‘Night and Day’ Between Trump and Biden in Terms of US-Israel Ties, Say JNS Panelists

If speakers on the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem’s “U.S. Israel Relations: A New Day” panel agreed on one thing, it was that the Trump administration was a vast improvement over that of former U.S. President Joe Biden.

The sentiment was perhaps best expressed by Sarah Stern, founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET): “I think that we are far better off with Donald Trump in the White House than we could have ever been with Kamala Harris.”

It’s been “night and day” compared to the Biden administration, agreed Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), citing a host of issues on which he said Trump had pursued more effective policy, from the Gaza war to the Houthis in Yemen, against whom Biden “did almost absolutely nothing.”

“I think the president’s instincts are often very good,” he added.

Makovsky noted that Trump also deserves credit for the decision during his first term, in January 2021, to transfer Israel from the responsibility of the U.S. military’s European Command to its Central Command.

“If you talk to any IDF general, even before Oct. 7, they will tell you it’s been a game changer in how this brought the two militaries working closer together,” said Makovsky, pointing to the defense of Israeli airspace by the Israeli and U.S. jets during the April 2024 Iranian missile and drone attack on the Jewish state.

Eugene Kontorovich, of George Mason University School of Law and the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, said, “When things are bad, you feel them intensely, and then when they get good, you forget that it was ever bad and you forget what the bad felt like.”

He reminded the audience that the Biden administration had taken “one of the most hostile actions any U.S. administration has ever taken by sanctioning Israeli citizens, creating a sanctions program aimed solely at a democratic ally. The only one of its kind, that threatened to essentially put Israel in the category of Libya and North Korea.”

The Biden regime even sanctioned U.S. citizens, which is illegal under foreign sanctions laws, he noted.

Kontorovich was referring to several rounds of sanctions the Biden administration imposed on Jews living in Judea and Samaria who the administration alleged were involved in violence against Palestinians. They included dual U.S.-Israeli citizens.

“Trump lifted those sanctions on day one,” said Kontorovich. (On Jan. 24, U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded former President Biden’s February 2024 executive order authorizing the sanctions.)

The panelists’ main concern centered around Iran and Trump’s decision to enter into talks with the Islamic Republic.

“You can argue that Trump has earned some trust from the pro-Israel community and from Israel, but where is this heading?” asked JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tobin, who moderated the panel.

According to Makovsky, there appears to be a division within the administration between those calling for restraint and more traditional Republicans, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.

Makovsky didn’t venture to say where the talks were headed. “It’s possible God will harden Pharaoh’s heart here and make the Iranians’ demands just too much for this administration to bear,” he said.

“I think people shouldn’t forget the leverage that the administration has in these talks has been created by Israel and Israeli blood, not by the United States,” he added.

While he gave Trump credit for his maximum-pressure campaign against Iran, he argued that it had no impact in the short term.

It was Israeli actions, starting with its decision to enter Rafah in the Gaza Strip in May of last year, that opened the way for Iran talks, he said. The existential nature of the nuclear threat means that if necessary Israel should attack alone, he added, and given that it has created this opening, it has earned the right to do so.

“Israel has no choice but to act in its national interest and that might be right now, even if that creates a little friction with President Trump,” said Makovsky.

Stern was concerned about developments within the Republican Party. “Unfortunately, there are the Tucker Carlsons of the Republican Party, this neo-isolationist trend, which is very scary,” she said.

Kontorovich expressed less concern about the Iran talks, saying while it was natural for Israelis to be worried given Iran’s oft-stated goal of annihilating Israel, Trump “deserves the benefit of the doubt.”

“I think he’s going about things in a wise and deliberate manner. It’s completely unrealistic to expect a president who also has a domestic agenda, who also has another foreign policy agenda outside of Israel, outside of the Middle East, to begin or tolerate a serious military confrontation in his first 100 days in office,” he said.

“He’s being deliberate. He’s checking the boxes. He’s making sure he’s gone through the process and can speak to all wings of his party and explain that he had no choice [but to take military action],” said Kontorovich.

In his final question to the panelists, Tobin asked about the future of U.S.-Israel ties after Trump.

“We need to be looking for policies that lock in change,” Kontorovich said, such as sanctioning “out of existence” the International Criminal Court and other hostile international bodies. Otherwise, pro-Israel supporters would not see permanent change but only “a four-year vacation.”

Stern expressed fear that Democrats may take the House and Senate in the next midterm election, in Nov. 2026. “I have to say, to be very honest, that I’m very worried we might have a two-year window to get a lot accomplished in Congress,” she said.

Makovsky shared Stern’s concerns about the isolationist trend among Republicans. He said the long-term future might depend in large part on what happens in the short term, explaining that Trump’s success will impact the party’s direction for some time to come.

“My hope is that if President Trump could be somewhat internationalist, work with close allies like Israel, and that is perceived in the Republican Party as successful, I think that will be very good,” he concluded.

Originally published in JNS.