While the Coronavirus, a struggling economy, and rampant unemployment have been on the front of everyone’s minds, the greatest accomplishments of the Trump administration have gone virtually unrecognized. The groundbreaking peace budding in the middle east should be breaking headlines, but instead it’s being ignored. The historic Abraham Accords, treaties between the Saudis and the Israelis, the lack of any new wars in four years, and the further withdrawal of American troops have all gone underappreciated. Because of this administration, multiple nations have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, acknowledging the right of Israel to their holy city. Airlines now fly between once-sworn enemies, countries and their citizens are starting to flourish as terrorist groups were punished into obscurity, and century-old rivalries are actively being squashed.
In the winter of 2020, I had the honor of traveling to Israel for a Journalism/Christian birthright trip and it changed my entire perspective of the Middle East. For ten days I traveled around the Holy land, tried new foods, listened to locals talk in quick-paced Hebrew and Aramaic, and explored the holy sites of three of the world’s major religions. I entered Palestine where I heard both sides of the Palestine/Israeli conflict, taking my understanding of this centuries-old struggle to a deeper level.
I was surprised to see how much Israel loved America, our President, and it’s citizens. While there, the United States killed Qasem Soleimani, and we had Israelis come up to us in the streets thanking us for what our nation had done. The entire experience was vastly different from American media’s portrayal of life in the Middle East. But no matter how safe it felt, the Middle East is still dangerous. On our last day in Israel a plane was shot down over Iran. All the passengers on that flight perished. Our plane ride out of the region made for the scariest day of my life. But that didn’t affect my wish to eventually return. The history, the people, and the food ignited a desire in me to travel back to Israel not as a tourist, but this time as a student.
Now that desire is gone. I refuse to go to the Middle East under a Biden administration. Peace has been a bright light from the Trump administration and there is no reason to believe this will continue under Biden/Harris.
Under President Obama, terrorist groups like ISIS were allowed to band together and take over large swathes of land which the administration did little to stop. President Obama himself even dismissed the marauding warmongers as “a J.V. team.” Possibly the most devastating scandal in the Middle East was the Benghazi raid, where four Americans lost their lives in meaningless violence. The Benghazi scandal continues to be a blot upon the Obama administration.
There is no reason to suspect Obama’s vice president would not carry out the same disastrous public policy as president. The Biden team has already indicated its desire to return to the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said Biden’s plans include, “immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington.”
Biden has personally gone on record and stated that he plans to, “make an unshakeable commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.” To do this, he would put the United States back into the Iran Nuclear deal. This is the same deal which the Heritage Foundation said, “May be the worst diplomatic decision in history.”
In light of all that has happened in the past twelve years in the middle east, I pray that Biden takes a firm stance and continues the treaties and peace agreements between nations. Peace is the purest act of bipartisanship and just because administrations do not get along does not mean peace needs to suffer because of it.
Countries need to thrive, children need to be able to go to school without fear of a terrorist attack, and the next generation of moms should not have to worry about sending their sons to senseless wars.
Taylor Hunt
Taylor Hunt is currently attending Washington State University pursuing a degree in AG Engineering. In her spare moments, Taylor writes for multiple outlets and loved to explore the natural world.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
@TakketyTam
