Trump will make peace through strength great again

The American people elected Donald Trump as the 47th president in one of the most remarkable political comebacks in modern U.S. history. Despite all the controversy and his polarizing personality, there is a silver lining in his return to the White House.

Middle Eastern leaders have already shown respect for his return to governance. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Qatari Emir Sheikh Al-Thani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and so many others have congratulated Trump on his victory. For the first time since the Gaza war, Morocco has also reasserted its ties with Israel.

Whether it be traditional politicking or genuine satisfaction with the outcome of the American election, Middle Eastern leaders respect Trump and fear his unpredictability and strength. Though Trump is a master of theatrics, his first term showed he was unafraid to act decisively — notably with the historic Abraham Accords and the elimination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

This combination of bold talk and action resonates in the Middle East, where strength of voice and initiative is the lingua franca.

In the U.S., many Americans struggle to see the value of a strongman’s return to the White House for reestablishing deterrence and bolstering U.S. foreign policy. Although many Americans find Trump’s style distasteful, he can improve by speaking more frequently about the successes of his first-term Middle East policies and clarifying how his approach enhances alliances and deters adversaries.

Even Arab Americans emerged from the election with such realizations. In stark contrast to 2020, when Arab Americans overwhelmingly backed President Biden, Arab Americans favored Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris in this election. Dearborn, Mich., characterized as “America’s Jihad Capital” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, went red. In a remarkable turnaround, they voted in common cause with a candidate holding an ironclad pro-Israel stance and who enacted the short-lived Muslim Ban in 2017.

Additionally, throughout his campaign, Trump pledged to give Israel free rein to get the job done and urged Netanyahu to finish the war quickly.

Democratic Arab-American mayor Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck, Mich., endorsed Trump, citing his hope for Middle East peace while feeling “neglected” by “the other side,” which is to say, the Democrats. “The priority for [our community] at this time is accomplishing a cease-fire and bringing peace to the Middle East," said Ghalib. "Kamala Harris has been in the office for the past three years and during the whole year of war in the Middle East…but nothing was happening.” Trump has affirmed his commitment, writing on X that he would bring “safety and security” to the Middle East and “stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon.”

The Biden administration’s rhetorical support for Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon amid its failure to end the war surely altered the Arab American decision this election. The Biden-Harris administration drastically failed to bring stability to the region in the aftermath of Oct. 7, like when it threatened to condition resources to Israel if the Israel Defense Forces launched an operation in Rafah but, in the end, did not. Another instance is when it delisted the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021, then re-listed it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group in early 2024. The Houthis are the Yemeni militaristic faction that attacks American assets across the Middle East and whose slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Death to the Jews.”

Middle Eastern leaders, Arab and Israeli alike, have internalized the policy flip-flops that diminished the Biden-Harris administration’s credibility. The Middle Eastern mindset is not built for games. A commitment is serious, a commitment means business.

Domestically, the Biden-Harris administration has continued to play diplomatic ping-pong between Jewish, pro-Israeli audiences and their anti-Israel, “progressive” supporters. Not even agreeing with an anti-Israel protestor that the “genocide” of Palestinians was “real” at a campaign event in Wisconsin last month helped Kamala Harris. Harris’s attempt to appeal to both sides, including by running different targeted ads for Arab and Jewish American audiences in Michigan and Pennsylvania, did not help her case either.

The Jewish American vote diverged from the Arab vote. Despite pre-election speculation of a potential rightward shift due to Republican stances on Israel and antisemitism — along with the Democratic Party’s failures to address antisemitism and arguable tolerance for it — maintained their traditional leftward lean in voting for Harris. This, despite Trump’s record on Israel during his first term.

In his prior term, Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, withdrew from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. In 2018, he halted funding to the United Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) that contributed to the Palestinian pipeline of terror that was partly responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre. He also signed a 2019 executive order on combating antisemitism, extending Title VI protections to antisemitic behaviors per the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.

In this term, he’s recommitted to defunding UNRWA, pledged to remove accreditation of universities that fail to address antisemitism and said he would deport non-citizens participating in unlawful pro-Hamas protests.

Although Biden has been a strong Zionist throughout his political career, the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to de-escalate the Israel-Hamas conflict has inadvertently allowed it to escalate. The Biden administration has sought to appease Iran and its proxies by pursuing a failed reentry into the Iran nuclear deal and funneled $100 billion to the Ayatollah’s regime, providing the financial incentive for aggression.

Under Biden, the U.S. built the Gaza pier to facilitate the supply of aid but could not protect it from Palestinian looting; now, the Biden administration blames Israel for increasing suffering by limiting aid to Gaza. Most of all, the Biden administration has continued to restrain Netanyahu from directly addressing the threat, which is ongoing, following the successful eliminations of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh.

Just before Winston Churchill was set to succeed British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in May of 1940, he said “Appeasers feed a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.” The Biden-Harris administration has fed the crocodile — empowering terrorist leaders, enablers and supporters — which has come back to bite on our American campuses and city streets.

As the leader of a global superpower, Trump has the opportunity to show Arab and Jewish Americans that the U.S.’s democratic choice benefits Israel, the broader Middle East and America. There may be other issues on which Americans deeply disagree with Trump, however, foreign policy must be a priority this presidential term to secure the global order.

Many Americans, notably Jewish Americans, must realize that “peace through strength” is — given the circumstances — the best way forward. Trump must prioritize communication about his policies, using his theatrical strongman style strategically to his, and America’s, benefit.

Sabrina Soffer is a senior at George Washington University.