At a Sept. 24 gathering in Washington, D.C., aimed at fighting antisemitism, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said, “You have a big protector in me.” In the first 60 days of his second term, he has fulfilled his campaign pledge in an unprecedented fashion.
With the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Hamas Columbia University protester—Hamas has been a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997—Trump made good on his promise to crack down on the out-of-control demonstrations taking over college campuses in America. As he wrote on Truth Social, “First arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities who have engaged in pro-terrorist, antisemitic anti-American activity and the Trump administration will not tolerate it.”
The president also wrote, “If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women and children, your presence is contrary to our national- and foreign-policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every college and university to comply.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the president saying that America would be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters so they can be deported.
In the first week of his second term in office, Trump signed one of the strongest executive orders against antisemitism ever. It was issued “to marshal all federal resources to combat the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and in our streets since Oct. 7, 2023.”
Trump’s protection of Jews has not been limited to combating antisemitism in the United States. He made a breakthrough in getting hostages out of Hamas’s hands after a year in which no hostages were released. He also pulled American funding for the United Nations Human Rights Council and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the latter of which the United States has given some $300 to $400 million annually.
Additionally, all the weaponry and ammunition that the Biden administration blocked from going to Israel, including the 2000-pound bombs, was immediately shipped by the Trump administration. Then there’s Trump’s plan to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza and rebuild the area—a plan that is being met with optimism by many in the Jewish world.
Trump’s work is still in its initial stages, but he has already accomplished much in a short time span. As the president said when he was running for office, “My promise to Jewish Americans is this, with your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”