By RIVKAH ROTHSCHILD
We recalled Trump to the White House after a very long, distinctively pro-Israel campaign. Yes, it had undertones of isolationism and they were echoed in his inaugural address:
“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end. And, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into”
but Israel’s war was the exception to the rule. Yes, Ukraine is bleeding foreign aid to the tune of $65.9 billion in military assistance since Russia launched its brutal, full-scale invasion in February 2022. And yes, Biden sabotaged every attempt by the House and Senate to send aid to Israel that wasn’t tied to aid to Ukraine. However, when things got so severe for Israel, Speaker Mike Johnson capitulated to Biden’s sabotage and the omnibus $95 billion foreign aid bill, H.R. 815, passed on April 20, 2024. The aid package included $14.1 billion to Israel, $60+ billion to Ukraine, $8 billion to Taiwan, and $9.5 billion to civilians in Gaza, Sudan, and the Ukraine for “humanitarian aid”, which aid was going to help Hamas stay in power and fight another – heaven help us – day, week, month or year.
So, on April 14, 2024 JD Vance said, in so many words, that bleeding foreign aid to the world on fire in so many regional wars was not going to continue if Trump got elected; however, Israel was in a different category, either because it is a close ally, or the refuge for Jews after the stain of the Holocaust, or as the only land to absorb Jewish refugees after two thousand years of wandering punctuated by intermittent persecution. Since nearly every Christian heart beats faster when it hears “Jerusalem”, not to mention every Jewish heart, Israel was going to be treated not only as the strategic ally that it truly is – not as a vassal or as the 51st state of the union – but as a younger sister would be treated by her older sister, with that sense of intertwined identity and familial values that make the older sibling stand up for the younger in the most natural way, as if the punch to the younger was also a punch to the older.
We felt true empathy from JD Vance for Israel’s predicament, fighting Hamas and the many other wars on various fronts, and it was felt from Trump as well when he said five months ago that he would support Israel’s “right to win the war” and that if elected he would give Israel “the support that it needs to win”. We felt it just a handful of days ago when Trump declared on January 7, 2025, loud and strong and clear: “. . . if they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.”
What happened? Well something happened because there are cold winds that have begun to blow from Mar-a-Lago and the White House toward Jerusalem. We – the unbending supports of Israel – feel the cold, but we also feel warmth, such as what emanates from the high noon sun, as Trump signed a number of executive orders on January 21st that gave Israel much needed relief from the lawfare of the Biden administration. There were executive orders
- Revoking sanctions on several Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria
- Restoring sanctions against the International Criminal Court
- Defunding UNRWA
- Authorizing deportation of U.S. visa holders involved in pro-Hamas protests, and
- Lifting restrictions on arms sales to Israel, including the supply of 2,000-lb. bombs.
which we deeply and whole heartedly appreciate. But nonetheless, some cold winds are blowing, and we feel that too.
Let’s start with the clip from Jeffrey Sachs from October 22, 2024 that President Trump posted on Truth Social on January 9, 2025. Sachs is an economics professor from Columbia University that, according to him, volunteered for many years for the UN. Even so, Sachs is not a diplomat with academic credentials in the field of international relations. He isn’t an elected official or politician and has never served in the foreign service or the military, which would give him a bit of “boots on the ground” credibility for espousing opinions on matters of State. His pronouncements are of a sweeping magnitude, as if he is the newly appointed and confirmed Secretary of State, not Marco Rubio.
In reality Professor Sachs has given up on our government, stating in the same interview from which President Trump posted an excerpt that he “stopped going to Washington . . . probably about 10 years ago.” The reason for his avoidance, in his very own words: “ . . . over time, I discovered a lot of the deep, dark truths of American foreign policy that I did not appreciate or understand growing up. I knew things weren’t right because I marched against the Vietnam War in the 1960s as a high school student.”
With that great amount of expertise, Sachs stumbles into the arena of foreign policy with anti-Semitic tropes of the highest caliber, all surrounding the most visible Jewish leader currently on the world stage, Bibi Netanyahu. Sachs, speaking as if he is the new Secretary of State, warns of a subversive takeover of our government by that Jew in Jerusalem. He explains that all the wars in which the United States has fought, beginning with the Second Gulf War, 2003 – 2011, were due to Bibi manipulating US foreign policy to wage endless wars in the Middle East. In his own words:
“Where did that [the Iraq] war come from? It’s quite surprising. That war came from Netanyahu, actually. You know that? It’s weird, but the way it happened is that Netanyahu had, from 1995 onward, the theory that the only way to get rid of Hamas and Hezbollah was by toppling the governments that support them: Iraq, Syria, and Iran. The guy’s nothing if not obsessive. And he’s still trying to get us to fight Iran to this day—this week.”
