Mr. President. My name is Danny (Daniel) Zaken, and I am a proud Israeli citizen who has worked in journalism and covered developments in the region and around the world, including our country's relations with the great US, for many years.
And from where I sit, near Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the people of Israel since the days of the kingdoms of David and Solomon, I say to you: You made a colossal mistake. You failed by signing a surrender agreement with a murderous and cruel terror regime. You severely harmed American interests and the democratic and human values of the enlightened world, and you turned over the hourglass toward the next war, which your successors will have to deal with in the years to come.
In doing so, you sealed the fate of many thousands of people: civilians, women, children and the elderly, whom the regime in Iran will torture and murder, just as it murdered more than 40,000 of them at the beginning of the year; citizens of neighboring countries whom Iran and its terrorist proxies will murder; fighters who will be killed in the war against Iran and the terrorism it operates. And yes, many Americans too, just as Iran and its emissaries have murdered throughout the years of the mullahs' regime. You did all this in violation of every promise you made, in contradiction to the path you had followed until now, and against the values of America, which was supposed to return to greatness and has now been humiliated into the dust.
You could have been the greatest president of all in this era, alongside Woodrow Wilson, who won World War I and created the foundation for the international framework of the new world; alongside Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who defeated the Nazis and Japan; and behind George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Then you would have deserved not only the Nobel Prize you covet, but eternal recognition and respect from everyone in the world who mocked you, and there are many such people.
You could have been that president, as you claim to be, but you failed. You missed the opportunity. Instead, unless you change course against the advice of your vice president and envoy, you will be remembered forever as the president who brought about the humiliation of great America and gravely damaged its strategic power and its leading status in the world. And the contempt for you suddenly seems so justified and logical. The broad smile on former President Barack Obama's face contained so much mockery toward the man who had described his agreement as the worst ever. Would you believe that many of Iran's enemies, your friends, now miss that agreement?
I was in Washington during the most recent election campaign, which brought you back for a second time to sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and determine the fate of individuals and entire nations. I saw how radical perceptions were taking hold in the rival Democratic Party, and how that affected the ordinary person in the street, the one with common sense, pushing him in your direction because you offered relative normality instead of deranged progressivism. You brought original and bold thinking and placed the good old America at the center. And that understanding among ordinary citizens, who forgave your flaws, earned you a sweeping victory, also because the masses across America believed you could lead the world better, in a way that would advance American perceptions, interests and, no less important, American values.
When you were elected, there was a huge sigh of relief here in Israel, after more than a year of a difficult war and following a terrible massacre, one of whose causes was the mistakes of past American presidents, those who tried to impose an arrangement and brought terrorism. In your first term, you showed that you were different. Not only pro-Israel, but someone who said all the truths that your predecessors, in their hypocrisy and by turning a blind eye, were afraid to say, about the Jewish right to the land of Israel, about Palestinian and Islamic terrorism, about the disgraceful conduct of world leaders and the UN toward Israel, and more.
I wrote about you then that the fact that you had not come from Washington's usual sources, and that you had out-of-the-box views, allowed you to state the simple truth, both on domestic issues such as immigration, and especially on foreign affairs. You correctly diagnosed Europe's decline in the face of Islamic influences, and of course, in the Middle Eastern context as well, you hoped that conflicts could be resolved through economic prosperity. And you did not only talk, you acted. You moved the US Embassy to Israel's capital. You withdrew from the disgraceful 2015 nuclear agreement, the one that brought Iran to the level of a regional and global terror power. You wisely understood the atmosphere in the Middle East following the agreement with Iran and your ties in the Gulf, and you led the groundbreaking Abraham Accords. You were not far from another breakthrough with the Palestinians as well, but they, as always, failed to understand the situation.
A promising start
Immediately after your election, you did the moral and right thing and lifted the quiet embargo that the Democratic administration had imposed on Israel in the middle of a war, an embargo that cost us soldiers' lives and caused enormous difficulties on the battlefield in Gaza. Later, thanks to your strength and in contrast to the weakness of your predecessors, you led the countries of the region to force Hamas to return the Israeli hostages, that bleeding and painful wound of ours that we carried for two years, until the last hostage came home. For that, we will be eternally grateful.
A year ago, in June, you heard from Israel's prime minister about the intention to launch a war against Iran. The same Iran that was racing toward a nuclear bomb, that threatens all its neighbors with missiles and terrorism, that foments wars and backs Islamic terrorism throughout the world. You gave your blessing, but waited to see what the results would be. When you saw Israel's extraordinary success, our immense operational and intelligence capabilities, then you joined in, and with the big bombers and bunker-busting munitions, you delivered the final blow to the nuclear facilities.
The whole world was amazed at how Israel had persuaded you to join the war, given America's appeasing and problematic conduct for years toward the terrorist regime in Iran. That is why we swallowed our pride when you took all the credit for that war and minimized Israel's role. Well, he likes honor, we said. A small price for the strategic change we had created together.
Six months later, in direct continuation of that war, you met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with security and intelligence teams from both sides, and you reached the clear and unequivocal conclusion: An even more intense war was needed to mortally harm the regime and remove the existential and daily threat to the Middle East, first and foremost Israel, to American interests and to universal values and morality. In one of the meetings, you, Mr. President, you, set the strategic supreme objective: the fall of the regime. You said the massacre the regime was carrying out against its citizens in those very days must not be repeated, that those brave citizens had not died in vain, and that there was only a maximalist solution to the Iranian problem.
