If an American president and his administration wanted to guarantee Israel’s future as a country under constant assault, there are a few things he could do to make Israel’s daily existence as fraught as possible. The first would be to destabilize the West Bank, the territory that is closest to Israel proper and where massive unrest and violence has the potential to cause the greatest erosion in Israelis’ day-to-day life. This would involve a political track of undermining the Palestinian Authority – which, whatever else it may be, is a force for quiet and stability amidst its corrupt authoritarianism – and loosening its grip on power to the benefit of Hamas and other far more radical groups, and an economic track of destroying the current aid system that also employs thousands of Palestinians in schools, hospitals, and as workers on infrastructure projects. It would involve ensuring that the Palestinian Authority Security Forces could not pay full salaries to its members, enabling Hamas to infiltrate the group by bribing underpaid and frustrated security personnel. All of this would lay the groundwork for an eventual collapse of the PA, possibly a popular intifada, the potential takeover of the West Bank by Hamas, and the realization of a self-fulfilling prophecy of the West Bank indeed turning into Gaza.
Next would be to destabilize Jordan, which the Israeli security establishment views as Israel’s eastern security border, and put the survival of the Hashemite ruling family at risk. This would involve inflaming public opinion in Jordan by making high profile moves on Jerusalem and the West Bank, and strongly hinting that Jordan should be viewed as the future Palestinian state while any Jordanian stake in Jerusalem should be eliminated. It would also involve eliminating aid to Palestinian refugees in Jordan in the midst of an already ongoing Jordanian economic crisis, overextending the government’s capacity that was already stretched to the limit. Whatever replaces the monarchy is likely to be extremist, openly hostile to Israel, and present a continuous security headache on what is now Israel’s quietest and least worrisome border.
The most extensive and critical step would be to trash Israel’s most potent national security asset, which is bipartisan support in the U.S. This would be fairly difficult to unwind, so it would require a series of steps that play out over time. It would start with having Israeli government officials serve as proxies for a historically unpopular and polarizing president, defending him and his administration on American soil on issues that have nothing to do with Israel and making it clear that the Israeli government’s interests are tied to having this particular president remain in office. It would encompass constant assertions that only one of the two political parties in the U.S. is pro-Israel and that the other hates both Israel and Jews. It would involve repeated efforts to pass anti-BDS legislation that carries significant free speech concerns rather than bipartisan legislation addressing the issue, or tacking condemnations of anti-Semitism onto bills that are unrelated and using the amendment as a poison pill to either sink the larger bill or force the other side to vote down the anti-Semitism amendment. In all of these instances, the votes would be set up as traps to be able to pretend that your political opponents are anti-Israel when they vote no for reasons having nothing to do with Israel, and counting on the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans pay attention only to your political spin rather than delving into the complications of legislation and procedural votes.
Finally, the combustible cherry on top of this radioactive sundae would be to stake out a position that is not only farther to the right of any administration before you, but one that boxes in any current or future Israeli government by being more hawkish than they are. The fastest way to do this would be to ditch the two-state solution altogether and tarnish it as a failed attempt that will never have any chance of success, and make clear that Palestinians should give up any hopes of political sovereignty. Then, construct a peace initiative that is branded as the deal of the century but is in fact a thinly veiled attempt to shift the Overton window so that it is centered on the Israeli right’s most ambitious fever dream. This would not actually be a deal in any normative sense of the word since there is no expectation of it being accepted by the Palestinian side, or even being balanced enough to allow for any type of negotiations. It would instead set a new baseline of unrealistic expectations for the Israeli side that would sabotage any potential future deal by moving the Israeli and Palestinian sides even further apart, with an even greater likelihood of paving the way for Israeli annexation of the West Bank as the U.S. cheers it on.
And it is this final step that would cement the disaster for Israel, as any claim to having moral authority as the only democracy in the Middle East, or shaking off the occupation of the West Bank as a temporary measure born from having no partner, would be gone forever. It would mean an endless fight against an empowered BDS that at some point will get real buy-in from European governments, the death of Israeli dreams of eventual integration into the wider Middle East and normalized relations with Sunni states, and a security hellscape dealing with Palestinians who want either their own state or Israeli citizenship but are not willing to countenance permanent second class status through autonomy on 40% of the West Bank. It would mean an Israel that never has quiet and sustainable borders, is never treated as a normal country, and is fated to fight a never-ending battle against its neighbors, the world, and its own conscience.