Sachs informs his audience, using expletives, that Bibi is unfit to govern because he is such a very bad person. Then Sachs, showing off his ability to change identity as needed, poses as a psychologist that is able to diagnose maladies of people half way around the globe, claiming that Bibi suffers from what is referred to by psychologists as an obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The proof being, of course, that the prime minister of Israel constantly pursues his goal of preventing a certain country from developing into a nuclear power, since that certain country has vowed to destroy his country. And since Bibi’s country is home to the survivors of another country’s program of systematic extermination that claimed the lives of so many millions, which occurred just some 84 years ago; and since just over a year ago his citizens were invaded, massacred, burnt, raped and kidnapped in broad daylight, with the backing, funding and full support of the country that vies to become a nuclear power, that particular leader finds it necessary to do everything in his power to rally the conscience of the world to the defense of his country. In complete denial of these facts, and pretending to be both a psychologist as well as a diplomat and/or international relations expert, Mr. Sachs reports that Bibi is hell bent on waging war on (no less than) three countries, Iran, Iraq and Syria, and that Bibi is bullying this country into a war with Iran, if not other countries on his list. Sachs’ rhetoric suggests that Jews, represented by Bibi, have “gotten us into endless wars.” “And because of his [Bibi’s] influence on U.S. politics, he’s gotten his way.”
I wish to point out that the United States entered into a twenty years’ long war in Afghanistan that Sachs does not list as one of the wars that Bibi manipulated the United States government into waging. Regardless, I am confident that if asked, Sachs would find a way to blame Bibi and the Jews for that war as well.
I guess we should inform Marco Rubio that, per Sachs, he should close down the State Department since it is run by a foreign government that is run by an obsessive war-mongering Jew that directs all of US foreign policy from Jerusalem. In fact, this Jew is so influential over US politics that the US has entered into numerous wars at his behest in the past, and may enter into more in the future. Furthermore, the entire United States federal government, including the White House, are unable to stand up to this Jew and his secret sauce, the Jewish lobby.
These are classic anti-Semitic tropes. Only in this version, they are directed at one Jew, rather than the many, however, that is just a cover since when people read these classic memes they understand that Bibi is a code for Isarel, and for all Jews.
Sachs thus engages in classic anti-Semitic tropes, explaining that Bibi, i.e., the Jews,
- Secretly run the world
- Control all the banks and the global monetary system
- Are a cabal
- Subversively run the United States government
- Control United States foreign policy through political manipulation
- Make secret plans for the United States to fight wars for their benefit
- Give nothing to the United States
- Force the United States into wars that it should not be engaged in that benefit only them
- Are parasites on the blind and dumb United States that is no match for their cunning
Sachs sentiments echo those of an earlier anti-Semite, none other than Adolf Hitler, who said these words in a speech to his nation on January 30, 1939:
“What they [the Jews] possess today, they have by a very large extent gained at the cost of the less astute German nation by the most reprehensible manipulations.”
To summarize and generalize Sachs’ claims to compare them with Hitler’s, the Sachs rant states that: Jews (using Bibi or the Israel lobby as code words) secretly causes the US to engage in foreign wars; Jews push the buttons of American foreign policy behind the scenes; Jews are a cabal; Jews cause wars that they benefit from; Jews don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves; and Jews are bad people that manipulate their host governments to their detriment.
Hitler claims: Jews stole their wealth from the Germans; Jews are cunning while Germans are not cunning and can be manipulated; Jews manipulate Germany and Germans for their own benefit; Jews are not good citizens that give back; Jews are a cabal; Jews are parasites that feed off the German people.
What was President Trump trying to message by posting Sachs’ diabolical anti-Semitic rant? He could be using the Sachs rant to condemn foreign entanglements that the isolationist part of his coalition will like, yet seemingly avoid, just as Sachs would like to avoid, being labeled an anti-Semite since the Sachs vitriol is focused on Bibi. However, I am of the opinion that anyone who posts or reposts Sachs’ rant is complicit in his antisemitism, regarding which there can be no equivocating. Could it be even worse, that the President believes these “pound of flesh” tropes? I choose to believe that our President has far too much integrity and common sense to embrace this, the scourge of human history. Even if I am right, that his messaging was to signal the isolationists that he wants to stay out of wars, the posting or reposting of Sachs’ rant by President Trump on Truth Social on January 9, 2025 is frightening and cause to speak out and condemn this as complicity with the scourge of human civilization. Although we are loyal and appreciate so many wonderful things about our President, we need to say so.
Parenthetically, Professor Sachs was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on December 24, 2024 and espoused the same rhetoric, including this anti-Semitic trope:
“ . . . Israel has run American foreign policy in the Middle East for 30 years. That’s how it works. We have an Israel lobby.”
Carlson, no intellectual slouch, doesn’t challenge his interviewee on these statements. Shame on him.
Next cold wind blowing from Mar-a-Lago. Trump appoints an envoy to negotiate the hostage deal in Doha. Who does he send? A real estate crony with ties to Qatar to the tune of $632million. This is the amount that the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund reportedly paid to bail out Steven Witkoff in 2023 from his failed (due to the malfeasance of his business partner) Manhattan real estate project, which was accomplished by a buyout of the Park Lane Hotel.
