Almost a week after US President Donald J. Trump effectively gave green light to Turkey’s autocratic leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch a long-anticipated military operation in northern Syria many pundits and experts are still scratching their heads trying to understand the move.
Some are wondering if Trump could also betray his staunch allies Saudi Arabia and Israel such as Jerusalem Post editor in chief Yaakov Katz who harshly criticized the leader of the free world for abandoning a key ally.
Katz wrote in his weekly column that “under Trump, American influence and power has dramatically diminished in the Middle East and is no longer a force to fear” which he says is bad for Israel.
Bad for Israel because “when America is perceived weak in the region, Israel is perceived weak” as well,” Katz thinks.
Mitchell Bard, an American Jewish conservative political analyst and the writer of several books about the Middle East and the US role in the Holocaust, went a step further and questioned Trump’s willingness to stand up for Israel whenever it would be in the position of the Syrian Kurds.
“Is there any reason to believe the president would act differently and protect the Jews?” Bard asked.
He then pointed out that former US Presidents had no problem to stand by and watch how innocent people were slaughtered just as what is happening currently in northern Syria where Erdogan’s army has already killed scores of Kurds and caused tens of thousands of them to flee their homes.
Bard gave the example of former US President Bill Clinton who didn’t lift a finger when the Serbian army slaughtered thousands of Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Balkan War. READ MORE
