President Donald Trump’s presidency of the United States of America has come to an end, but his legacy regarding Israel was a shining example of friendship to the Jewish people that we hope future presidents will emulate.

The 45th President may have divided opinions, but it is clear he was used by God to do some great things for God’s chosen nation and people, Israel.

Here are just some of the many achievements of Trump’s presidency regarding Israel.

Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

President Trump was one of the first world leaders to rightly declare that Jerusalem is and always will be the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

At the time, CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee said, “Jerusalem has been the epicentre of the Jewish faith since King David danced into the city with the Ark of the Covenant over 3,000 years ago. It is the capital of the Jewish state, and I am grateful to the President for changing American policy to finally reflect this reality.”

“In recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and beginning the process of moving the US embassy there, President Trump has shown that he hears the voices of the millions of Americans who stand with Israel and respect the Jewish state’s sovereign rights. This move strengthens America’s international position by making clear that we will stand with our allies, oppose our enemies, and will never be bullied by terrorists,” noted CUFI Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Parker.

Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem

The second step in showing support for Israel’s rightful claim to Jerusalem was when President Trump took the bold decision to move the United States embassy there.

Amazingly, President Trump was actually enacting US law when he took this decision. It wasn’t the controversy some tried to make it out. You see, Congress voted in 1995 to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Israel’s capital city. It was not a controversial issue at the time as it passed the House 374-to-37 and passed the Senate 93-to-5 votes. In spite of that overwhelming support, the US embassy remained in Tel Aviv because every president since 1995 signed an order to block this move every six months. It was only President Trump who had the courage to allow it to go through.

Israel’s enemies continue to deny Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem, as well as the Jewish heritage of Jerusalem. In doing so, they also denied the historical roots of Christianity. However, President Trump helped to start to correct this error.

Furthermore, President Trump’s strong stand lead other nations to move their embassies or pledge to open a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.

Trump brought peace between Israel and her neighbours

President Trump and his administration were instrumental in bringing about peace between Israel and her neighbours, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

At the time the Abraham Accords were signed at the White House, CUFI’s founder Pastor John Hagee said:

“This is nothing short of a political miracle.”

“The sons of Abraham are coming together for the first time in thousands of years. This has been a shift in the dynamics in the Middle East that people need to understand, that suddenly Israel has reached out to the Arab nations and they’re coming together to promote peace and harmony and prosperity and they’re not allowing Abbas and the Palestinians to be the objection to everything Israel raises on behalf of peace.”

“We have tried for years to go through the Palestinians to get something. Now, the President has gone around them and this is coming together with such speed that it’s breathtaking.”

Trump’s efforts have not been unnoticed, he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and last Friday was awarded Morocco’s highest honour for his work in normalising relations between these nations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Trump in January 2021 saying: “I want to thank President Trump and all of you in the administration for all you have done and are doing for peace. You’ve made a real difference, achieving one breakthrough after another, bringing the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan into the circle of peace. I have no doubt that more Arab and Muslim countries will follow.”

Trump ended US involvement in the Iran Deal and sanctioned the Iranian regime

President Trump once again defended Israel when he took strong action against Iran by ending US involvement in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran Deal, the deal was supposed to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions but is not worth the paper it is written on.

Far from stopping Iran’s dangerous plans of developing a nuclear weapon, the deal instead only sought to delay whilst at the same time funnelling tens of billions of pounds into the hands of a regime that seeks to destroy Israel.

Iran has used this increased cash to fund terrorism throughout the region, placing Israel under greater threat. Thankfully, Trump helped to curtail this funding by ending the US involvement in the Iran Deal and sanctioning the Iranian regime.

President Trump said at his State of the Union address in 2019:

“My Administration has acted decisively to confront the world’s leading state sponsor of terror: the radical regime in Iran.

“To ensure this corrupt dictatorship never acquires nuclear weapons, I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. And last fall, we put in place the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a country.

“We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people. We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed. With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs.”

Trump declared the Golan as part of Israel

President Trump took the bold decision to declare the Golan as part of Israel.

“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability,” Trump said.

The Golan Heights is part of the land promised by God in the Bible to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It provides Israel with crucial military advantages to defend itself from any future attack, and furthermore, Israel’s claim to the area is legal according to the UN Charter. Find out more here.