Dear Mr. President, do you need me to remind you that cronyism turns Washington DC into a swamp, which is what you vowed to drain if you were elected.
And here is some additional cronyism that is cause for concern. Your son, Donald Trump, Jr., recently joined the firm of 1789 Capital, headed by Omeed Malik. In 2023, 1789 Capital invested $15million in Tucker Carlson’s new media company.
Tucker Carlson promoted you during the recent presidential campaign. Nothing wrong with that, if that was the end of the story. What is wrong is that in 2024 Tucker Carlson interviewed Darryl Cooper, a staunch Holocaust denier, giving him a platform and credibility. Cooper characterizes Winston Churchill as a war-monger responsible for the devastation of WWII, as opposed to Hitler. Hillsdale College debunks Cooper’s rewrite of history and offers the following quotes from Churchill, spoken from 1946-1948, regarding WWII (WSC, The Sinews of Peace [London: Cassell, 1948], 103-04):
- “…I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention …. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe.
- During one wartime meeting, Roosevelt asked Churchill for his thoughts on a name for the global conflict. The Prime Minister responded, “The Unnecessary War.”
Tucker Carlson promoted and legitimized an avid Holocaust denier, which makes him an anti-Semite, and Tucker Carlson promoted and campaigned for you, the leader of the free world, using his formidable influence to help propel you to the Whtie House. That makes Tucker Carlson complicit in anti-Semitism and that makes you, leader of the free world, President of the United States, a person that owes some form of pay back to a person that is complicit in anti-Semitism, Tucker Carlson. If Winston Churchill were alive, what would he say? Or William McKinley or Teddy Roosevelt, who you mentioned in your inaugural address? Would they say, “Oh, this is just how politics works”? To add to what is deeply concerning here, your close family member is entangled with someone who is a significant funder of Tucker Carlson.
Now we connect all the dots and we have you compromised along two different trajectories: one, because Tucker Carlson, who is promoting anti-Semitism, helped propel you to the White House, as discussed above, and two, because through your close family member’s relationship with Omeed Malik, you are entangled with Omeed Malik who is entangled with Tucker Carlson who is entangled with Jeffrey Sachs. The circle is complete.
Let’s go back to Steven Witkoff. Witkoff pressured Bibi into a deal with Hamas that doesn’t bring all the hostages home, which means that you need to be true to your promise that Hamas has hell to pay. Instead, you sugar coated this bitter pill in your inaugural address saying how wonderful it is that just now, the day before your inauguration, hostages are coming home. Do you really think it is wonderful that there are approximately 30 more hostages that intelligence believes are alive that are not on the list to come home? What happened to your thunder about “hell to pay”? Do you think it is okay that Hamas believes it is still in power in Gaza, and for all appearances, it is? Instead of cutting off all humanitarian aid to Gaza until every single hostage is returned, trucks are rolling in at full speed and Gazans are cheering Hamas in the streets. The only ones that have hell to pay are the Israelis. And to add to their hell, Mr. Witkoff praised his benefactors, the government officials in Doha, saying that they are doing “G-d’s work”. Is supporting and funding terrorism “G-d’s work”? If it is, we surely need a change of the Heavenly Court since it has come to identify with “Allahu Akbar” rather than with the Judeo-Christian values we hold sacrosanct.
I am truly at a loss as to why Donald J. Trump would take out Biden’s ceasefire deal from May 2024, dust it off, and have Mr. Witkoff force it on Israel. Surely you, a courageous Commander-in-Chief, could come up with a better ceasefire deal than what Mr. Biden came up with eight months ago.
My last and final observation has to do with who you invited to your inauguration. You invited the highest ranking government official of China, our cautious enemy, and neglected to invite the prime minister of Israel, our staunch ally. Is this another thing you got from Biden, the conviction that we should appease our enemies and alienate our allies? Bibi should have been at your inauguration. You missed an opportunity to share this great moment with the highest ranking government official of Israel, our closest and most loyal ally.
Mr. President, you were elected on your promises to make the world a safer place. You can’t do that if you appease United States’ enemies and fail to support its allies. You don’t have to fight the wars for them, and you don’t have to bankrupt our treasuries, but you need to support our allies as much as possible with ammunition and you need to support them with a loud and clear voice on the world stage. I know the world is a complex chess game and every move is fraught with ramifications and repercussions, but keep this thought in front of your eyes at all times: if you don’t support our allies, we won’t have any; if you want the world to respect the United States again, then show strength and courage in the support of our allies, not weakness and appeasement toward our enemies. Don’t listen to the Tucker Carlsons of the world because their moral compass has been compromised and it no longer works. We may not be able to be the policeman of the world, but we surely shouldn’t be throwing our allies under the bus. We need to do what we can and lead, which means other countries will follow suit and do what they can. That’s why you were elected, to lead the free world with conviction, to call out wrong from right as you did when you said there would be hell to pay if the hostages were not home by January 20th. The hostages are not all home or even on a list to be returned. We need to hear you thunder and rail against this cruel injustice because right now the world is your stage to call out evil and trump the truth.