Everyone who took part in the meeting knows that you were the one pushing for this with full force. Mossad Director David Barnea and the prime minister's military secretary, Roman Gofman, presented a practical plan for it, but their assessment was cautious and stated that such a move would take many long months and that patience would be required, as well as work with regional leaders. "Patience" is a key word. To your credit, when Israel haters in the American media and elements around you spread the claim that Netanyahu had dragged you into war and into the goal of toppling the regime, you dismissed it and emphasized that it had been entirely your decision. I hope you will not change that truth now too. The citizens of Iran believed you and waited for you. And indeed, on Feb. 28, together with Israel, you launched one of the most just wars in human history.
And the war worked excellently. You let us do the work against the leadership, thanks to our terrifyingly precise intelligence and the capabilities of the elite Israeli Air Force, while at the same time your excellent people, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth and Adm. Cooper, did an insane job of wearing down Iran's missile array.
The plan to weaken the regime on the way to toppling it, the one presented to you and approved by you, stipulated one intense military stage lasting two months, followed by tighter sanctions and an economic blockade. The blockade of Hormuz came a little late, not terrible, but it did its job effectively. You dealt with domestic criticism over the rise in oil prices with the correct and justified argument that we need to suffer a little now for a much better future.
Over the past two weeks, you received the intelligence reports and the new assessments on the regime's condition. You saw Iran's economy deteriorating toward disaster, but more importantly, you saw the pressure inside the regime, reflected in quarrels, arguments and threats, the beginning of disintegration. More and more reports from Western and Gulf intelligence organizations pointed in that direction. And then suddenly you made a U-turn that cannot be explained by any logical analysis.
Detached excuses
It must be said: The warning signs were there even earlier. All kinds of statements that contradicted the policy up to that point, the cancellation of tanker escorts in the strait, the permission you gave Qatar to pay Iran secretly in order to get its tankers through, and more.
Two weeks ago, someone in your circle made sure to leak the sharp conversation you had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And I deliberately emphasize the full title. He is not "Bibi." He is the elected prime minister of the independent and sovereign State of Israel, as would be anyone else sitting in his chair. And you not only failed to downplay the importance of that difficult conversation, you added to it in conversations with journalists, while spreading falsehoods, about how "I saved his ass from prison." No, sir. The trial is continuing, and the independent court or the other competent authorities will determine that, not you. And the megalomaniacal statement that without you, Israel would not exist? Well, Israel existed before you and will exist long after you, you have just now made that a little more difficult. Your ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, rightly said: Without Israel, America would not exist. And behind him stand millions of Christian believers, good American citizens, who feel exactly the same way.
Two weeks ago, I wrote, "Of his honey and his sting," a paraphrase of a Jewish saying about accepting a situation for better and for worse. Because the good was still more significant. What I did not understand was that the change was already underway.
Your attempt to prevent Israel from attacking Iran after it fired missiles at us was astounding in its audacity. The prime minister did well to attack despite your words, but not before making clear to you in a conversation that the meaning of not attacking would be bad for America. But you did not internalize that statement. You did not understand the message that, with Iran, negotiations must only be about surrender, and must be conducted from a position of strength, not apology. You continued acting as though Iran were the global superpower pressing on your neck, and not the other way around. You illustrated the Iranian, Chinese and Islamic thesis, which holds that the decadent West lacks the ability and courage to deal with difficulties, and will always, always try to compromise.
Because the strategic significance of this is enormous, and to the detriment of great America. A quote from sane Lebanon, which is trying to reach an agreement with Israel: "Trump gave Hezbollah a shot in the arm at the organization's most difficult moment and sold our future." Similar things are being said about you in the Gulf states. Except for Qatar, your good friend. You sold out the United Arab Emirates, the brave country that went with you to the Abraham Accords and broke through the path, the country attacked by Iran more than any other, your new bestie. Bahrain will face growing coup attempts fueled by Iran. All the Gulf states, except Qatar, which has already bribed Iran too, will receive ultimatums from Tehran, because you allowed the mullahs the legitimacy to control Hormuz and did not fulfill your promise to ensure the removal of the Iranian threat to the oil wells and facilities.
And I am trying, and failing, to understand what caused this absurd change of direction, so contrary to everything you have said and done until now. The midterm elections are a flimsy excuse. You are in your second term, and the surrender memorandum of understanding will hurt the Republicans more than it will help them. Economically too, the excuse you are leaning on does not work. Perhaps oil prices will fall now and the stock market will rise temporarily, but what will happen when Iran uses, and it will use, the power you so rashly granted it and restricts movement through Hormuz? You weakened America. It will no longer be great during your term, and others will have to repair the damage after you. Yes, yes, your vice president as well, who pushed for the agreement, if he is elected after you, will run into the same troubles and crises and wars and murdered people that you brought about with your own signatures.
And one last word from an Israeli. We feel betrayed, nothing less, because your heart was, it seemed, in the right place, with all your flaws. You acted against it. You lost your patience and your moral and leadership compass. Only if you walk this back and avoid reaching a final agreement with Iran might there be a correction.
Thank you for your attention,
Danny Zaken
Near Jerusalem, Israel