President Trump has done many things that Israelis like and that are objectively good for Israel. He has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, made clear that the Golan Heights will remain in Israeli hands, and has worked assiduously to counter United Nations bias toward Israel. He has done other things that the Israeli government has cheered even if the IDF and Israeli security and intelligence agencies have not, such as pulling the U.S. out of the Iran deal and putting unprecedented pressure on the PA. But he has also taken the steps outlined above – including Jared Kushner’s comments on Tuesday finally making it clear that this administration has no use for any type of two-state formula – all of which are combining to create a disaster that Israel will have to live with well beyond Trump’s tenure. Many people choose to describe Trump as the most pro-Israel president, if not the most pro-Israel world leader, to ever walk the earth. I understand entirely why some people hold that view, but think about the sum total of his actions and then ask yourself whether what he will leave in his wake is going to make Israel stronger, safer, better off, and prepared to face the challenges of decades to come.
Ottomans and Zionists 
Do you mean that Trump is not akin to Cyrus the great or Harry S. Truman?
I hope that the author reads these comments and will respond:
As a flipside of this op-ed, can you detail why the Israelis and her corresponding right of center American supporters always say that Obama was the worst President ever regarding Israel? What about him and his policies (and outcomes) were damaging to Israel? And these comments well preceded anything to do with Iran–having started in 2008 during Obama’s first campaign. I have been troubled by these accusations which in my opinion are completely false.
Further, is it good for the US government to be “yes sir” to the whims of the Israeli government, or is it better for the US government to be able to separate itself and have its own regional goals? I hope they would overlap with Israel’s but full agreement with Netanyahu’s wishes–as you so point out here–is not always best long term for Israel, not so good for long term strategy for US.
Finally–I am disappointed that you didn’t comment on Bernie Sanders and Beto O’Rourke’s comments and harsh criticisms of the “racist Israel government”. These comments do nothing but polarize, and do not indicate to me that there could be any working relationship between either of these two with Israeli leadership/government, not with comments like this. Thus giving lie to the falsehood of how Trump is the “most pro-Israel president ever”
Supporting the European position to label and boycott products made in the West Bank was Pro Israel? There are about 200 territorial disputes in the world but only Israel is sanctioned.
Lifting sanctions on Iran by the Obama administration was pro Israel? Abstaining from a security Council anti Israel resolution by the Obama administration after Hillary lost the election was pro Israel? Stating without evidence after numerous murders on Israelis and during the time Israel was burying a pregnant woman, that Israel for being too tough on the Palestinians, was pro Israel? Having Netanyahu wait hours while Obama had dinner was a pro Israel act? Would he do that to Abbas? Obama spent years sitting in a church listening to sermons against Israel and the US.
O&Z: When would be the right time to let Jordan know that no part of Jerusalem is theirs? When would be the right time to let Syria know, they won’t be shooting down off the Goan Heights? Should the United States support the PA paying the families of terrorists instead of their employees?
The non support of Israel by the Democrats was due to their movement to the radical left, not because of Netanyahu’s policies. Bernie Sanders is going to support Israel? If the Palestinian’s were actually after their own state, they would have accepted one of Israel’s generous offers. It’s an illusion that Israel can make an offer that the Palestinian’s would accept.
I find the whole premise of this article to be disingenuous at best.
“This would involve a political track of undermining the Palestinian Authority – which, whatever else it may be, is a force for quiet and stability amidst its corrupt authoritarianism.” Give me a break. The PA has had two decades to prove it is ready to build a peaceful state that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state and that ends its opposition to Zionism. It has FAILED miserably. It only appears decent by comparison to Hamas or Hezbollah.
It may be time to recognize the so-called Palestinian People are not an actual distinct people, but only a collection of rival Arab families and clans that have some history or connection to the historical region knows as Palestine. Individual Palestinian Arabs may be safely assimilated into Israel, Jordan or other Arab nations. An independent Palestinian is just a recipe for endless war. It may take a generation or two but Israel needs to assimilate Arabs who are willing to live in Israel and expel or kill those who won’t.
President Trump has done the World a great service by blowing away the delusions and wishful thinking.
Israel is not responsible for Muslims infiltrating the Democratic party and spewing their predictable Jew hatred. I should note that Nazism also infiltrated political parties in the United States in the 1930s. What ultimately destroyed it was war with Nazism in Europe. Similarly, the recognition that we are at war with Islamism should inform American decisions to elect people with questionable loyalty. Omar talks about dual loyalty but she is the poster child for that.
There is only one way in the history of the world to achieve quiet and sustainable borders. That is brute force followed by skillful diplomacy with the defeat adversary. Let Israel do what it must to survive in the toughest neighborhood in the world.
Hats off to you Mr. Kaplow. You’ve articulated exactly how American Ashkenazi Jews on the left think. The Middle East for these folks is one, maybe two, trips to Israel in their life time. Anything they think/ feel about the Middle East is in the context of comfort and safety, and influenced by the guilt they feel within their “progressive” groups.
But keep preaching your “feel good utopian” American post-Zionist schtick. We get you don’t like Netanyahu, Trump and feel the two state solution is the only path forward.