OPINION
THE WORLD
Better than Obama not good enough Israelis want a Allied airstrikes on Syria were praiseworthy. But the mission left unaccomplished is the Iranian threat, backed by Russia, which the Trump administration is ignoring.
The problem here is just the opposite of the chaos obsessed over by the president’s detractors. The issue in Syria is Trump’s unwillingness to confront a basic contradiction in his foreign-policy outlook that has been glaringly obvious since he first began campaigning for the presidency. He still can’t seem to grasp that you can’t be tough on Iran while being soft on Russia. If the United States is to mount a meaningful campaign — as Trump has often said he would — to roll By Jonathan S. Tobin back Iran’s efforts to achieve regional hegemony by a If the sole criteria by which U.S. President Donald nuclear deal that has enriched and empowered it, it Trump’s actions in Syria should be judged are to be compared with his predecessor, then perhaps the claim must be part of an approach that takes into account that Tehran’s most dangerous conduct is being enabled of a “mission accomplished” might be accurate. by Russia. Stacked up against President Barack Obama’s epic The other contradiction is that while Trump has failures in Syria, Trump doesn’t look so bad. But even if he were not describing the AmericanYouTube been extremely supportive of Israel in many ways, he’s also led strikes on Syrian dictator Bashar ignoring what is rapidly becomAssad’s chemical-weapons capabiling the most lethal threat to its ity with that cringe-inducing phrase, security: Iran’s presence in Syria. we would still have to judge Trump’s Friends of Israel should be actions as, at this point in time, very grateful to Trump by discarding much a mission left unaccomplished. the foreign-policy establishment’s As the White House has made clear, warnings about recognizing Jeruthe missile strikes were strictly a onesalem as the Jewish state’s capital off event, entirely disconnected from and for ending Obama’s policy any overall strategy to deal with the of trying to create more daylight threat posed by a Syria dominated by between America and its sole Russia and occupied by Iranian forces democratic ally. He’s also right — determined to turn that country into a U.S. President Donald Trump announces the launch of airstrikes on and the supposed “adults” wrong front against Israel. Syria on April 13 for its use of chemical — when he speaks of the dangers Just as troubling is the signal from weapons on civilians inherent in an Iran nuclear deal Washington that the president is planthat must be renegotiated if Tehran is to be prevented ning, despite appeals from his national-security team from eventually gaining such a weapon. and American allies, to pull all U.S. forces out of Syria But that doesn’t give him a pass for deciding that after the defeat of ISIS is also deemed complete. Syria is merely a theatre for dramatic U.S. gestures, While Trump was moved, as he should have been, rather than the pivotal issue that may decide whether by Assad’s atrocities against civilians to strike at another war in the Middle East is inevitable. the Syrian dictator’s forces, he isn’t prepared to do If the message Trump is sending to Assad is that he anything more than that or act in a meaningful way to can go on killing people — though not with chemistop the slaughter in that country. Despite the missiles, Trump is maintaining Obama’s cal weapons — that is just as much of an abdication of America’s moral authority as Obama’s spineless policy of punting Syria to Russia and treating Iran’s responses. provocative takeover there as something of no interest Just as troubling is the idea that the message Trump to the United States. is sending to Russia is that it shouldn’t interpret the He’s also apparently prepared to stand by and let president’s histrionics as an indication that the United a successor Islamist group fill the vacuum left by the States is still interested in engaging in the United States withdrawal, just as hapregion. pened after Obama pulled out of Iraq You can’t be Worst of all is that Iran is likely interpretand stayed out of Syria — the exact tough on Iran ing Trump’s gestures as a sign that the United events that led to the rise of ISIS. States doesn’t regard its building of military Americans can take some satiswhile being bases and weapons factories in Syria as an isfaction that the United States is not soft on Russia sue it cares about. prepared to let the use of chemical If America is telling Russia that it won’t weapons go unpunished, as was the demand that Vladimir Putin restrain Iran or push it case with Obama’s humiliating “red line” retreat. out of Syria, then Israel is being left to fend for itself By the same token, they should applaud the progas a problem the Americans helped create gets out of ress that American-led forces have made in the fight control. against ISIS. Trump’s loosening of the rules of engageFor all of the good Trump has done for Israel in the ment transformed the stalemate he inherited from last 14 months, leaving it alone to deal with Iran and Obama into a rout of the Islamists. Russia in Syria is simply too dangerous. But no one should be fooled by the spectacle of the Israel must balance the need to maintain relations allied attacks on Assad’s chemical-weapons capability into thinking that America is doing anything meaning- with Russia — now the region’s leading power — with the imperative to prevent Iran from threatening its ful about what is arguably the worst human-rights safety. catastrophe of the 21st century. If Trump doesn’t understand that simply abandonNor should it escape anyone’s notice that Trump’s ing Israel in this manner is an invitation to Iranian policies are essentially leaving Israel alone to face a aggression and a new Middle East war, and that this is deadly threat on its northern border. profoundly precarious for U.S. interests and security, then he’s just as foolish as his enemies claim him to be. So, what do you think? Send your letters (350 words max., thanks) to The Dayton Jewish Observer • 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net
PAGE 10
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS — the Jewish News Syndicate.
solution to the African migrant crisis, though few want them to stay
By Josefin Dolsten, JTA When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked back an agreement with the United Nations to resettle abroad at least half of the African migrants seeking asylum in his country, it did not play well with the majority of Israelis. But don’t assume that means the public wants the migrants to stay in Israel, pollsters warn. While most knocked Netanyahu for a lack of leadership, the Israeli public overwhelmingly rejects the idea of granting residency to all or most of the migrants. “They are not ready to have 40,000 people being recognized,” said Tamar Hermann, the academic director of the Guttmann Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, which has done surveys on the issue. Hermann was referring to the 40,000 or so Sudanese and Eritrean migrants who have made their way to Israel, often to South Tel Aviv. While nongovernmental organizations in Israel and Jewish and civil rights group abroad consider them refugees, opponents regard them as “infiltrators” who came to Israel for economic reasons, not fleeing persecution. Israelis also ask why it is their responsibility to solve problems originating in Africa, and question the economic and social impact of absorbing the non-Jewish migrants. More than 70 percent of Jewish Israelis are against granting the migrants residency, Hermann estimated. However, in that group some support granting residency to those of the migrants who qualify for official refugee status — but under the assumption that the number of recognized refugees will be small, she said. Hermann said it is hard to estimate how many of the group would actually qualify as refugees. Among those on the right of the migrant issue, meaning they do not want to the migrants to settle in Israel, Hermann said there are two groups that are the most vocal in their opposition to allowing the migrants to settle: residents of South Tel Aviv and religious Zionists. Those two groups oppose the asylum seekers for different reasons. The South Tel Avivians say the migrants who have moved there have brought crime and significantly deteriorated conditions in the low-income neighborhood. One such activist, Mai Golan, told the Israeli news site Walla that the situation in the neighborhood was “unbearable.” “It’s not the situation five years ago, it's worse,” Golan said. “The foreigners raised their noses, they got confidence and they enjoy the aid organizations that surround them. They talk to us inappropriately; the fear in the street increases.” Those who are part of the religious Zionist camp oppose settling the migrants for ideological reasons. They believe that as a Jewish state, Israel's responsibilities do not extend to the non-Jewish migrants, Hermann said. In January, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, David Lau, defended the government's announced plan to deport the migrants — originally scheduled to be implemented in April — by distinguishing between refugees THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MAY 2018