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Trump: Israel’s friend in words, not in deeds

US President Donald Trump's isolationist policies in Syria and Afghanistan, coupled with placating gestures toward the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than a push for peace with the Palestinians, are endangering Israel’s security.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1926A26F60
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At the halfway mark of President Donald Trump’s term in office, one can ascertain that with respect to Israel he is a friend in gestures, but hostile in deeds.

Trump's intention to withdraw 7,000 American soldiers from Afghanistan and reach an agreement with the Taliban, in complete opposition to the opinion of his former secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, is a stark example of the geostrategic threat he is creating for Israel by abandoning the region. It’s hard to find someone whose words are cheaper than those of the man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world and to whom gestures have no value if they don’t entail financial gain.

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