Trump’s administration declared Israeli settlements to be legal

President Trump’s administration took another bold stand that flew in the face of the international community but once again stood on the side of the Bible.

Judea and Samaria (West Bank) are part of the Biblical land of Israel that was given to the Jewish people by God. It was also promised to the Jewish people in the Balfour Declaration and ratified by the UN Charter (which all UN countries must agree to). The only way for Israel’s rights to this land become “illegal” is if the UN changes its charter (which it can’t) or if Israel and the Palestinians sign a peace agreement and Israel gives the land to the Palestinians, which has not happened.

If you would like to read more about Israel’s legal rights to Judea and Samaria, click here.

“We recognized the reality on the ground. … [and] provided a space for Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

“In doing so, we’re advancing the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Trump’s administration strongly defended Israel at the United Nations

President Trump and his administration appointed pro-Israel advocates to represent the United States at the United Nations, taking a strong stand against the anti-Israel bias of the global body.

Ambassador Nikki Haley and other US officials helped to push back against the bias and vetoed resolutions that singled out the Jewish state. It was a time where the US once again led the world in supporting Israel, and we hope it has inspired other nations to take a bolder stand for Israel.

Trump defunded UNRWA over its anti-Israel policies

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the UN agency dealing with Palestinian refugees. The agency has become another tool for the Palestinians to wage war against Israel, this time through the Palestinian’s claimed “right of return”. UNRWA schools also teach Palestinian children through anti-Semitic textbooks.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said in 2018, “UNRWA is an organization that perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem, and perpetuates also the narrative of the so-called right of return, whose goal is the elimination of Israel. For these reasons, UNRWA should be shut down.” He added, “UNRWA’s aid money should be transferred gradually to the UNHCR, which has clear criteria for supporting true refugees, and not the fake refugee status we have today under UNRWA.”

The US was by far the largest donor to the organisation, giving $300 million annually. President Trump cut this funding to $0 until UNRWA changed its ways.

Unfortunately, those changes have not been forthcoming, especially in regards to incitement in its educational materials.

A 2021 independent report concluded that “the unavoidable impression is that UNRWA, as a UN organization, knowingly teaches material that is inconsistent with UN values in its Gaza Strip and West Bank schools. In addition, UNRWA’s lack of transparency to address such problematic issues make it impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts”.

UNRWA is the United Nation’s run agency to help Palestinian refugees. Over half its budget is spent on educating children with more than 533,000 Palestinian children being taught in UNRWA run schools, most of whom live in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). This highlights the desperate need for reform by UNRWA to stop the next generation of Palestinians from being brainwashed into hating Israel.

Trump strengthened Holocaust education in America

In June 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Never Again Education Act into law, which seeks to expand Holocaust education in the United States.

“This is an important win for our country. With the abhorrent rise in anti-Semitism sweeping across the nation we’ve seen the dramatic impact that ignorance about the Holocaust can have. No student’s education is complete without a firm understanding of the greatest genocide ever committed. This legislation takes an important step forward in ensuring the next generation understands the horrors and dangers of anti-Semitism. I am very grateful to the President for signing this bill into law,” said CUFI founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee.

Trump labelled the BDS Movement anti-Semitic and stopped funding

Trump’s administration declared the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as being anti-Semitic and withdrew US funding from groups boycotting Israel.

At the time, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem: “We will recognize the global BDS campaign as antisemitic,” Pompeo said.

“The time is right… We want to join all the other nations that recognize BDS for the cancer that it is.”

Pompeo later released a statement that the US “strongly opposes the global discriminatory boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign…and practices that facilitate it, such as discriminatory labelling and the publication of databases of companies that operate in Israel or Israeli-controlled areas.”

He added that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

In addition, the State Department reviewed its funds to make sure none were going to entities that support the BDS campaign, including foreign aid funding.

Conclusion

As you can see, President Trump did a great many things in support of Israel and the above isn’t even everything. He was arguably the most pro-Israel president the United States has ever had and his policies have helped strengthen Israel’s sovereignty, helped increase Israel’s standing in the world and made peace with her enemies.

Trump is a controversial figure for many, but if you stand with Israel there is no denying that the action he took in support of Israel showed he was a true friend of the Jewish people.

Thank you, President Trump, for standing with Israel.