly "rejected" them, as it were, from the day Christianity was born.
Trump has expressed this in many respects far better than did Koresh, and a not-insignificant number of countries have followed in his path. It may be recalled that not only were the U.S. embassy and other embassies located for decades in Tel Aviv, but they were located specifically along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, so that it would be easier to evacuate them to an American battleship if Arabs armies were to invade Jaffa and Sheikh Munis. All this has come to an end!
Furthermore, Trump differs from Achashverosh also with respect to the mortal blows that he has inflicted upon the Ayatollahs’ regime in Iran, which has been plotting to wipe us off the face of the earth with the nuclear weapons that it is developing.
He rescinded the dangerous agreement that the previous administration had reached with the Ayatollahs concerning the nuclear weapons that they were developing, and has brought Iran to the brink of economic bankruptcy, which hopefully will lead to a regime change in Iran and to a restoration of the talented Iranian people to their rightful position in the world.
Similarly, the death of Qassem Soleimani, whose potential to destroy the Jewish people has had no parallel for seventy-five years, we owe in great measure to Trump. (In this, indeed, he is somewhat like Achashverosh in his hanging of Haman.) We also owe him thanks for the clandestine support for the attacks carried out by unnamed military units on al-Quds forces on Syrian soil.
And I have not even mentioned the historic revolution that may follow from the Abraham Accords, nor Trump's role in reaching that agreement, nor the supplying of F15 fighter jets and hopefully new bunker-penetrating bombs that are essential to Israel's fight against Hezbollah and the Iranian nuclear program, nor the new trade agreements between the two countries, and so on.
The United States' willingness today to take on by itself the various axes of evil in the world – remaining vigilant to the dangers posed by North Korea, China, Turkey, and Russia – is not to be taken for granted. In these matters, the European nations have largely returned to their slumber of the 1930's.
I am sure that Trump has also many shortcomings, as do I and many others, and I do not agree with him on all matters. I have no intention, and I lack the wisdom, to suggest to American Jews for whom they should vote. I trust their wisdom and integrity. But I feel an obligation to show my appreciation of Trump, and I have expressed it in a small way in my attempt to disentangle him from the book of Esther.
The original Hebrew version of this opinion piece was published in Makor Rishon's Friday edition.