Evangelical warns Trump: Don’t make us choose — you or “Israel”

By Al Mayadeen Net
Source: Agencies
15 Dec 2021 21:52
1 Shares

After Trump's recent comments in which he criticized former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an evangelical leader close to Netanyahu warns Trump: "Don't make us choose between you and Israel."

Trump bashed Netanyahu for congratulating Biden after winning the US presidential election.

A senior evangelical leader has threatened former US President Donald Trump to end his dispute with ex-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressing that “it could jeopardize support among American Christians,” according to The Washington Post.

Former Trump adviser Mike Evans wrote Trump a letter, in which he expressed his "horror" at Trump's recently reported comments.

“Don’t put us in the position to choose between you and Bible land,” the letter said.

The letter follows the publication of an interview for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet) during which Trump waged a full-on verbal attack on former ally and friend Israeli ex-PM Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as disloyal for congratulating Biden immediately despite the Republican candidate still contesting results at the time.

“Early, okay? Let's use this. He was very early [in congratulating Biden]. Like earlier than most. I haven’t spoken to him since. F*** him.”

Further remarks were made by Trump, who claimed that it was Netanyahu, not the Palestinians, who was the main obstacle to peace, and that Netanyahu had angered and “surprised Trump with a plan to annex much of the West Bank.”

“Please, I beg of you, don’t put us in the position to choose between you and Bible land,” the letter added. “There is no possibility you can win again if Bible-believing evangelicals see you as the ‘F*** Netanyahu’ president who . . . blames the State of Israel, and not the Palestinians, for not making peace.”

Evans begged Trump to "understand that Benjamin Netanyahu has much more support among evangelicals in America than you."

Evans, who runs the "Jerusalem Prayer Team" which has 77 million followers, has previously defended Netanyahu, according to Israeli media.

Earlier this year, when a coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid was forming to depose of Netanyahu, Evans warned that such a move could cost “Israel” the support of American Christians.

He also wrote an open letter to Bennett in which he called him a "disgusting disappointment" and accused him of "shitting on the face" of American evangelicals.

In recent years, Netanyahu has played a key role in shifting “Israel's” diplomatic focus in the United States from relying on the support of the US Jewish community — which is largely liberal and critical of “Israel” — to seek evangelical support, according to Israeli media.

"'Israel' was going to be destroyed"

Trump’s attempts at a closer personal alliance with the former occupation PM saw him take decisions such as alleging that “Israel” has full sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights right ahead of the Israeli elections in April 2019, not to mention his decision to claim that occupied al-Quds is “Israel’s” capital.

"He would have lost the election if it wasn't for me,” referring to the electoral boost he supplied the former Likud party leader and Israeli criminal with the string of illegal decisions he made. In fact, a poll conducted ahead of the occupation’s elections found that 66% of voters believed Trump’s decision strengthened Netanyahu’s re-election chances.

Even worse, the normalization wave across the Arab World was chiefly led by Trump’s administration and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in an attempt to secure “Israel’s” place in the region.

Boasting about his role in securing Israeli interests in the region, in spite of its countless crimes against humanity, Trump said during the same interview: “I'll tell you what - had I not come along I think "Israel" was going to be destroyed. Okay. You want to know the truth? I think "Israel" would have been destroyed maybe by now."

Moreover, Trump’s brutal exit from the Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA, has been mainly motivated and pushed for by Netanyahu.

Two peas in a pod

Trump and Netanyahu are in hot waters; the former trying to evade all accusations of inciting an insurrection at the capitol on January 6, and the latter embroiled in a corruption trial as he tries repeatedly to regain access to the PM’s office he lost to Naftali Bennett.

As US President Joe Biden tries to get his country back into the nuclear deal in the hopes of relieving tensions in Western Asia, allowing him to refocus his efforts on China, “Israel” seemingly has other plans as it is on course of repeatedly threatening to conduct military operations against Iran even if the deal were to succeed.

Such dangerous threats were not fully supported by the US which is not faring so well on the world stage, a rare occurrence in an alliance that created a vacuum of chaos and violence across the region and suffocated Palestinians in every conceivable measure.